The Present

By Rohan Chetan Gohil

“Come on, stay a bit longeeerrrr, you’ve visited my home after ages!” Kamal with a frowning face.

“I wish, I had more time, have to get to the airport. It’s time.” Desperate Rick.

“let’s make some things very clear! You come here as per your wish, but you leave as per mine.” Kamal had made herself very clear with this statement. The hour hand of the clock stroked at 18:00 and Rick went off to catch his flight.

At the airport, the check in had already begun, Rick was in the queue waiting for his clearance, that is when he realized that he forgot to handover that special gift to her. He invested an entire week for that present but he forgot to give it to her. It was indeed a very special gift, pocket size but very important.

The luggage was piled up and ready to be taken to its rightful place in the airplane. Rick ran furiously towards the nearest officer. He was continuously humming. It usually happens when you are too scared of something. The officer somehow managed to calm his nerves, that is when he blasted out “THE PRESENT I forgot to give it to her, please get my luggage back, it’s the one with the white and blue stripes and it has got a tom and jerry tag on it.”

“Your luggage carrier has what? All apart, you want me to magically just go hauling around and find your luggage? What is your flight NUMBER?” The officer was furiously asking for that NUMBER but Rick froze to death. He stood still and went silent when he heard the officer saying. ‘What is your flight NUMBER?’

“Give me that God damn ticket of yours.” The officer grabbed the ticket from his hand. Rick was still in a dilemma.

Fortunately, the officer responded very quickly and stopped the delivery guy running the cart. “God bless the one that invented WALKIE TALKIES.” Rick shouted in excitement.

Kudos to Rick’s unique bag it was very much easy to find and to his greatest luck, the bag was at the corner. Rick ran towards it and furiously grabbed the bag from the officers' hand, the entire pile fell down just like the twin towers in NOIDA.

The officer was pissed but Rick didn’t give a fuck. He was in a different zone by now. He was trying to break the zip lock and pulled his chain lever furiously. He had now broken the chain lever, the only mechanism that was holding the bag together. The suitcase opened up like a butterfly! The officer just stood there as if he knew that this madness was going to end soon.

Rick started searching in the bag for the gift. It must have slid down at the bottom of the suitcase. As soon as he felt the sturdy cover with his desperately searching hands, he shouted joyfully as if he had discovered the well-kept secret treasure of Genghis Khan.

He picked everything back up, but obviously it wouldn’t pack, he had already broken the lever of the chain. He was pissed, so pissed that he took out his long tie around his neck and tied the entire bag with it. Survival hack!

After ignoring the tantrums by the officer beside him, rick ran towards the nearest exit. He just wanted to give the gift to Kamal.

He barged through the gate, found a taxi, he forced himself in it with a suitcase which was barely tied together with his tie, he handed over a crisp 500 INR to the driver.

Kamal on the other hand had no idea what was going on. She was cherishing the precious moments she had with Rick.

She heard the door bell, as she peeked through the key hole, she saw rick standing there with an opened suitcase and a box in his hand. His appearance was not very soothing. His shirt was off his pants, the collar was disoriented. It looked as if he had just got off from a Virar local train.

Kamal, was completely shocked by his appearance, she ran and started panting on rick, but this guy was in some other world.

He just stood there with the ring in his hand, smiling at Kamal. It felt as if time had come to a halt.

Rick snapped BACK to reality, thanks to the heavy honking in the backyard. He handed over the gift to Kamal and said, “I forgot to give this to you.”

“This better be worth it.” Kamal replied anxiously.

What is it? Kamal asked.

Open it, see it yourself. - Rick

The gift was supposed to be an old watch, which rick had given it for restoration. It was his mother’s watch, which he wanted to give it to Kamal, because he discovered peace with her.

But...

To rick’s surprise, the gift turned out to be a ring. Kamal was extremely emotional at this moment. She thought Rick was proposing!

She couldn’t control her emotions and she said, YES! Rick had no idea what in the living life was going on. He wanted to propose her, but it was too soon. He had lost a flight, had fought with multiple officers at the airport, to give this gift to her, which was not what he had intended to give her.

At the restoration shop

‘Oh shit, I messed it up! I asked for his contact NUMBER but sire Rick just couldn’t give it to me. I don’t understand what’s so wrong to share a mobile NUMBER ! Never mind, he’ll soon find out and be here to exchange the package. I’ll also apologize for my misery!

The door barged open.

Oh hello! Welcome back sir, how can I help?

By Rohan Chetan Gohil