The gift

Life had made me cynical. Life had also begun to add to my waistline.

The good doctor recommended an early morning jog. After battling the initial laziness, I began jogging in the wee hours of the morning.

The first few days were bad. I could hardly jog ten minutes before reducing to a trembling, huffing mass of flesh.

It was only a matter of time before I got used to jogging. Partly out of embarrassment of seeing people in their fifties jog comfortably while I, a young man in his late twenties, sat panting on a park bench.

It was at the park that I met her. She began jogging a few weeks after I began. Our paths began to cross more frequently and soon we became friendly.

Is it natural to start developing some affection for someone you meet regularly? What about amorous ones? I do not know.

What I did know was that I was entering dangerous territory- the road to hell, with the possibility of damnation. I have been there before, so I know what it can be like.

The cynical part of me is extremely protective of me. While the optimistic minority in me always sees a ray of hope.

After much prodding from the optimistic minority, I shed my armour of cynicism. But I was still wary. I kept looking for an opportunity to hint. Out of the blue, an opportunity popped up.

'Do you know where I can get the complete collection of poems by R.L. Stevenson?' she asked.

'R.L. Stevenson wrote poems?' I thought he only wrote prose.

Apparently he did, and she wanted them. An idea began to form in my mind. It made an excellent reason for a gift.

I began hunting book-stores all over town. Used-book stores, book-sellers on pavements, Internet stores, and the old-friends network... any place I could think of. Two months later, I managed to get my hands on a book published 10 years ago.

I took upon the task of restoring it. A week later, the book did not look as old as ten years. The weekend was only two days away. We agreed to meet at a coffee shop near her place.

'Let's meet at 5 in the evening. There is something I must do after that.'

The words rang in my head, and there was lightness in my step. I wanted to ask her to a movie as well, but with a gift like that, I knew she wouldn't say no.

The weekend arrived. I grew impatient as seconds ticked by slowly. I was at the coffee shop at five, waiting for her. She joined me a few minutes later.

'I have invited a friend along, I hope you don't mind' she said.

As long as she is not trying to set me up with one of her friends, what problem can I have...?

'Well, I ...' I began.

'There he is!' she exclaimed and waved her hand.

He? I spun sharply towards the door, to see a man walk towards us, grinning broadly.

'This is Arvind, my soon-to-be fiancé' she said, her eyes lighting up as he neared our table.

Again? Won't the cycle of "so close yet so far" ever end?

Looking at me, she added 'He knows all about you'.

Does he really?

'We are getting engaged next week' she said. Before I could say anything to the contrary, she interrupted saying I must make it.

I bared my teeth at him, hoping it looked like a grin, and shook his hands. I should have crushed his hand when I had the chance.

'Congratulations! You are a lucky man.' This indirectly meant I am the unlucky one.

'Remember I asked you about poems by R.L. Stevenson? I wanted to buy that book for him.'

The book was for him?

Turning to him, she said 'You know, I even asked him to hunt it down. I don't think he took any interest in it!'

Little did she know...

'Hey, you said you have an important thing to do today! What is it?' she asked with mischief in her eyes.

'Oh that...' and I began to falter. I had planned to give her the book.

'A date?' she persisted. Her boyfriend was grinning. I should have punched his face when I had the chance.

'No... It is a birthday party. One of my best friends, a must-attend.... I guess I should leave now.' Better make a graceful exit before emotions take over.

A final round of handshakes and I was out of the place. But there was no way I could hope to avoid demons on the road to perdition.

And the book? I tossed it into a trashcan on my way home.