Beautiful, Gorgeous Feet - A Short Story

Abhisek's loved Deepika Padukone.  Because, according to him, she had the most beautiful feet in all of Bollywood.
 
Beautiful feet.  There was something about feet that he found extremely attractive.  He always thought it was weird.  When his friends would be ogling at women's pictures, he realized he was the only person who would be looking down at the feet.  But he had managed to keep it a well-guarded secret.

"Damn! They are so big! I love them!" his friends would say.
"Ya... yes! Me too!" he would lie.

But this was just one of the 2 well-guarded secrets that he had.  The second one was his curse.  His feet.  They were the ugliest feet he had ever seen.  It was something that would give him sleepless nights.  He would always wear footwear that would cover up his entire feet so that nobody saw it.  It was his second well-guarded secret.

Sometimes he wondered if his love for feet was what made him change his place of work.  From being a salesman at a dress store, he had become a salesman at the shop across the street that sold women's footwear.  He would tell people and convince himself that its because of the pay.  But he secretly feared that it was solely because he had watched the salesman at the store getting to look at the beautiful feet of their customers.  He would spend all of his free time just gazing at the shop like a hungry little child while the lucky salesmen would hold and caress his customer's beautiful feet.  He had always felt a tinge of jealousy.

Once he had made the jump, he felt he was living the dream.  Of course, not all the feet were to his liking, but at least once in a day, he would come across a pair that would make him look at them in utter shock as to how beautiful they were.  He would try harder to please the owner of those feet.  He knew they would come back if he pleased them well enough.

He never took a day off.  His new boss loved him and would even point him to the other salesmen and ask them to be like him.  He felt he was born to do this job.

He wasn't exactly boyfriend material, but that never seemed to bother him.  The last relationship he had was during his high school days.  He had gotten used to living by himself.  Sometimes he does try to chat up with the customers with the extremely attractive feet, but that never seemed to lead anywhere near a relationship.

His parents made a surprise visit one day.  They had a secret agenda on their minds.  They told him to get dressed in his best clothes, and they took him to a house.  He realized he was going to see his possible future bride.  Arrange marriage was the norm.  He was very nervous.  He wished his parents had given him a heads up to mentally prepare himself for this, but he understood their drastic measures.  He had been avoiding the topic of marriage for years.  He guessed they knew this was the only way to get him to come along.

It was customary for the boy and girl to talk to each other in private for a few minutes.  Abhishek was nudged by his mom to go to the verandah where his possible future bride stood waiting.

As he walked out to the verandah, the first thing he did was to look at her feet.  He was struck with awe.  She wasn't wearing any sandals, and her feet were the most beautiful pair he had ever seen! 

That's when he heard her say,
"Ahem, my eyes are up here."
Abhisek snapped out of the trance and quickly looked up at her face.  May be he had an awkward look on his face because she burst out in laughter.  It was the most embarrassing moment of his life.

A month later, they got engaged.

They used to chat over phone a lot, and they would go out on dates every weekend.  The dates were the most exciting part for Abhishek as he would get to see her beautiful feet again.  She seemed very romantic and would always walk with her arm in his and would hold his hand when they sat together, but Abhishek was starting to get anxious.  Anxious that she would think he was weird if he ever told her about his secret.

3 months in, on a lunch date, sitting across from her, he removed his shoes and looked down at his ugly, very insignificant-looking feet in shame.  He was expecting her to scream in horror and leave him right then and there, but she just sat there and said nothing.  After a few moments, he gathered the courage to look up at her face.  She looked back confused.

"My feet are ugly." he said trying to emphasize the point.

"I..... I dont care..." she said confused.  Abhishek was taken aback.
"Your feet are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." he said after a moment's silence.  He was expecting her to scream in horror and leave him right then and there, but she just blushed.  She took hold of his hands and said,
"You got the most beautiful hands I have ever seen.  I have always loved hands for some weird reason!" she said laughing.
"Hands?? Whats so beautiful about them!?" he snapped.  He didn't get it.  How can someone love hands?  Its like 5 pieces of meat stuck together.  How can it be beautiful??  She seemed close to tears.  As if he had said something horrible to her.  The rest of the evening, they tried to talk about other things, but the awkwardness was palpable.

A few more days of awkwardness followed.  They rarely talked.  Abhishek would sometimes message her a good morning or a good night, and she would reply the same and that was it.

Abhishek was starting to get the feeling that may be this wouldn't work out.  He was wondering whether he should just break it off.

Then one day, out of the blue, he got a picture message from her in Whatsapp.

It was of her feet.  Her gorgeous, beautiful feet.

She had painted the nails and drawn some mehendi designs.  It was as if she was trying to make them more presentable.  For him.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen!  The next thing he knew, he was taking a picture of his hand and sending it to her.

She replied with a kiss emoticon.

He immediately called her up.  They laughed.  They talked.  Things were back to normal!

A month later, they got married.

Abhishek still thought she was weird for liking hands, but he had grown to accept it.  A lot of the nights, she would apply nail polish on his nails.  He would, of course, remove them in the morning before he headed to work, but sometimes he would wake up late and he would just let it be.  Some of his customers would give him weird looks though.

After a few months, he quit his job as a salesperson and joined another job in an office cafeteria.  He had to wear gloves there for hygiene reasons, so he no longer had to worry about anyone seeing his nails anymore.

And, of course, his phone's wallpaper was a picture of her feet.  Her beautiful, gorgeous feet.

***

Control - A Short Story

When you grow up, the scariest thing stops being the monster that may be hiding under your bed. The thing that scares you the most is losing control over what little you have.”

- Anonymous

“I am about to go on stage now.” I shouted into my phone amidst the loud noise.

“Muah! So proud of you!” said Nikita. Nikita is my fiancee of 3 months.

“Ha ha. Its not 'that' big a deal. Everybody who has completed 5 years in the company gets one.”

No, really, it isn't. But I like to keep mentioning it to her. I am trying to build up some kind of a credibility here. Trying to bridge the gap between who she thinks I am and who I really am.

“Oh! I will call you later. Its my turn!” I say, hearing my name being called.

“Okay, call me once its over! Bye!” she says.

I disconnect the call and run to the stage to collect my token of appreciation. And then, just like in those slapstick comedy movies, I miss my step and fall down. The applause, that had been continuing steadily for the past 10 minutes, turned abruptly into a wave of laughter.

“Are you alright?” said one of my colleagues helping me up, trying to control his laughter himself. I nodded that I am fine, but I can't stop myself from blushing. The laughter continued while I walked onto the stage.

A few minutes later, I was out having a smoke. The embarrassment lingered in my mind. My phone buzzed. Its Nikita. She couldn't make it to the anniversary celebration because her mother came down with pneumonia. I realized my hand still shook from the adrenaline of the fall. I ignored her call for now. May be she will think I am busy with something 'official.' May be that will get me some more credibility.

I go back in. The buffet is open. I walk over to the vegan section. As usual, the vegan section has very few people lingering about thinking twice before they chose anything. Its almost like they don't trust the chef. Like they expect him to have mistakenly dropped some chicken into, say the gobi manchuri. By the time you find out, you are too late. Worse even, you might even end up enjoying the 'strange, but good-tasting' gobi manchuri and never find the truth.

I wasn't feeling hungry, but I noticed my manager eying me from the non-veg section. To avoid any awkward conversations with him, I pick up a plate and served myself some gobi manchuri. I found some of my colleagues sitting at a table nearby and joined them.

“I dont know how you vegans survive, man! Its the same vegetables every day!”
“Well, its just depends on how you cook it. I mean, I have had meat before, and I dont miss it!” I said and started eating my gobi manchuri proudly. My colleagues watched me amusingly, almost as if expecting me to throw up disgusted and then go get some 'real' food.
“It does look delicious. Lemme have some of that!” said John poking at a piece of my gobi manchuri with his fork. I felt kind of relieved. I was worried how I was going to finish all of it.

“Oh my god! This is horrible!” John picked up a tissue paper and spit into it.

“Oh, comon man! Seriously?” I know they are just trying to annoy me. The pricks!

Ravi, another colleague of mine at the table, picked up another piece and put it into his mouth, then almost threw up.

“What? Cant you taste it?? Its rotten!”

I start to hyperventilate. To say the truth, it has been some time since I really tasted anything. Its almost like my sense of taste just disappeared. But it didn't happen in a day. It didn't happen quick enough that I missed it. It was like a gradual process. At first I found food not that tasty, and slowly I lost the sense of taste altogether.

“I.... I have anopsia. I can't smell. I can't taste well because of that.” I said.

“What?? How did that happen??”
“I smoke a lot.” I said as if that explained everything and avoided their gaze. Its not a secret. Everybody knew about my excessive smoking. I took a smoke break almost every half an hour.

“Dump that thing in the garbage and get something else, will you?” John said pointing at the gobi manchuri, of which I had taken another bite absentmindedly.

When I first noticed my sense of smell fading, I panicked and searched online about it. It was one of the side effects of smoking. I know its bad, but smoking is one of my comforts. Especially at a time like this when my mother's health keeps failing and I keep running out of money. The stress just pushes me to smoke more.

A few hours later, I am on the first floor of my house. I am having another smoke. Thoughts running through my head. I come here to smoke because my mom can't get up here after her recent hip surgery. And she does not know that I smoke. At least, I 'think' she doesn't know.

My phone rings again. Its Nikita. I talk to her. I pretend like everything is fine. I am used to this. I have been pretending to her for months. That's the thing with arranged marriages. Its 2 strangers coming together. You dont see each other much. Except you talk on the phone everyday. And you control what the other person knows about you. I am sure she has her secrets too. I am sure she isn't ready to share them too. Then, when we get married, the secrets will slowly trickle out. These thoughts make me want to grab another smoke, but I remind myself that I am already smoking one. One at a time, I tell myself.

I wake up in the middle of the night hearing loud noises. Its like someone placed a huge speaker right next to my ears and turned the bass up. I am screaming, but I can't hear my own scream. I try to get up and run, but my entire body is numb. As if a live wire was running through me. I see my mom rushing into my room and holding my head up. Touching me. But I dont feel it. I dont feel anything. She tries to pull me up, but I fall right back down like dead weight.

Mom gets the neighbors to help her take me to the hospital. I ask them what was happening to me. But they dont seem to understand what I was saying.

By the time I reached the hospital, I had given up. I was used to the loud noise in my ear. The numbness in my body. I have given up trying to get up. The doctor asks me something, but I can't hear him. And he looks confused with what I am telling him.

The nurse finally gives me something, and I start to feel sleepy.

The next time I wake up, the noise in my ear is less. I still can't move my body. Its like my body is separated from my mind. All I feel is tingling and numbness throughout my body.

My mom is sitting next to me looking worried. In comes Nikita. I force myself to sit up, to pretend like I am fine. Like I am cool, the way I had been projecting, but I am helpless. She is telling me something. I try to tell her I can't hear her, but I hear myself wailing. As if I have suddenly forgotten to form words. After sometime, some of my colleagues come into the room. It was the same exercise again. They say something and I wail back in response. The nurse finally asks them to leave as the visiting hours are over. My fiancee leaves after giving me a sideways glance.

After sometime, they sedate me to sleep. When I wake up, I am happy. The loud noise in my ear is gone. I try to get up, but I cant feel my body. Shit. The room is dark. But I can hear my mom's snore close-by. I just need to wake her up and tell her the good news. I hear myself wailing again. Still no words. Shit.

I hear my mom waking up and asking me if everything was alright. I wail again asking her to switch on the lights. I hear a nurse come in. I hear her asking me to follow her finger. Dammit! What finger?? Turn on the light!
“I think something is wrong with his eyes,” I hear the nurse say. I hear my mom cry.

The doctor comes in a few minutes later, and he's thinking aloud.

“This is strange. First his hearing goes away and he's paralyzed, and now he's blind. Nurse, send these tests for me, please.” I hear him scribble something. I hear him comforting my mom that he will do everything within his power to get me back to the way I was.

I keep hearing my mom sobbing, then eventually silence except for the constant beeping of a machine. Like the ticking of a clock. The nurse would come in at times and give me injections. I can feel the prick of the needle. The numbness of my body has vanished, but with it the sensation that I even have a body was gone. I only feel the pain, the only reminder that I even have a body. Like the pain of the pressure ulcers forming on by back because of the constant pressure on it.

I dont know how many days has passed. Sometimes my mom will speak to me saying how even though I “cant hear” her, she just wants me to know that everything will be alright.

Sometimes I hear her talking on the phone. And once I heard her talking to Ms. Das, Nikita's mother, on the phone. She was telling them that it is some kind of a viral disease. I am sure she was making up stuff to save the engagement. But I haven't heard her speaking to them again since, and I haven't heard from Nikita.

The wailing that I used to do seemed to have died down. Its like my voice muscles just gave up one day. May be I wailed too much. Now all I could do to respond was a low grumble, like someone who was half asleep and in pain.

I had gotten back to my sleeping cycle. At least I think I am sleeping in a cycle. In fact, I dont even know how long I slept. Its all the same. The darkness. The unending beeping of the machine.

One day I wake up to voices. The doctor is in my room, and he is talking with another man.
Man: Does he know that his mom is dead?

Doctor: There's no way to let him know. His hearing's out and so is his vision.

Man: Its a strange disease. What is it?
Doctor: I have no idea. I have run hundreds of tests. It must be some kind of a rare disease, but none of the doctors I have discussed with or the literature I have referred to points to anything conclusive.

Man: Have you decided what you are going to do with him?
Doctor: Well, he isn't brain dead, and nobody is coming forward to take him. The bills are piling up, and the hospital management is getting restless. I have no idea what to do with him. I was expecting may be you did.

Man: Didn't you say he was married?
Doctor: No. Engaged. You can guess what must have happened with that.

Man: You know, I was just talking to Raghu, and I think he will be very interested in this case.

Doctor: (Sigh)

Man: What else are you going to do? This is the best thing for him. He will make sure he gets his medical.... eh.. things done, like feed him through the IV, anything. I think one of his men was a nurse long back, so that shouldn't be a problem. Its perfect!

A few minutes pass. I try to cry out loud. The news of my mother's death had finally sunk in. All that comes out is a low grumbling noise.

Doctor: What about the noises he's making? Wont that be a problem?
Man: Are you kidding?? That's exactly what Raghu wants! Trust me, this would be the best thing for him.

The next time I wake up, I hear a humming noise. I have heard this before. Its an engine. I am being taken somewhere. I can hear that I am surrounded by a group of people. Some of them talking about the “new guy.”

We stop, and I hear them huffing and puffing as they supposedly carry me somewhere on a stretcher. I hear lots of people. As if I am in the middle of a crowd. I hear people chanting. I remember the chants. They are prayers.

I hear the voice of an old man close to me who keeps crying “Please, help my son! We dont have money for food!” I hear the noises of coins hitting a metal plate near my head. “Thank you! God bless you!” the old man would tell them.

“God bless you, son!” I would hear strange voices telling me.

I start feeling hot. The sun must be up, and I can feel it burning my exposed skin.

“You will be rewarded for your sufferings in the afterlife!” another passing voice tells me.

I can feel blisters forming on my chest and my stomach.

The old man presses his finger hard into my burnt skin and shouts real close to my ears,

“Cry louder!! They need to hear you suffering or they wont give us their money!”

***

The End.

- Rejo John

The Last Tenant

The last thing I wanted was to pay the high rent at a lodge.  I was lucky to find a house for rent on the very first day I arrived at the city.  The house was cheap.  And secure.  Just what I wanted.  It adjoined the owner's house and faced the backyard.

When I walked in the first time through the front gate, all I heard was loud noise from the owner's house.  I knocked on the door and waited.  There was no reply.  The TV must have been too loud.  I peered in through one of the windows and saw someone that looked like an old lady.  I smiled and waved at her, and she came over and opened the door.  There was someone else too, an old man.  He ran out of sight as soon as she opened the door.
"I noticed a tolet board on the gate." I said smiling.  That is what people did when they had a house to rent; they put a "tolet" board.
"WHAAT??" she said cupping her hand over her ear.
"TOLET BOARRRRD!" I said louder.  I didn't know if she was deaf or if it was the loud TV that made it impossible for her to hear me.
“Oh, okay!” she finally said.
Minutes later, she took me around to the house facing the backyard.  The backyard had no gate, but there was tall wall separating us from the neighbors.
Inside, the house was a mess.  There were things lying around.  Some bags, books.  Suddenly, I was worried that the previous tenant was still staying there and it would probably take some time before they  move out.  I told her I was looking for a place to move in quickly.  She said that I can move in anytime I wanted.  She said the previous tenant had left a long time ago.  I looked around.  There were just some clothes and books lying around.  For all I know it might be the owner's, but I didn't want to ask her anything more than I absolutely had to.  I was exhausted by all the shouting I had done.

I left telling her I would move in the next morning.  “Oh, okay!” she said and gave me a copy of the house's key.

I spent the night at Pinto's place.  Next morning, we caught a taxi and reached the house with my luggage.  I carried the box of framed photos and walked in.  Again, the noise of TV blared from the owner's house.  The door was closed and there was no sign of them.  As I walked past their door towards the back, I heard a growl.  At first I thought I was just imagining it.   Then I heard it again.  I turned around and realized that there was a fucking horse standing about 10 feet away from me, and it was baring its teeth and growling at me!  It took me a few seconds to realize that it was a dog the size of a fucking horse!

It took a step towards me like a wild animal about to kill its prey.  I shouted for the owner.  There was no response.  I can make out from the loud noise of the TV that it was running an ad for a fairness cream right then.  The dog barked and took another step towards me.  And that’s when I bolted.  I ran around to my door.  Realizing I needed the key, I dropped my box of framed photos which fell down with a loud crash and reached in to my pocket to grab my keys.  Reaching the door, I was actually relieved that it was not locked.  I got in and immediately shut the door behind me.  The dog continued to ferociously bark and scratch at the door.  I stood quiet wondering what the fuck to do.  I realized I hadn't even taken the owner's phone number, so I couldn't call for help.  After sometime, the dog stopped barking and scratching.  I slowly made my way to a window close-by and peaked out.  The dog was now pissing at the wall.  I sighed.  Then frustration hit me.  All I wanted at that moment was to somehow get the fuck out of there!

And that's when I heard Pinto walk in through the gate.

"Bro! Where you at??" he shouted.  The dog looked up towards the gate, growled, and ran out of my sight.  The next thing I heard was Pinto shout "WHAT THE FUCK!!!" followed by the crash of whatever he was holding hitting the ground, and the noise of his shoes frantically rubbing against the ground.  The barking continued, but got fainter and fainter.

I got out and hurried to the owner's door and banged on it.  Nothing.  I went to the window and looked inside.  There was no sign of them.  The only things moving were the colorful lights from the huge TV mounted on the wall.  I could hear the dog bark and Pinto shout somewhere outside in the street.  I ran to the gate and peaked out.

About 50 feet away, Pinto was standing on top of a white Indica while the dog kept barking and at times would try to jump on top of it.  Pinto, with one of his shoes in his hand, kept batting the dog away when it tried to do so.  The people inside the car were screaming and shouting at the dog.  I stood there frozen, taking it all in.  To my horror, the dog suddenly stopped barking and turned around and looked right at me.  It was almost as if it had telepathic abilities.  Like it knew it was being watched.  The next thing I knew the huge beast was running towards me with a growl.

I immediately latched the gate close, ran back to the owner's door, and started banging on it.  I was hoping that with the gate closed, the dog wont be able to get in, but then I saw its paws on top of the wall next to the gate.  It was somehow pulling itself up on the wall.  FUCKK!!  In a few seconds, it had climbed the wall and was standing a few feet away from me.  I once again ran towards the house, but this time, the dog was right behind me and I couldn't shut the door in time.  I kept running into the house with no idea what I was doing.  I knew I was going to run out of space to run pretty soon, but I kept like my life depended on it.  I reached the kitchen, and jumped on the counter.  It hit me that standing on the counter wont actually stop a dog that just jumped a freaking 6 feet wall.  That’s when I noticed a door in the corner.  Without thinking I jumped down from the counter and ran to it.  I twisted the handle and got in and shut it just in time to feel the dog smash itself against the door.
After a moment's whimper, the dog started barking again and scratching at the door with it unusually large paws.  I stood inside in the dark, trying to slow my breathing in an effort to calm myself.  The place stank.  I guessed I was in some kind of a tiny storeroom and the previous tenant probably left behind vegetables and such.  I waited and didn't move a muscle, and finally after a couple if minutes, the dog stopped barking.  After a few more minutes, I tried to gently open the door and to my horror found that the handle wasn't working.  It was completely limp as if it was connected to the lock mechanism.  I pushed and pulled on the door, but it wouldn't budge!  The doors seemed strong, as if made from really thick wood.  I realized I was locked up in here, and furthermore, hearing me try to open the door, the dog started barking again.

Frustrated, I took out my phone.  I should may be call Pinto, tell him I am stuck inside.  In the phone's screen light, something caught my eye.  Something on the surface of the door.  It was as if someone had scratched something on it.  I inspected it closer and made out the letters:  H-E-L-P!

What the fuck!!  That’s when I saw more writings on the wall.  All asking for help.  I took a step back and felt myself stepping on something.  Taken aback, I turned around and moved back to the door again.  The barking intensified.  The place stank.  I moved my phone's screen closer to whatever was on the ground.  At first, it looked like a pile of clothes.  Then as I moved the phone screen along, a skull with partially rotting muscle came into view.  At that moment, I realized the last tenant had never left the house.
 
***
 
 - Rejo
 
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