Shared roof.
“Tough night.” I mutter to myself. A rather hectic day at work leaves me yearning to go home as I approach the bus stop. Yet, I see there’s nobody standing there. Perhaps I have reached here the first for the 8:00 pm bus. I am exhausted and all I wish is to reach home without any interruptions. Yet, there’s more to my day. Much more.
As I draw nearer, it begins to rain. A gentle drizzle at first, then a heavy downpour and by the time I scamper under the bus stop’s shade, I am wet all over. I have no umbrella as the sky was remarkably clear at the morning and looking at the torrential rain falling before me, I can tell it will last long.
However, it doesn’t worry me the least. Soon, I shall be safely under the metal roof of my bus and heading for home. I begin to daydream about the things I shall do upon reaching home — watching a movie or playing a game perhaps. Or maybe just go to sleep — I am dead tired anyway — and wake up early for the first time on a Saturday morning. My reverie, though, is soon interrupted when I realize that I am still the only person standing here.
“Perhaps, they are stuck in the rain.” I reassure myself. Yet, looking at my watch, I see it’s already 08:10 pm. Surely, I haven’t missed the bus? Or worse, are buses not running tonight?
My mind quickly junks all my reveries and I leap into action. There’s no time to lose. I must hire a cab as soon as possible and reach home without being too late. Crimes have been reported in this area and I have no desire to stay stuck here for long.
I open Uber, yet I see no rides available nearby. Strange, this was the rush hour and how come not even a single ride is available? Only now do I begin to worry as I dread the possibility of walking to the nearest subway, which was at least half an hour away, in this rain, or being stuck in this perilous night.
To my great fortune, I see somebody walking by in a jittery pace. At first glance, I feel fear for this may easily be a robber or a drunkard who I don’t wish to cross paths with. However, upon closer look, I see it’s a woman and she is dressed in suit and tie. I guess she too had suffered the same fate as me and was heading towards the subway.
I shout waving my hand and startled, she sees me. First, I see a look of fear in her eyes as being a solitary woman in this dark night, she was susceptible to greater danger than me. Yet, upon seeing my drenched suit and shirt, I see her relax and approach me.
“Are you heading for the subway, madam?” I ask her.
“Yes. Surely you also are heading for that.”
“I am but I have no umbrella and this rain is too fierce.”
“Sure, come with me. My umbrella has room for two.”
“Thank you very much. You just saved me from a lot of trouble.”
Since I am taller than her, I hold the umbrella and we both trudge in the torrent of wind and rain hitting us. I introduce myself as Ravi and figure out her name is Anjali. I ask her why she was walking alone in this night without a friend.
“But all my friends have reached home anyway. I anyway had greater work and thus could only leave around 08:00 pm. Besides, most of my friends are married or have boyfriends so they were picked up while I was working.”
“So, you commute alone every day?”
“Yeah. To tell the truth. Every day. What about you Ravi?”
“Absolutely like you! Most of my friends are left early because they work in shifts whereas I am the department head. Funny isn’t it, as senior employees, we hope to get certain privileges and leisure is one of them. Yet, seems like only the juniors enjoy it.”
“My boss leaves at 6 pm every day, leaving me to manage the remainder.”
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean it at you in particular. I guess I only saw from perspective.”
“You don’t need to apologize.” She said good humoredly. “My boss leaves to spend time with his family and I can tell that you are single.”
“How did you figure out?”
“I guess I am simply good at figuring out.” Both of us laughed. I was beginning to like talking to her.
“Yeah, I was always single and never even imagined of having one so far. I always felt my classmates in college overhyped over such trivial matters regarding dating and all. If I ever see someone I like, I won’t press on. I would rather see it bloom naturally.”
“I agree. Hyping over such things is indeed pointless. Not like the other person’s feelings towards you will get any stronger if you hype with your peers and colleagues.”
“Besides, they do it mostly as a show-off.”
“Trust me, when my colleagues show me pictures of their vacations, I wish they had enjoyed their vacations more instead of flaunting it around.”
We both smile and trudge on. The rain was making the atmosphere faintly romantic, but I would never dare tell that aloud.
“It puzzles me how people like us, who are sincere in character, also have to trudge in life.”
“Oh, thank you for calling me sincere. In fact, you are the person who called me so, and I didn’t even know you before today!”
“Well, Anjali.” I pause. “What do you think of me.”
For a while she is silent, and I fear I have asked a question that went a bit too far. However, she smiles, and I know that she too was enjoying speaking to me.
“From what I have seen of you so far, you are indeed very sincere and hardworking. I had initially been scared when you shouted at me in the bus stop and frankly, the only reason I asked you to come with me was due to your decent clothes so forgive me for that. However, upon speaking with you, I do realize how you are a good man who tries to give his best despite all your work. Your grumblings are quite natural and so are mine and I hold none of that against you for sure. Haha.” She laughs.
Amazing. Most people would have just told a few perfunctory words just for the sake of politeness. But she is genuine; whatever she told me were words she spent time thinking over, not just a general giveaway.
“Did I say something wrong?” She asks with regard to my silence. I chuckle in my mind at how I too had gotten similar thoughts when she had fallen silent a while ago upon hearing my question.
“No Anjali.” I tell shakily. “I. I mean, nobody ever told me so much. It was always things like ‘good job’ and ‘well done’ and all.”
“Well, you heard from me.” She laughs and I have this faintest feeling that she too is feeling what I am feeling.
Rather sadly, we reach the subway. What’s sadder though, is that she is going on a different tube, and I feel disappointed I won’t be able to speak to her more. Besides, I was hoping her address was nearer to mine which would have enabled me to meet her accidentally at times.
But I want to meet her. I like hearing to her words. Is that dejection I see on her face? Dejection at not meeting me anymore? I decide to help her out, if not myself.
“Anjali, could you give me your phone number? That is, if you want to.”
Did I just see her face light up with excitement and hope?
“Of course, Ravi.” She doesn’t sound too excited when she gives me her number. I give her mine and I can tell she is beaming with happiness.
“I hope we can walk to the subway every day; you know.” What’s wrong with me?
Turns out, something’s wrong with her too.
“I would probably skip a ride offered by my friends to just take the walk to this subway.”
I smile. I know we have got it.
Both our subways enter the station. It’s time to part ways, only to meet again.
We smile and wish each other goodnight.
As I travel in my tube, I smile to myself thinking one of Shakespeare’s famous quotes.
“Good night, good night! Parting is such a sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
Thank you to Nicole Peery for the prompt: Write about a time you made a friend by accident.
