It was just like any other day.
Actually no, it was not. It was one the weirdest days of his life.
Robin had just returned home after being fired from his job. He still did not know why. All he knew was when he reached office, there was a pink slip on his table which, when opened just said two words : You’re FIRED!
Why? He had no clue.
When he tried reaching out to his Boss, he got a cold shoulder from both his secretary and the secretary’s secretary. He was asked to clear his desk and leave office before lunch. A thing which, as an obedient employee, he did without fail.
And now when he returned home , Robin found his whole room ransacked. Standing there with the office belongings in his hand, he started thinking: Who did it? In fact, why would anyone do it in the first place. He did not have anything expensive or costly in the first place which could be stolen. In fact, the last time he had tried to give his things to a beggar, the old man with worn clothes refused to take it saying it was useless even for him.
This, after his father passed away without leaving him a penny.
All his life, he has lived under the shadow of his father. His Father, Colonel David Hood had been a true military man. Like all great Military men, he had squandered all his money on liquor and good petite women, whom he used to bring in his house right in front of Robin.
In fact, sometimes the girls would wink at Robin before going in his father’s room.
Robin’s Mother had passed away a long time back. So long, that even Robin did not remember how long it was. His father had practiced celibacy for the first few years. Being a gentleman that he was then, he would tell Robin stories of his youth and the times of war. Robin would sit and listen to them like a small child does to his father’s stories. Like any other child, In his childhood, Robin idolized his father. For him, if there was a god, he was a warrior. And if that god had an avatar, it was his dad.
All this changed when he graduated from college. His father, having conducted the final duty as a father, getting his son graduate without failing from a decent college, had suddenly returned to his journey of finding his youth. He would sometimes bring home not one, not two, but four girls with him. When Robin confronted him, all he had to say was, “Son. there comes a point in life when you have to choose whether to be good, or whether to be happy. I chose to be happy.”
After graduation, Robin joined a normal 9 to 5 job. the job was so normal that it was too boring to even call it normal. but he did not leave the job because he was being paid enough to support both himself and his father’s with it. Robin would be greeted with moaning sounds coming from his father’s room whenever he would come back from work. The sounds disturbed him initially, but as days went by, he got used to it. Later, when the house would be silent, he would twist and turn in his bed trying to sleep in the systematic churning sound of the old fan in his room.
One night, when Robin came home, he realized that his house was silent which was very uncomforting for him as he had got used to the sounds coming from his father’s room. He walked towards his father’s room and found the door open. It was again very strange for him as his father never left his door open. According to him, his room contained the belongings and secrets of the wartime which should not be seen or heard by anyone. He would never allow anyone to come inside the room except the whores he would bring from the street. In a way, he trusted the whores of the underworld more than the gentlemen roaming around in broad daylight.
When he walked inside and switched the lights on, he saw his father lying on his back, stark naked, staring at the fan which was churning slowly, moaning in its own rusted voice.
For the first time in his life, he saw god Naked. He would see him again in that state when they gave him a bath before his burial. Doctors never came to know the reason of death of Colonel Hood. He seemed to be smiling in his last moment. Maybe some whore gave him such pleasure that he died with an orgasm and a smile on his face.
Still, Robin did not hate his father. In fact, he still believed his father was god, and that now with his death, God was no more.
The will was read and all the belongings of his father was transferred to Robin. Colonel David Hood had left Robin with a house which was mortgage to an old man living somewhere in Indonesia. Robin had no idea who he was or how the hell did his father end up in debt for that guy. And the biggest mystery was how did that old man get whiff that David had passed on to the next world and he was here to take back the house.
The other belongings were payment for his other debts. After all the mathematics in kind, Robin was left with a bed and a cupboard with a locker without a key. He shifted to small dingy garage which was given to him after a friend took pity on him and allowed him to stay in the only vacant place in the house.
And right now, Robin was standing in front of a heap of ransacked clothes and books which he had very meticulously kept in the different shelves of his cupboard. And he hated his father today.
Land Ahoy!
Robin walked through what seemed to be a deserted war field. Books and clothes strewn everywhere.
“Bugger..did not leave me with anything…” He muttered to himself as he walked picking up his stuff.
He went in his friends house through the back door, the one he had always used, to see it spick and clean.
“what the…”, he exclaimed.
His Friend Diana’s parents were sitting on the table having dinner. Her parents looked at him enquiringly as he walked in through the back door. they never trusted him. The first time Diana had told them that one of her friends, who is now an orphan, needs a place to stay, they had frowned making the most ugly faces a human can make. But being orphans themselves, they had a soft corner for him and they let him stay in their garage with their old chevy in it. Robin did not mind as it doubled up as his bed and changing room. Robin had to come home before 8 in the night and no visitors were allowed. Also, under no circumstances was he allowed in Diana’s room. Robin did not mind that as he always saw her as a friend who was helping him in the most trying of times. In fact, he was surprised when she suggested that he should move to her home if he could not find or afford a place of his home. Why would someone who knew him as the biggest loser in office offer him a place to stay in her house. That too after he was fired out of office.
Robin stood in front of them for some time waiting for them to say something. For two seconds, both sides were motionless with Diana’s parents holding their spoons in mid-air and their mouths open waiting for him to say something.
“uhh…Did someone come to visit me today?”
“An old guy. he went into your room and came back after a few minutes. Said you were not there”, Mr. Skynard said.
“so…you did not tell him that i was at work?”
“how were we supposed to know you were not there?” Robin was amazed that they did not even know his work timings.
“uhh…ok. Did he give any contact details or something before he left?”
“nothing. He just said that you would know he had come. And now you do.” Mrs. Skynard quipped with the spoon half in her mouth.
“ok.” He started walking back when suddenly Mr. Skynard stopped him.
“wait!”. Robin stopped.
“ He said something else too. Something about the cupboard.:
“the cupboard?!” Robin turned back.
“Yes. He said that he had left the key on the top shelf and that you would find it there.
“what key?”
---*---
Robin came back to the garage. he walked past the wreck of books and clothes to reach the cupboard. He looked up at the top shelf. it was too high. Robin tried to feel the shelf with his fingers barely reaching them. As he pursed the shelf, his hands touched something metallic. He could not quite get it down. He grappled for it and finally managed to get it close enough to be able to pull it down. it was a brass key with a small dragon made in its hole.
Robin was confused.
He tried to fit it in the main keyhole of the cupboard. it did not fit in. He closed the door and then tried to fit it in. the key went in but it did not turn.
Robin suddenly noticed the old rusted locker in the cupboard. For the first time, Robin felt a gleam in the shelf. He fit the key in. the key went in like a hot knife on butter.
click.
the key had opened something which was closed for more than ten years.
As soon as Robin turned the key, he could hear the gush of water from the other side. before he could react, he found himself floating in water.
“what the hell…”
Water came gushing from the other side of the locker. Robin did not have time to react. he was too surprised, too taken aback by the current of the flow and from the fact that there was WATER locked inside the locker for all these years. Maybe that was the reason for the rust in the cupboard.
Soon, All his books, his clothes, his bed, the old chevy, everything in the closed garage got submerged in the water. And while this was happening, all Robin could think about was one simple fact:
“why the hell did I not learn swimming?!!”
As the water poured on him overwhelming him with the force, all he could see was the roof of the garage chiseled with holes. he could see the sun-rays passing through them. As he gazed on them not trying to resist the current, he felt the rays getting brighter.
As his ears got submerged into water he could hear the song his mother used to sing to him. it was like he was drowning in music. he could almost see the aquatic creatures swimming around him in the water now.
He did not resist. Life has played a joke on him. a big fucking joke. and the biggest joke of them all was a waterfall in the middle of his room. something which he could not comprehend even in his wildest dreams had come true. So he just let it be. He smiled as he took his last breath in the present world. he could feel the water seeping in his nose, his ears, his eyes, his brains.
From a distance, he could hear Diana calling to him. He tried to open his eyes, but it was too late now. He has gone beyond reach of anyone human. Through the water, he could make out a form who was reaching out for him. he reached out with his hand. His fingers barely touched the water surface. the sun rays had become bright enough to resemble the sun itself.
Amazingly, he had still not fallen out of his consciousness. Even in water, and with water in his lungs, he could still see and feel everything. His vision, though blurred underwater, could make out the figures and he could feel himself trying to swim to the surface.
Suddenly, a hand held his fingers and then his arm. He felt a tug and was pulled into the sunlight. A figure stood in front of him. he could only see a silouette with the sun behind him.
Before he could say anything, a pair of strong hands pulled him out of the water. it was broad daylight. His roof and garage had disappeared in thin air.
Robin found himself sitting in the sand with vast coconut trees lining the borders of the sea shore. In front of him stood a strongly built man in his late twenties. He had a cigarette in his mouth. His clothes were torn but felt as if they were tailor made for him. His face was blackened because of the sun behind him. He seemed to be smiling at him.
“Goodness me…look at you. Fancy finding you in the middle of nowhere…” he quirked chewing on his cigarette.
“where am I?” Robin asked.
“Get your question right son. Ask ‘who’ am I.”
“Who… Who am I?”
The guy came close to his face blocking the sun.
“Who are you my friend?..who ARE you?”
Robin looked at the face. From up close, the face was full of wrinkles. Wrinkles not from age, but from staying in the water for too long. He had never seen anyone like that before. He was speechless for some time till words found a way out of his mouth.
All he could say were three words:
“Robin. Robin Hood.”
(to be continued…)
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