10:30 AM, Sunday
9, November 2008
Dublin
California, United States
The gas cooker was at its full blast trying to cope up with the speed of the cook , preparing a leisure Sunday meal. She was cooking at her maximum speed, but very cautiously as the exhaust vent, along with the microwave, had lost its life the previous day. She was taking extra care not to wake the fire alarm up while cooking without the exhaust vent.
"It's been ages since you had a haircut!", the lady raised her voice.
"I'm going mom! ", he said in a feeble pleading tone.
There was a knock at the door precisely at that time. He got up from the sofa and walked to the door to see who the visitor was. The lady who was cooking exclaimed "They have come!". I followed him to the door.
"Oh! I didn't know that people come home here to give a haircut!", I said with a mischievious laugh.
Both of them, caught off-guard for a moment, started laughing. He looked through the magic lens and opened the door, still a smile remained on his face.
"Hi! 'ow u doin'?", came a shout from the familiar short dark man.
"We are doing fine", he replied reciprocating the enthusiasm.
We were expecting them to come. One was a known face, the short dark man and the other was the familiar, tall , heavy-built lady from the apartment maintenance department.
The tall lady waved her one free hand towards me with a cheery and chirpy "Hi!" and I replied back.
They both were carrying a rather heavy black GE microwave, the exact replica of the one in the kitchen and heaved it towards the living room carpeted floor. When they stood up, I asked,
"How are you doing K?"
He replied, "I'm doin' fine! I'm doin' fine! Where are you these days? I don't see you down at all!"
"I've become a bit busy, K!", I , showing my hands in the direction of the lady, who by now had switched off the stove and had started removing the pans from it, said, "She is my mother-in-law! She is with us for sometime. So I don't get to come down often these days!"
"Hi ma'am!", waved K towards my mother-in-law and she replied with a shy "Hello!"
The tall lady by this time had noticed the numerous photographs on the fridge, held in place by fridge magnets.
" Where are these photos taken? They look lovely!", she asked.
"Are you a photographer?", asked K looking at the photographs to him.
"No, not professionally! But I do have an interest in photography", he replied shy-hesitantly.
"These pictures were taken in Holland last year when we went there for the tulip flower festival!", he started explaining the lady, who was by now examining the photos one-by-one. Kearney joined them in looking at all these pictures.
"Are these tulips through-out?", the lady asked, pointing at one of the photos.
"Yes! " he continued, "It is a 34 kms stretch full of tulips, the name of the place is......"
They both were awestruck looking at the flower display outside the glass windows of the coach. They were looking at the flowers fondly, the way they held their beautifully blossomed face high with pride. Their face glowed with such chirpy, vibrant colours pink,yellow, red, orange, green, reflecting the sun's rays casually, warning the sun, that the farmer cared for them so much, showered them with his love and their shine is like a child's face who has got all the love and care in the world from its mother. Their petals forming a bulb, just only slightly distracted by the gentle breeze, teeny-weenily deformed the shape of the bulb, was the only flaw....Oh God! now every flower is like that with the breeze...even a fault finding machine would never be able to find anything and anyone can bet a million dollars on it! Such is the dutch precision!
"I am going to have a very quick round of the garden as I have to head back to the airport for my flight!", said the lady.
Only then they both realised that the bus had come to a stop already and the lady was half out of her seat. They got off the bus with the lady.
"How long will it take for us to see the garden and cover it fully?", she asked the lady.
"It will take one full day if you want to do it leisurely!" , the lady continued, "This is the first time for you, I presume , so I am on my way. Bye . Nice meeting you two", she said with a smile.
"Not so soon!", he said with a smile, "You will not leave us without taking a photograph of us, I know!"
The lady laughed at this, "Sure! Sure! I will" and took the camera to freeze another Kodak moment of their lives!
To be continued.....
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