Nifty fifty

I extended my arm through the cage where a pensive parrot swung on a tiny swing.

He looked at me listlessly.

I held a red chilli between my fingers.

He took a dubious bite. He flew back. He probably wondered if that is what freedom tasted like.

Tears welled up in her big brown eyes. She sniffled and continued to sob. The knife glinted in the afternoon sun.

“How are you tearing up when I’m the one chopping these onions?” Robert yelled from the kitchen.

I saw a herd of sheep outside the butcher’s shop. All lined up to be slaughtered. His cleaver shone menacingly. Every time a sheep was slaughtered, did the others feel relieved that it wasn’t them that day or gulp in trepidation about when it would be their necks under the blade?

I found a book at my desk with a note.

” Do not open until Christmas “it read.

The book remains untouched.

The note never mentioned Christmas of which year.

Someone pushed past me and cut the queue to purchase the metro ticket.

I was agitated and sweaty. I wanted to yell.

My throat was dry. If only I could speak, I would have asked for alms.

I was to interview a potential candidate. She walked in, prim, pressed clothes and professional. She answered all my questions incorrectly.

“Any feedback? “she asked.

“Yes, where did you buy your shoes? I have been looking for this pattern for years and they have never been  in stock”

A gust of wind uprooted my lily plant. The petals danced to the tune of the wind.

The balcony was filled with a heady aroma.  Was it the lily’s joy of uniting with the wind or tears of distress at being ripped out at prime?

I let a helium balloon fly up into the skies. The balloon bobbed and continued to rise up against the clouds.

It burst with a loud pop and the rubber came swooping down.

Is that letting go feels like? Lightheaded and then later insignificant once the air is lost?

She spat on me, stepped on my feet while I was asleep. She rolled her fists and punched my face. I was awake. I could take it no longer. I picked up my two-year-old niece and took her to the park.

“Don’t” shrieked Gayathri when she saw a man in the dark alley. He was holding up a knife.

“You will be witness to this.” she declared to me. 

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Can you please turn off the TV, some of us are trying to sleep “screamed my sister.