The Wall

The wet grey color of the road towards the Computer Science department blends entrancingly with the jade leaves balancing water droplets on their weak palms. Somewhere far, the two borders of the road merge together into a single dot, with trees still lingering over it, enclosing the path with a curved arch against the light blue sky. Nature seems to impeccably get the perfect color schemes, everywhere. Birds seemingly invisible to me tweet in the background, deer scamper into the grass, rumpling the blades as they disappear in the green.

I reach the wall, they have given it some thought and painted the thing in light green to match with the surroundings. Heart shapes carved crudely in the wall, the bent arrow with initials at it’s ends, declaring X’s love for Y make this more realistic lest I think it’s some kind of a heaven on earth. I am lucky that there is no one here today, so I have the whole wall for myself. The white fog disburses murkiness on the uneven ground giving it an impression of a Bollywood dream sequence. The sun comes out on the side of the courts and flaunts a luscious orange color.

There’s nothing as fun as playing tennis, getting your strokes right and hearing the ‘tut’ sound on the wall as if an applause for your play. The feeling is peculiar, at the wall. I feel as if I am the last person alive on earth. There is no one else around, nearer or farther. I tell Cosco to behave herself. But she won’t oblige. She just has to find the dreariest places to run to and hide herself up in confused foliage complete with invisible thorny plants so I get my fingers cut as I ramble to find her, half heartedly into the dark green. And the time passes in a jiffy.

I feel water drops on my forehead and the reducing stamina makes me hit the ball under the virtual net more and more frequently. The orange sun almost coincides with the court lights. It will rise up gradually, get bigger and yellowier. It should be past 8 now. Let me check… and as usual I have forgotten my watch. I am tired.

This is my last shot and Cosco has gone missing again! Are you coming or do you want me to come and force you out of there? Fine! If that’s what you want. I go fetch her from behind the wall, pack my stuff and move towards the cycle.

P.S: One rainy day, I had this strong urge to go to the wall. I dragged Cosco into it, in spite of her reluctance. Then the unanticipated event happened. Cosco rebounded from the wall and hit the wet wet ground drenched in water. And ya, I accept my mistake, I hit it after it’s bounce. And there you had it! She had come apart and was displaying a slight black chink in her coat. The bright green course hair standing upright and piercing me in the eye, making me feel guilty for my thoughtless, spurred action. Sure, many like her will come and go, but memories of Cosco will haunt me forever, and remind me of the fact “wet tennis ball is a ruined tennis ball.” The last thing you should do, is hit it when it’s wet!!

Splash. Hit. Tut. Crack.