The Wait

The clock strikes 6:58 pm, I reach for my keys in the jacket pocket with one hand, the other one scrolling through YouTube like Tinder! Sounds very detailed yet impossible to believe right? Neither did I believe this 6:58 pm theory till I took note of it one fine day. That one fine day moved to the next and the day after till I decided to name it “body clock”!

So I step in, change my clothes, wash, and hands and then begin the real toil…Cooking for two ain’t easy! You’ve to think and think real hard. Think of all the ingredients you got in hand, think of his expressions smack from the moment he rings the doorbell. But that’s not all I got in mind… I’ve to take my mood swings, cravings and will to irritate him into consideration too!

I’m bodily settled in the kitchen but mind still wondering what he must be up to. In all probabilities he’s on the last leg of his journey home; head against the glass window of the company provided mini-bus, breathing the polluted air swathed in a concoction of sweat and perfume. The sound of the loosely fit glass of the window against his sleepy head takes me back to the time when I put my first broken teeth in a glass jar and shook it every now and then!

The beat of the EDM drops and I turn my head from one side to the other, eyes shut, right hand tucked in my hair like I’m in some club while the frying vegetables in the pan adds an electric sound effect. I’ve tried to change the song many times but the slow ones are the worst. They make me sway my gait from one leg to the other, almost like Rikki Tikki Tavi, but only problem is he is still not there to hold me mildly tight from behind, place his chin on my shoulder and sway along. Movies have made me so dramatic!

It is 7:24 pm and my level of anxiety rises another notch. Ears turning red, I send him a furious text “kothai aachis tui” followed by a few angry faces and upset face emojis. Last seen still stuck at 7:11 am like a watch running out of cell, I put down my phone and stir the vegetables before they give up on me! I know he is nearby and must be rubbing the trace of sleep off his face when he pulls the phone out of his pocket, peeks while squinting still.

Stepping off the footboard of the bus, he walks homewards and sends a reply at exactly 7:37 pm “aschi baby”. Nothing can set me o fire more than open-ended replies after a lifelong wait! I grab my phone and press the call button and on the transition between the 5th and 6th long ring, I hear the latch of the main gate squeak open and even before I can press the red button to end the call, rings the bell… Not once, but twice just how I would ring the bell back at home to let my folks know the emergency with which I need to visit the washroom!

I walk to the door, in six long, actually giant long steps or maybe seven but surely not more than that I reach the door and just when I’m about to open the collapsible gate he spreads his arms wide and in a joyful yet monotonous tone says “babiee…” I almost forget that I was mad at him for an open-ended text, and fill myself in his arms like melted rubber in a mould! We embrace so tight that even the germs between us feel threatened! Kissing my left cheek, he reaches for my ear and whisper’s “baby, are we having chicken tonight?”