A Ride For A Life...

“Who was it? An intention, a motive…or a drug?”, I asked the question to our three friends who attained an interview based on a crime committed by them. The main object of this interview is to know why the complainer himself overdrew all the charges he charged against them.

“We were jailed for an hour or so when he came and helped us to get rid of the mess we created. We are really very proud of having witnessed of a man like him.”, said Jit.

“How does it feel when you started?”, I asked Naresh.

“Well, what can I say? I felt like kicking the son of a biEEP’s ass but when he described I realized that if I say no then I’m gonna miss a hell of an adventure. I mean making fool out of the whole world was basically the foolest but coolest idea one can ever imagine. But tell me Riddhi, how on earth have you thought of that?” he questioned the mastermind of the flop plan, Riddhi.

We were ready to hear what he has prepared to say. And then he goes like this,

“We were in need to have a public attention. And for the last one year we didn’t have it. We tried everything. We were desperate enough to catch up the limelight with us. But all were hopeless. It’s like nobody gave a shit for a shit we shit on them. I was fed up. We all were fed up.”

“But why did you want to be spotted?” I questioned.

“Because we were intending to be famous”, and Riddhi continued, “then something came up. This something was not legal at all. All we needed was a bit of money and a lot of fortune. One of our friend is a newspaper reporter. He channeled us to a T.V. reporter. I am sure the names cannot be breached from me. I talked my plan with him. We organized a team and get ourselves ready for the deal. We opened up a company that was intend to make some world-class cookies. All we need was to have a blast in our launching. So, we planned to have a more world-class figure to represent world-class cookies. And when it comes to world, football rules it. So, we thought of bringing the biggest star in football of modern times”, he stopped for a while, drank his coffee.

I asked him, “nice move it was. But how have you contacted?”

“We didn’t. We just went to see him. We went to see him via his mentor. We were invited by him and we met. We just told him about our company and offered him some cookies. He ate after he agreed for a one-year contract of a one-billion-dollar deal and agreed to extend if all goes well. We told him that the shooting would be done shortly after we gather our rest of the team. Told him that we gonna pay the amount after the launch. It was a done deal. We came back to India and…”

“You tore off the contract paper.” I stopped him and told it.

“Yes. We did. He put a case on us. And as the deal was made in other country so we had to go there and surrender. We again went there and as soon as we touched our feet off the plane, the officers handcuffed us and put us behind the bar.” He said.

“But, why would the footballer came up and rescued you all? He himself was been cheated by you, he himself put the case and then he just showed the candle to you to freedom?”, I asked impatiently.

“Maybe he thought of being gentle or maybe he was just kind to us”, he gently replied.

Ummmm…sorry to let you all down. This is not the story. This is the story that gonna publish tomorrow in the newspaper I work for. Now, let the things be unleashed…

We two, I and Riddhi went for cigarette after finishing the interview. Riddhi suddenly told me, “why do you think he would do that?”

We paused for a while. Then we both laughed for a long time. Let’s remove the curtain from the ‘case unsolved’. Here’s what truly happened.

The friend of Riddhi who worked for a newspaper was me. Radhika, sister of Riddhi, was struggling from blood cancer. It was her last stage if a Bone Marrow Transplant was not done. I planned the whole thing. It was a mess I knew. But it was worth a try. As we approached the mentor of the footballer with real name and real cause, he just ignored. So we built up a fake company. A fake name. some cookies from some unknown stall. We started our ride for Radhika by opening up sites, stalled in puja maidans for her. Put up flexes. But nobody cared. Still, for some humanity is still alive, we had collected 5 lakhs rupees. We added a bit more. Travelled to Spain. Met the footballer and bluffed him. He was a good guy who trusted us. There was never any cookie company. When we were caught up by police, he came to see us. We told him that we knew that a straight step towards him for the sake of Radhika was not possible. We had to bluff. As his agent was sucking our mind every moment. We told him about Radhika. He smiled. He told us about the problems he is having with his taxes, if he took the expenses over himself then in near future some legal controversies can happen. We were seeing that our last hope was going away from us.

Suddenly he called someone and told us to go along with him. We went and was as surprised as Noah. We shared handshakes with the new guy. Our guy told us that the new guy was going to take over the expenses of Radhika from now on. I can’t forget the words that day told by these two great men. The new guy told, “I can imagine what surprises you all. You think I and him always been a rival and can never be good friends. You know, you all made us look like that but we are like buddies and we enjoy seeing you all talking bullshits about us. No offense, you may not but others do.” Our guy told, “whatever, your trouble is ours now. We two gonna take over the responsibility of Radhika. We are not doing it for publicity, these help gonna be a secret. Because this is not a help, this is a tribute for your try. A try that should be respected.”

We were not feeling proud because of the praising words they used for us. We were just amazed as before after seeing the two legends smiling at each other’s joke. I heard saying the new guy about a good-looking girl he just met, our guy smiled and told, “how many girls have been good looking to you?” the new guy replied, “except your wife.” They were laughing. But we weren’t. We were just as amazed as before. They don’t even bother for a publicity for doing such a life-saving work. I don’t know if they score goals or not. What they have done for Radhika being silent guardian, was enough for me to see them as legends.

 In this whole time the entrepreneur has been me. The fake documents were made by a friend of us whose father is a lawyer.

Radhika has passed the Bone Marrow Transplant operation. She is now under chamoes. She is quite well.

It was a good ride. A ride to save a life. It might have been a bit rougher but we were all out of options as people won’t be listening to you until it’s a controversy.

Why have we done it? Because someone pushed us to do it. The question remained, who was these two men? Well, I can’t answer it as they would mind if I do. My silence can provide Radhika, the love of my life, a good ride to have a better life.

I don’t think it’s a tough guess to guess the names of these two legends. As I may say, Spain is a good place to visit.

Sometimes I asked myself for whom I was such psychic?

Who was it? An intention, a motive…or a drug?

Love is a drug. Isn’t it?

Kiss With A Fist...

Everything had been going outstandingly well. All the plays were executed perfectly, they were up by a goal, and Macy hadn’t even once gotten into a fight with a ref or the team captain from the Owls because if Macy knew how to do anything besides play soccer, it was how to fight with Athena May.
             “Uh, el capitán, you might want to stop Macy from doing that thing she does that she is doing right now, oh God,” Andy yelped and covered her eyes from the impending disaster that was about to unfold and oh god was absolutely right.
            “I don’t think I can take this,” Quetzalli said from besides Andy. She was rubbing consoling circles into her back while pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
            Macy did this literally every time they played the Owls and it was usually just easier to let her and the Owls’ captain blow through it for a few minutes.
            “Coach, should we do something…?”
            “In a minute, just let ‘er blow off some steam,” he sighed and sat down on the bench in defeat.
            “That was obviously a foul, you ass-backward muppet!” Macy shouted as she helped Angela up from where she lay sprawled from the hit she had absorbed. She winced in pain but managed to limp off the field with the help of the other girls. Macy stomped over to the other captain purposefully. She herself was sending the girl who had crashed into Angela off the field with a placating look and a face like she was going to handle it. The Owls’ captain scooped up the soccer ball and strode over to meet Macy halfway.
            “Where the fuck do you think you’re going-“
            “Lay off her, Tran,” she growled at Macy. “It was an equal collision.”
            “If you think that was in any way Angela’s fault, then you’re a lot dumber than I thought you were.”
            “What the fuck did you say to me, who do you think you are, you petulant, egotistical-“
            “You heard me, Mayfly,” Macy said stepping even closer to her. Athena May exuded a certain strength much like Macy thought Athena the goddess would and her emerald bright eyes were distracting as all hell, especially when she was one wrong word away from tackling Macy into the turf like that one time three seasons ago.
            “Oh, Mayfly, is it?! Listen, Transatlantic Trade, Ally didn’t do jack shit by herself so you can just keep your foul until you’re willing to take equal responsibility for it!” Athena hated that this sparrow of a girl was egging her on so much and she hated that she was absolutely loving it. Athena thought that this was the day they were going to finally show down because Macy looked pissed as shit and her hands were clenching and unclenching at her sides.
            “If you think that I’m going to even think about taking any sort of blame for whatever that clumsy-“
            “Hey, dumbasses! Either kiss and make up or get back to the game!” Macy’s coach yelled from the side of the field which was met with grumbled affirmation from the rest of her team. They both stood in silence for a moment.
            “What the fuck did he just-“
            “Oh, come off it, May,” Macy said with startling tenderness. Athena looked down at her and was shocked into silence at the flush traveling up Macy’s neck. She started to smile but was suddenly cut off my Macy’s vice grip on the front of her jersey and the rough clash of their teeth against each other. Athena could feel Macy’s hands shaking against her collarbone and she could tell it wasn’t out of rage anymore.
            Athena dropped the ball she had rested on her hip so that she could twist one of her hands into Macy’s ponytail and the other to ruck up her shirt to get to her firm back still slick with sweat. Macy calmed down just enough so that the press of lips was less painful and more like an actual kiss. Athena’s laugh melted into a sigh.
            “Okay, okay, knock that gay shit off, get back to the game!” Jenavieve shouted from the bleachers. Athena managed to flip her off even as Macy pulled away from her.
            “Guess your mouth isn’t just good for screaming at me,” Macy muttered in a haze. She licked her lips and almost wished that they both hadn’t been covered in sweat for that first one.
            “You do most of the screaming anyway,” Athena laughed and bumped her head against Macy’s. “See you after the game?”
            Macy giggled and then covered her mouth in embarrassment. She was tough as shit and Athena was going to fucking know it. She smoothed out her grin and shrugged. “Yeah, that’ll be fine, we were gonna see you clowns anyway.”
            Athena laughed. “Okay, see ya ..after we win.” She thumped Macy on the nose and jogged away. Macy stared at her back, appalled at the nerve of this two-faced, manipulative-
            “Oh shit, you have another thing coming, oh God,” she fumed, throwing up her arms in exasperation. She made her way quickly back to the bench, a great play already forming in her mind because she was going to beat that perfect specimen’s team into the ground. As she explained it carefully, the team tried their best not to laugh because Macy was still sporting a delicate blush and swollen lips from where Athena had basically smashed into her.
            Soon enough their time out was over and they were back on the field, their passes perfectly executed, clean, and almost too fast for the Owls to keep up. Athena had managed to get the goal that had put them into over-time and Ally from the Owls almost managed to get a kick past Andy but fumbled at the last minute allowing Quetzalli to make the winning shot.
            Cheers erupted from both the team and the bleachers. Macy celebrated momentarily with the rest of the girls, giving high fives and sweaty hugs before turning back and jogging leisurely up to Athena who was panting her compliments to the other players on her team.
            “So,” Macy said once they were within earshot of each other. “Is this what you meant when you said ‘see you after the game’?” She took a deep breath and held it, trying to get her heart rate back down. Athena laughed and wiped sweat from her brow and the side of her long neck.
            “I was thinking more along the lines of maybe a movie or dinner, actually,” she said, still breathless but happy with the outcome of events. Maybe not the lose itself, but certainly the events occurring after.
            Macy was struck shy by the newness of Athena’s smile. “Dinner sounds great actually. The team’s heading out for pizza, did you guys wanna come?”
            Athena looked back at the Owls who were all giving her simultaneous thumbs up. “I think we’ll just have to manage between the two of us.”
            “Okay, then. Get your stuff, I’ll drive,” Macy said before turning away to also gather her things.
            “Wow, wait, that’s fine, I’ll drive,” Athena called after her. Macy turned around, the familiar spark in her eye.
            “Why should you drive, my car’s right over there.”
            “Well, so is mine-“
            “Yeah, yeah, mine’s closer-“
            “Macy, they are right next to each other, you glared at me when you were getting out before the game-“
            “Then it shouldn’t be a problem-“
            “You’re so stubborn-“
            “I’m stubborn, what about you-“
            Quetzalli turned away in disgust. “This is never going to end,” she groaned and dragged Andy away who just laughed. The world was full of regularities. Still, for them, everything indeed was going outstandingly well.