It happened, like, last week. I was going somewhere with my girl's gang. We were walking on a road. There was a middle aged man walking beside us. While walking, a handkerchief fell off from his pocket. It was a ladies kerchief, so it stirred my curiosity.
"Uncle, your hanky feel off!," I called out.
"Oh. Thank you so much!," He exclaimed while picking up the handkerchief. Dusting it he held it close to his heart. "Thank you for telling. This is really important for me," he said smiling. But that smile had the lining of sadness. He turned to leave clutching the hanky to his chest.
But our curiosity was on its peak. An over sentimental friend of mine got really concerned and asked, "are you okay, uncle?"
He turned back and exclaimed with a sad face, "only if I could say yes to that." His smile had vanished.
"What happened? Um, your Mrs, is she okay? Is this her hanky?" Our senti girl asked in a concerned tone. What to do of this cartoon! No one asks directly all such questions! I nudged her with my elbow, but she ignored me.
"No. This is my daughter's." He said. But the sadness on his face increased by tenfold. His eyes held a confusing combination of emotions-- adoration, hopelessness and melancholy. "I lost her a few years back. She is missing for the last 7 years. This is the only thing I have of her now. If I lose it..." He trailed. Seeing him so broken made all of us emotional. Our senti was actually weeping.
Just then, "Did you find the hanky, dad?" Someone said behind us. We turned to see who that was. There was a girl of our age walking towards us. She came to stop beside the uncle.
"Did you find it?," She asked him.
"Yes. Take this." Uncle handed over the kerchief to her. The melancholic expressions on his face disappeared like dementors in front of a patronus. Instead of that, now there was a naughty but guilty smile.
"You.. You are his daughter?," I asked the girl. I was still in shock.
"Yes. Why? Did he tell some story to you, too?," Saying she turned towards uncle shaking her head. "Dad! When will your hobby of acting fade? I know you have rocked the theaters in your days, but that doesn't mean you should start acting whenever you want!"
Listening to her we all froze. We literally experienced the phrase, 'one's jaw hitting the floor.'
"Bye. Nice meeting you girls!" Laughing, uncle turned taking his daughter with his hand who was still babbling and left.
And we were there, still trying to process what had just happened.
°°°
From our guest writer I_noticed32
(04/06/16)