-Honey, Horse and
Hospital-
She
loved chocolate. I guess that was the only reason I was left with no other
option other than spending eight hundred rupees each month just buying Kit Kats
for her. Or maybe I liked her four times as much as I liked myself. Either way,
by now it had become a routine for me now and quite delightful indeed because
near me, the joy of sharing chocolates was far better than sharing any other
thing in this teenage.
Every new
month brought a thousand rupees straight into my wallet and to be honest it
really use to seem all stuffed up quite well on that day. But not to mention
that seemingly never ending money always dripped down from my wallet just as
soon as it intended to land in there. Thirty days is a lot of time to pass on
especially once you have the biggest chocolate loved by your side and you just
can’t hold yourself away from the little Kit Kat parties every now and then.
Anyhow
the place that made us meet each other for the first time and kept us glued
together till now making an unparallel bond of friendship between the two of us
was quite surprisingly a Horses Riding Club. Both of us loved riding more than
any other thing in the world and we were somehow helpless to contain this
passion out of our souls. In fact for me the only thing that kept me at a
distance from other lads of my age was this sole activity in which they never
seemed interested and I never even gave a thought about leaving it for them.
Continuing this attitude for a long time now, the only thing I received in turn
was that I was sidelined from almost all the groups of lads that used to hang
out together.
Although
some familiar faces did at times visited the Club for a little for a walk on
horseback and rarely some of them even tested their skills on minor trot but
such enthusiasts really succeeded and were mostly greeted by some cuts and
bruises by end of the evening. They rarely talked with me and so I too remained
intentionally silent once they used to be around. These things never really
bothered me a lot. All I wanted was a great company and Rachael really did
fulfill this desire of mine in the best of manners.
As the
winds kept on flickering our sails, the friendship between the two of us got
deeper and deeper. It basically started from two teenagers finding their lost
finesse in riding skills to getting closer and closer through the love of
chocolate. By this time we were so close, I couldn’t even ignore Rachael even
if I somehow did try to.
The two
of us more or less were in contact the whole day. Starting from our same class
at college to coming back home a bit tired and after getting a bit of rest,
both of us found the better of each other at the Saddle Club. After a fun and
joyful evening there, we mostly had a short little chocolate party and at night
there was no better way to spend the time other than chatting with one another
on face book. That was a fully packed up routine for both of us and we never
showed even skin deep regrets over it.
Gifting
our favorite chocolates to each other and relishing them after every great run
on our horses and patting each other’s backs for another day without any injury
were enough for crafting priceless moments for the two of us. But even after
almost a year of friendship, one thing definitely gave me shrills in my mind
once I woke up one morning.
Just a
day before that, I came to know Rachael was having her birthday coming by the
end of that week. I still don’t know but quite surprisingly over the span of a
whole year she never regarded me of her birthday date ever. I remember once we
did had a conversation over horoscopes and other factionary stuff but that talk
never really came to a close and so her birthday date remained a mystery in my
mind.
Since
it was a birthday and quite honestly of a really close fellow, I had to present
something as a birthday gift to Rachael. Her birthday was on the very next day
which meant I had only one daytime to plan something up which should be simple
for her straightforward attitude yet highly exotic to meet her modern day
fashions. So with this thought in mind and putting my thinking caps on that
morning, I desperately started searching anything fabulous in my range.
Well a
range of few hundred rupees was obviously not enough to get me something that
would be capable enough to meet my choice of gift for her. I wanted something
that she would remember forever and for that my thousand rupees pocket money
was surely not enough. I had already spent nearly half of my pocket money of
that month and the remaining half only made me shameful every time I even dared
of thinking to buy something for a friend like Rachael.
Laying
there flat on my bed the first thing that made its way in my mind was a big fat
cute little stuffed fluffy teddy bear. Since it was winter and if in fact
really harsh ones so a frost white teddy seemed almost a perfect gift for a
frosty birthday of a really good friend. Apart from that Rachael also told me
once that she is absolutely fond of such white stuffed bears and no matter with
how many she may fill her room with, there always seem to be place for one
more.
But no!
Since Rachael had too many of such stuffed things already, there was a strong
possibility that she might not like my gift and in the end it would only be
thrown in a corner of her room with tens like it already. So after realizing
all such stuff, the idea of a teddy bear was surely discarded.
Next
up, a wild thought came and suggested me a chocolate fudge cake as the person
receiving it was a full fledge chocolate lover. At first I thought of making it
on my own so that the cake attain more value once Rachael finds out that it is
crafted by me. Although the suggestion wasn’t that bad but soon this too was
turned out because of some crucial reasons.
First
of all I had never really baked anything in my life. I knew a bit of cooking
going here and there but baking was something totally out of my grasp. There
was a strong possibility that this fudge cake would turn out to be a hefty loss
of my money and since it would be a complete disaster in the end therefore it
would only make its way as food for Rachael’s pets.
Secondly
once you take a closer look at it, cakes never really come in the category of
birthday gifts. No matter how good my cake taste or look like, it cannot last
for more than two or three days at maximum. As a gift, I wished of something
that would last for a really long time which this so called fudge cake never
really fulfilled my desires.
Next
thing in line was quite surprisingly a shirt of mine. This shirt had a really
nice history between the two of us. Although I never really expected this one
to be it but since I wore this quite often at riding club, Rachael once told me
that she really liked the written stuff over this shirt of mine. This written
stuff was in fact a cute little sentence “Seeing you smile always makes me feel
good” and with that there was cute a little smiling bunny drawn alongside it.
Since she liked it that very much, I really thought of gifting this shirt of
mine to her a few times but restrained myself asking from my own to wait for a
perfect moment.
Maybe
this was the perfect moment and my mind was still struggling over deciding this
shirt as the obvious gift for her but somehow and suddenly my wits totally
shifted from a shirt to a whole new thing which near me was perfect in all
aspects I had been looking for. It was simple yet highly modern, cute yet so
according to the day’s fashion that I finally decided there couldn’t be a
better gift that would always remind Rachael of me.
The
only problem with that gift was that it was way over my budget. But once I had
set my mind straight through it, I wasn’t the one backing away from it.
Although it was tough convincing my mom for lending me some extra money and by
extra I meant almost two to three thousand rupees which I asked her to deduct
timely from my next pocket money, in the end it had all turn out to be fine
with the gift gently resting in my hands.
The
moment was perfect, the time all set and the stage, well there couldn’t be a
better one for us. It was my plan and words couldn’t really show how happy the
two of us were at that time. Both of us were on horsebacks and I had just asked
her to line her horse a bit closer to mine one so that I could hand over what
had kept me so long to decide. Till then it was obvious that it was not much
sort of a bulky gift but still Rachael even till that time didn’t knew what
magic was she about to witness.
I asked
her to give me her hand and leaving both my own hands from the reins,
confidently bended my stature over to the right, I quickly opened up the palm
of my hand and there was a glorious little pink bracelet with glossy sky blue
finish around its corners. The thing making it more beautiful was the little
shiny gems embedded all over the boundary giving it a splendid modern look. For
me a great sign of relief came when I gently pushed the open extendable side of
the bracelets around her delicate wrist and it ended up as a perfect fit.
I
looked up smiling but surprisingly rather much more worryingly she wasn’t that
satisfied with her sights as much as I was. She wanted to say something to me
but I could easily see the words weren’t somehow coming out. Something
definitely wasn’t right and I came to know about it just a split second later.
I
turned my head back towards the saddle of my horse and till then it was far too
late. I had lost my balance over to my right and dreadfully there was no way
back. Both my hands were already in the air and once I tried to swing them back
to regain control grabbing the reins, the only thing I ended up was making the
horse feel scared.
Like
all horses do once they get scared, mine one did exactly the same. The joy of
rhythmic trot over my combed pony turned into an all out gallop for me. To be
honest I never really felt the tides turning so soon. I thought of it as one of
the finest moments of my life but in less than five seconds it had swung to one
of the wildest adventures I had never even dreamt of.
By now
I was holding on for dear life. I tried to get off the horse but like they say,
“Once you are facing a bad situation, by struggling it can only turn worse for
you.” At once, I almost got rid of the horse and was all prepared to hit the
ground hard on my back but the adventure didn’t seem to end up that soon. The
horse kept fast on its pace and I found all my body away from the stallion
except for one unfortunate feet. My right foot was still stuck in the stirrup
and seriously at that time I came to know what pain actually felt like.
It took
nearly ten more seconds of my rough ride till the horse caretakers halt the
raging horse to a stop but till then the damage had already been done. I
couldn’t even move my right foot and once they dragged it out of the stirrup, I
was quite sure there was something broken underneath the flesh. With so much
pain and nothing except the gruesome hell of a ride on my mind, I saw some
people lift me up to the back of an ambulance and I left the place without
noticing much of Rachael presence anywhere near me.
I was raced
on a stretcher though the hospital corridor. The pain never seemed to lessen up
even a little bit and it was quite obvious when the emergency doctor on duty
after doing a couple of X-ray tests confirm that I had completely fractured
seven of my foot joints and would be spending quite some time in the hospital.
Lying
over a white bed sheet in a lonely room with tall white walls all around me and
my eyes set on the white ceiling over my head, I started thinking about how it
all happened so quickly. Having control over only one of my legs I turned
myself to stare at some nice looking scenery with horses in its background. In
the meantime, capturing the sight of a wall clock, I realized that it had been
less than half an hour once I glanced at my watch in the riding club just
before giving my birthday present to Rachael.
Soon
afterwards, looking here and there I noticed the bed sheet grasped tightly in
the fists of my hands and I found myself almost crying with pain. Fortunately I
didn’t had many tears shed once the door of the room slammed past and a doctor
along with my mom and dad rushed inside the room. That was all I remember of
that time because just seconds later, the doctor that had came to my aid
pierced the skin of my arm with an injection and instantly I fell asleep.
The
next morning came up pretty soon and I found myself waking up by a strange
saltiness in my mouth. Not realizing it in the first place I swung to the other
side and noticed a stream of tears running down my cheeks. Wiping them off I
tried to recall what I had been going through the entire time while sleeping.
It wasn’t a favorable thing for me to do but I soon recollected all the
memories about Rachael that were continuously running down my mind all the time
while I was asleep.
I considered
myself a fool ignoring a broken leg and still being able to think about Rachael
who at that time my mind definitely considered something trivial but sadly it
was my heart on which I was running at that time. Anyhow, for a moment I caught
hold of my emotions slightly and looked here and there in the scarcely sunlit
room. Glancing at a circular framed clock that told me it was just half past
six once I had already welcomed the early rising sun.
Apart
from that the only other thing my eyes were able to get hold of was a tall
metallic frame over which my right leg was carefully positioned almost cemented
with some sort of plaster over which I felt like having no control at all.
After failing a few attempts of dragging my body here and there to find a comfortable
posture for an hour or more of sleep, I had no other choice than closing my
eyes directly facing a window with bright sunshine scattered all over it.
My next
wakeup call came once I found myself really struggling to open my eyes and
inform everyone that I am awake and alright. I was hearing couple of anxious
voices calling my name out loud and I could easily feel all of them waiting for
a response which somehow I didn’t found myself capable of. With my mind
swinging and teeth’s rattling, I wanted to say something but the only word I
heard myself call once was of not my mom, not my dad, not of any other family
member or friend rather against all odds it was the name of Rachael which to be
honest I never pronounced intentionally.
The
next moment was really comforting. My long shuttered eyes instantly gave way
and I found a really sweet moment ahead of me. The thing that made my eyes open
up so quickly was that I felt something strange yet highly familiar touching
the palm of my hand.
Anxious
to know the cause I shifted my head to the opposite side and found Rachael
standing alongside me with one of my hands in hers. I could see my mom and dad
standing a few feet back as well but somehow time stood by for a second. My
body felt completely numb and I was desperately trying to get rid of such
unusual feeling. I kept on looking around and saw Rachael lift my hand over to
her lips and gently brush it with her delicate lips keeping the procedure too
careful all the way.
All of
a sudden, it felt like I retrieved my lost sense of hearing somehow. The voices
closed in on me from all sides and I was glad to find myself in the rush of
life again. Greeting everyone in the room I sat up and slid back getting my
back supported from the bed itself. Waiting for someone to say a word, I kept
silent till after a very long time someone finally spoke up something.
It was
the same old familiar voice of Rachael. But unfortunately the words didn’t
seemed much familiar once I noticed her completely out of her regular cheerful
context and apologizing me about something I wasn’t even sure about myself.
After a few depressant sentences I finally made out that she was trying to
plead herself guilty and take all the responsibility of my accident upon
herself.
Seriously
it seemed like more of a joke to me so I just smiled over saying “Do you really
think it was your fault? Common don’t make me laugh! You can’t be that stupid
enough alone to convince me do such a thing on my own. Such an act of
remarkable idiocy required more than one dumb brain and whether you agree or
not, I feed a far hungrier daredevil living inside my mind. Speaking of an
apology, that’s something which makes me feel ashamed of! As far as I could
remember, that was one of the most unforgettable thing I had ever helped my
mind come up with and if you think you require an apology for that, I am
actually really surprised over this act of yours.”
Agreeing
that her birthday just couldn’t end up that much thrilling no matter what might
had happened, she chuckled my plastered leg with a slight push hearing my
screams turn into laughs all the way as I saw even my parents silently smiling
at the back and enjoying our conversation, friendship and emotions for each
other.
With
all set and done, Rachael silently pulled off a carton of Kit Kat from under
the bed and joyfully holding a couple of them up for me apologized for a delay
in the birthday treat as her birthday had already ended up a day before.
Glancing
over one of the finest moments of my entire life even with a broken leg which I
had never expected to be a part of it, I was truly enjoying a lot in Rachael’s
company. Just before we ended up our chocolate bars and as our old ritual of
rubbing each other’s cheeks with our chocolaty hands ended, I noticed the same
bracelet I gave to her clasped onto Rachael wrist and it was looking absolutely
stunning over her slender fair hands.
Instantly
she also saw my eyes set over her hands and by the time I looked up in her eyes
to appreciate, there truly wasn’t any need of words to be spoken. I could feel
tears in my eyes and see the same ones in Rachael eyes as well. The two of us
hugged each other in world of new emotions and it was right at that time when I
came to know that the relation between me and Rachael was far more than mere
friendship. Words rarely describe such feelings. That’s exactly the reason why
for the two of us, it was simply something unexplainable!
arsal.shoaib@gmail.com Arsal Shoaib