"BUT HE can't just die, Mom."
"Sally, my father was eighty-nine years old; I'd say the man had a right."
Sally pouted her lips wistfully. Oh, how she missed her grandfather!
Marja hugged her daughter to herself. "I understand."
"Gramps was a wonderful man, wasn't he?" Sally sniffed inelegantly.
"I know." Marja tightened her hold on her sixteen year old daughter.
Grandmother Liz had passed away five years ago. Since then, Daniel Howard had been bed-ridden, and had seemed older and weaker like never before.
Everyone knew how much he loved Grandma. At least, Sally did. Gramps had always spoken of his wife with love gleaming in his old eyes. Gramps had always been a good friend and confidant to Sally.
As she freed herself from her mother's embrace, Sally could still remember distinctly the last smile that had brightened the old man's face as he'd narrated to her the story of his love for her grandmother.
LITTLE DANIEL looked excitedly at the loaded van of the packers and movers. The prospect of getting new neighbors delighted him. Especially since the family contained a little girl.
Daniel watched from the window as the small girl got down from her car. She was sweet-looking, licking on a lollipop as if she had no worry in the world. As she looked around, her dark black curls moving to and fro with the motion of her little head, her eyes caught hold of our hero looking at her in a mesmerised fashion.
And then she smiled. Oh God, wasn't that exhilerating! A beautiful girl had smiled at him! How he longed to run along and introduce himself to her!
He saw her everyday, but he simply couldn't gather enough courage to walk up to her and say "Hi, I'm Danny." One look at her eyes, and he was lost. Kaput!
She smiled benignly up at him everyday, and he hoped she had some good opinion about him.
Daniel looked at her from the corner of his eye every morning in school; every evening, as he played in the park. He loved to see her graceful walk; the way her pink lips turned red as the flavor of the strawberry lollipop imprinted itself on them; he loved everything about her. Everything.
He fervently prayed to God (and that was the first time he'd ever prayed) that he would get a chance to talk to her.
Was God listening?
"IS THERE anyone who can read the passage?" The English teacher asked, facing all the eager, upturned faces of the kids.
Daniel caught the girl eyeing him interestedly. Was she expecting him to stand up and read? He tensed. He'd never been an active participant in the English class before. Moreover, the teacher had caught him passing notes to the other kids, flying paper rockets all over the classroom when she was facing the blackboard, punching little guys right in their faces, et cetera, and even though Daniel hadn't been doing all these ever since his angel set her foot in the little town, he could guess what the teacher would do if he got up and offered to read.
She frowned as he sat there, feeling wretched for not being able to stand up boldly. He wasn't good in pronouncing new words; he'd never excelled in that. Then she turned away abruptly. She was angry, he sensed. The realisation worsened his condition all the more.
All of a sudden, the renowned (and highly despised) "nerd-of-the-class" raised his hand. The teacher beamed as she fondly asked her "pet" to stand up and read.
He stood up, casting a proud look over all the people surrounding him and began reading in his best voice.
When he finished, the teacher was very much impressed. And so was his angel, Danny noticed ruefully.
THE FOLLOWING days were spent planning the downfall of Nerdy. By this time, he'd learned that the little girl was called Elizabeth - Elizabeth Bennett, though no one ever called her that. She was just Liz to everyone.
He tried all boyish tricks to gain her highly esteemed attention, but nothing (but Nerdy's talents) ever seemed to impress her. She spent most of her time with Nerdy.
She did catch him looking at her, many times, but she didn't respond as he wanted her to.
Then, one day, his prayers were answered. She'd come to the park with her mother. He was busy playing the swing. They were standing near the swing, waiting for a chance. That was when Danny stopped swinging and smiled sweetly at Lizzy. He got down and held it in place for her to sit on it.
"Oh, you do seem to be a nice little boy! You live next door, don't you?" Lizzy's mother asked him, impressed with his little act of kindness.
"Yes, ma'am."
"What's your name?" Her mother enquired.
"Danny. Daniel Howard."
"Lizzy, thank Danny for offering you the swing." Lizzy's mother tried to "show off" her daughter's good qualities.
"Thank you, Danny." Lizzy said softly.
She was watching him from beneath her lashes and Danny could feel a frisson of happiness racing through his heart. He smiled back at her and headed for home, reluctantly.
DANNY HAD by now managed to become friends with Lizzy. He was still the "Class Clown" and she was still the "Class Snob" (and she was anything but snobbish). She loved him, oh yes, she did. But he thought it wasn't the kind of love that he wanted from her. She loved him, but as a friend. That was all that was there to it.
They were very close friends, but it wasn't his fault that he wasn't brave enough to ask her on a date. He did try, but something always went awfully wrong and he was back in square one.
When they were both twenty-one, Danny had almost given up the idea of asking her out. By the time, she had begun to date a "Richie Rich". The guy owned an awesome car, had loads of cash, apart from the sheaf of cheques he proffered in every five star hotel or designer shop. Danny watched his Lizzy speed away with Richie in his sports car with a sorrowful sigh rumbling in his chest. Hell, but Lizzy seemed totally besotted with that fellow. He wasn't half as good-looking as Danny himself, and certainly didn't make a good match for her. Danny often wondered if it was the money that attracted Lizzy to him, but always ended up cursing himself, for he knew Lizzy far too much to think she would ever be so cheap.
Daniel was troubled by the endless dreams that disturbed him from sleep every night. He dreamt every night that he was not just Daniel Howard, but King Howard, wearing a golden crown, on which really expensive stones were embedded. Richie was his slave. And of course, Lizzy was his queen. But the queen was more interested in the slave than in the King. And all of a sudden, Richie became the king, laughing wickedly, with a proud Lizzy on his side and boom! Daniel was turned into a monkey. With that, Danny woke up sweating all over, his heart pounding.
At other circumstances, he would have laughed at this silly dream, but right then he didn't relish the thought of being turned into a monkey. And giving up Lizzy was the last thing he'd do on the planet!
Danny had given up his "tough guy" looks ever since Lizzy told him that she liked only soft and kind people. Richie Rich was simply exceeding his limits.
So, Danny got some friends together and gave this Richie a blow or two, some of which landed squarely on his jaws and eyes. They even made him promise that he would never see Lizzy again.
That evening, Danny was so happy that he didn't even notice Lizzy staring silently at him. He made his way into Lizzy's house whistling some jolly tune. But Lizzy didn't offer so much as a welcoming smile. That was when Daniel realized that something was wrong.
"What is it, Lizzy? Is something wrong?" Daniel asked, with a fear tying his stomach into millions of knots.
"What did you do to my boyfriend?" she asked solemnly.
Trouble with a capital T, Daniel understood, grimly.
"I-I hit him." He didn't like this confession one bit. He felt elated when the job was done, but right now, as he was telling it to Lizzy, he felt as if he had committed a major crime.
"Why in the name of God would you do that?" she asked softly, as if she was expecting some significant truth to be unveiled at this point of time.
Danny's tongue stuck to his mouth. He couldn't bring himself to tell her how much he loved her.
"I didn't like you going out with him."
"Why? I don't think it's any concern of yours, is it?"
"Er-I guess I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit him like I did."
"Yes, you shouldn't have. But my question is: WHY?"
Daniel gulped. This was getting worse.
"Why, Daniel?" She was taunting him with that question. That's what he thought she was doing.
Daniel looked out of the window. Hell, he didn't want her to know. He didn't have the temerity to face the consequences.
"Go away, Daniel." Liz said softly.
"Lizzy-"
"Just go away." She turned away from him.
And with that, Danny realized that his whole world had blown apart, separating him from his beloved Lizzy.
DANNY SPENT days trying to find a way to soothe Lizzy. She was more hurt than angry, he realized. He didn't know how he could make her see why he did all that he shouldn't have done. He worried himself sick over the whole thing.
Lizzy avoided him as sincerely as she could. She loathed the sight of him, he understood sadly. He wanted to talk to her, tell her how much he loved her, but he just didn't have the courage to see straight into her eyes and tell her how deeply he felt for her.
And then the worst he could have ever imagined happened.
Lizzy met with a nearly fatal accident.
DANIEL RUSHED to the hospital, only to see his angel wrapped up like an Egyptian mummy from head to toe.
"She'd almost died. We've done all we could to bring her back to life", the doctor said.
Danny's eyes filled with unshed tears. He would give everything he had just to see his Lizzy come back to life. Oh, she wasn't dead, but she wasn't "living" as she used to, either. She was lying on the bed, almost lifeless, drained of all energy.
Danny looked up as Lizzy's mother walked in. "Hello, Daniel", she said, smiling softly.
"Hello, Mrs. Bennett."
"Do you know how upset my daughter was with you?" Mrs. Bennett asked slowly.
"I do." Daniel wasn't able to meet the woman's eyes.
"Do you know why she was upset?"
"I do."
"I doubt that you really do, Daniel."
When he looked up in surprise, Mrs. Bennett was gone.
WHEN LIZZY opened her eyes, her eyes collided with Daniel's.
"Oh, you're here." She spoke, her voice devoid of expressions.
"I came to see you." Danny wished he could kick himself for that stupid answer.
"I know."
Was she smiling, by any chance? Daniel got a subtle doubt. The endearing twinkle was back in her eyes.
Danny was thinking of what he should say next, when Lizzy spoke again.
"What would you have done if I'd died in this accident, Danny?"
Daniel looked at her, shocked. "What?"
"What if I'd died? What would you have done?" Her eyes met his squarely and held them.
Daniel didn't know what to say.
"I-"
Why was she asking this to him?
"You wouldn't have done anything, Danny." She smiled, a ghost of a smile. "Even then, you wouldn't have realized how much you love me."
Daniel looked at her, amazed at her bluntness. She knew it all along!
"Lizzy-"
"Oh, you are such a fool, Daniel." She spoke softly. Maybe it was the pain in her head. Or maybe it was the pain in her heart.
"Lizzy, I don't understand." Daniel spoke hurriedly. He wanted to get everything sorted out.
"Daniel Howard - you've been in love with me for a long time now, haven't you?" she asked smilingly.
"Liz, you must be joking." He was sweating. She couldn't possibly be knowing and treat him like a friend.
"I've never been more serious in all my life, Daniel." Her voice was soft, almost caressing.
"I-I guess I'm sorry." Danny didn't understand why he said that.
"Why should you be?" she asked as she sat up on her bed.
"I don't think I know."
"Danny." She looked straight into his eyes. "You could've told me."
"What? Told you what?"
"That you love me too."
Too? Danny's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.
"You don't understand even now, do you?" her voice sounded oddly exasperated.
When Daniel didn't answer, she said softly, "I love you, Danny. I always have. And I always will."
Danny's eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't control the surge of emotion that took over him at that moment. He hugged her to himself and murmured, "I love you. I love you so much it hurts." And then he kissed her...
SALLY SIGHED pleasurably. What a romantic story that one was! Gramps and Gramma were made for each other.
Gramps sighed too. The deep loss that he felt for his wife echoed in his sigh.
"Sally!" Marja called her just then. "Sally, it's time to go to bed."
Sally got up hurriedly and helped Gramps with his blanket and sheets.
Gramps smiled, his eyes sparkling like never before. Sally was amazed at the brilliance in his eyes.
Then, Gramps closed his eyes, never to open them again.
SALLY STILL remembered how much of emotion had colored Gramps' account of their cute little love story. Gramps had loved Gramma always. She had loved him with all her heart till the last moment in her life.
As she looked up at the night sky, she could see a constellation of stars - Gramps joining hands with Gramma. They were smiling into one another's eyes; and both their eyes were shining with love, and only love.
This short story is really special to me for two reasons. One, this won me the second prize in my college magazine's picture short story contest. They gave us this sequence of pictures and we had to write a story to suit those. And two, this was my first successfully completed short story in English.
"Sally, my father was eighty-nine years old; I'd say the man had a right."
Sally pouted her lips wistfully. Oh, how she missed her grandfather!
Marja hugged her daughter to herself. "I understand."
"Gramps was a wonderful man, wasn't he?" Sally sniffed inelegantly.
"I know." Marja tightened her hold on her sixteen year old daughter.
Grandmother Liz had passed away five years ago. Since then, Daniel Howard had been bed-ridden, and had seemed older and weaker like never before.
Everyone knew how much he loved Grandma. At least, Sally did. Gramps had always spoken of his wife with love gleaming in his old eyes. Gramps had always been a good friend and confidant to Sally.
As she freed herself from her mother's embrace, Sally could still remember distinctly the last smile that had brightened the old man's face as he'd narrated to her the story of his love for her grandmother.
LITTLE DANIEL looked excitedly at the loaded van of the packers and movers. The prospect of getting new neighbors delighted him. Especially since the family contained a little girl.
Daniel watched from the window as the small girl got down from her car. She was sweet-looking, licking on a lollipop as if she had no worry in the world. As she looked around, her dark black curls moving to and fro with the motion of her little head, her eyes caught hold of our hero looking at her in a mesmerised fashion.
And then she smiled. Oh God, wasn't that exhilerating! A beautiful girl had smiled at him! How he longed to run along and introduce himself to her!
He saw her everyday, but he simply couldn't gather enough courage to walk up to her and say "Hi, I'm Danny." One look at her eyes, and he was lost. Kaput!
She smiled benignly up at him everyday, and he hoped she had some good opinion about him.
Daniel looked at her from the corner of his eye every morning in school; every evening, as he played in the park. He loved to see her graceful walk; the way her pink lips turned red as the flavor of the strawberry lollipop imprinted itself on them; he loved everything about her. Everything.
He fervently prayed to God (and that was the first time he'd ever prayed) that he would get a chance to talk to her.
Was God listening?
"IS THERE anyone who can read the passage?" The English teacher asked, facing all the eager, upturned faces of the kids.
Daniel caught the girl eyeing him interestedly. Was she expecting him to stand up and read? He tensed. He'd never been an active participant in the English class before. Moreover, the teacher had caught him passing notes to the other kids, flying paper rockets all over the classroom when she was facing the blackboard, punching little guys right in their faces, et cetera, and even though Daniel hadn't been doing all these ever since his angel set her foot in the little town, he could guess what the teacher would do if he got up and offered to read.
She frowned as he sat there, feeling wretched for not being able to stand up boldly. He wasn't good in pronouncing new words; he'd never excelled in that. Then she turned away abruptly. She was angry, he sensed. The realisation worsened his condition all the more.
All of a sudden, the renowned (and highly despised) "nerd-of-the-class" raised his hand. The teacher beamed as she fondly asked her "pet" to stand up and read.
He stood up, casting a proud look over all the people surrounding him and began reading in his best voice.
When he finished, the teacher was very much impressed. And so was his angel, Danny noticed ruefully.
THE FOLLOWING days were spent planning the downfall of Nerdy. By this time, he'd learned that the little girl was called Elizabeth - Elizabeth Bennett, though no one ever called her that. She was just Liz to everyone.
He tried all boyish tricks to gain her highly esteemed attention, but nothing (but Nerdy's talents) ever seemed to impress her. She spent most of her time with Nerdy.
She did catch him looking at her, many times, but she didn't respond as he wanted her to.
Then, one day, his prayers were answered. She'd come to the park with her mother. He was busy playing the swing. They were standing near the swing, waiting for a chance. That was when Danny stopped swinging and smiled sweetly at Lizzy. He got down and held it in place for her to sit on it.
"Oh, you do seem to be a nice little boy! You live next door, don't you?" Lizzy's mother asked him, impressed with his little act of kindness.
"Yes, ma'am."
"What's your name?" Her mother enquired.
"Danny. Daniel Howard."
"Lizzy, thank Danny for offering you the swing." Lizzy's mother tried to "show off" her daughter's good qualities.
"Thank you, Danny." Lizzy said softly.
She was watching him from beneath her lashes and Danny could feel a frisson of happiness racing through his heart. He smiled back at her and headed for home, reluctantly.
DANNY HAD by now managed to become friends with Lizzy. He was still the "Class Clown" and she was still the "Class Snob" (and she was anything but snobbish). She loved him, oh yes, she did. But he thought it wasn't the kind of love that he wanted from her. She loved him, but as a friend. That was all that was there to it.
They were very close friends, but it wasn't his fault that he wasn't brave enough to ask her on a date. He did try, but something always went awfully wrong and he was back in square one.
When they were both twenty-one, Danny had almost given up the idea of asking her out. By the time, she had begun to date a "Richie Rich". The guy owned an awesome car, had loads of cash, apart from the sheaf of cheques he proffered in every five star hotel or designer shop. Danny watched his Lizzy speed away with Richie in his sports car with a sorrowful sigh rumbling in his chest. Hell, but Lizzy seemed totally besotted with that fellow. He wasn't half as good-looking as Danny himself, and certainly didn't make a good match for her. Danny often wondered if it was the money that attracted Lizzy to him, but always ended up cursing himself, for he knew Lizzy far too much to think she would ever be so cheap.
Daniel was troubled by the endless dreams that disturbed him from sleep every night. He dreamt every night that he was not just Daniel Howard, but King Howard, wearing a golden crown, on which really expensive stones were embedded. Richie was his slave. And of course, Lizzy was his queen. But the queen was more interested in the slave than in the King. And all of a sudden, Richie became the king, laughing wickedly, with a proud Lizzy on his side and boom! Daniel was turned into a monkey. With that, Danny woke up sweating all over, his heart pounding.
At other circumstances, he would have laughed at this silly dream, but right then he didn't relish the thought of being turned into a monkey. And giving up Lizzy was the last thing he'd do on the planet!
Danny had given up his "tough guy" looks ever since Lizzy told him that she liked only soft and kind people. Richie Rich was simply exceeding his limits.
So, Danny got some friends together and gave this Richie a blow or two, some of which landed squarely on his jaws and eyes. They even made him promise that he would never see Lizzy again.
That evening, Danny was so happy that he didn't even notice Lizzy staring silently at him. He made his way into Lizzy's house whistling some jolly tune. But Lizzy didn't offer so much as a welcoming smile. That was when Daniel realized that something was wrong.
"What is it, Lizzy? Is something wrong?" Daniel asked, with a fear tying his stomach into millions of knots.
"What did you do to my boyfriend?" she asked solemnly.
Trouble with a capital T, Daniel understood, grimly.
"I-I hit him." He didn't like this confession one bit. He felt elated when the job was done, but right now, as he was telling it to Lizzy, he felt as if he had committed a major crime.
"Why in the name of God would you do that?" she asked softly, as if she was expecting some significant truth to be unveiled at this point of time.
Danny's tongue stuck to his mouth. He couldn't bring himself to tell her how much he loved her.
"I didn't like you going out with him."
"Why? I don't think it's any concern of yours, is it?"
"Er-I guess I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit him like I did."
"Yes, you shouldn't have. But my question is: WHY?"
Daniel gulped. This was getting worse.
"Why, Daniel?" She was taunting him with that question. That's what he thought she was doing.
Daniel looked out of the window. Hell, he didn't want her to know. He didn't have the temerity to face the consequences.
"Go away, Daniel." Liz said softly.
"Lizzy-"
"Just go away." She turned away from him.
And with that, Danny realized that his whole world had blown apart, separating him from his beloved Lizzy.
DANNY SPENT days trying to find a way to soothe Lizzy. She was more hurt than angry, he realized. He didn't know how he could make her see why he did all that he shouldn't have done. He worried himself sick over the whole thing.
Lizzy avoided him as sincerely as she could. She loathed the sight of him, he understood sadly. He wanted to talk to her, tell her how much he loved her, but he just didn't have the courage to see straight into her eyes and tell her how deeply he felt for her.
And then the worst he could have ever imagined happened.
Lizzy met with a nearly fatal accident.
DANIEL RUSHED to the hospital, only to see his angel wrapped up like an Egyptian mummy from head to toe.
"She'd almost died. We've done all we could to bring her back to life", the doctor said.
Danny's eyes filled with unshed tears. He would give everything he had just to see his Lizzy come back to life. Oh, she wasn't dead, but she wasn't "living" as she used to, either. She was lying on the bed, almost lifeless, drained of all energy.
Danny looked up as Lizzy's mother walked in. "Hello, Daniel", she said, smiling softly.
"Hello, Mrs. Bennett."
"Do you know how upset my daughter was with you?" Mrs. Bennett asked slowly.
"I do." Daniel wasn't able to meet the woman's eyes.
"Do you know why she was upset?"
"I do."
"I doubt that you really do, Daniel."
When he looked up in surprise, Mrs. Bennett was gone.
WHEN LIZZY opened her eyes, her eyes collided with Daniel's.
"Oh, you're here." She spoke, her voice devoid of expressions.
"I came to see you." Danny wished he could kick himself for that stupid answer.
"I know."
Was she smiling, by any chance? Daniel got a subtle doubt. The endearing twinkle was back in her eyes.
Danny was thinking of what he should say next, when Lizzy spoke again.
"What would you have done if I'd died in this accident, Danny?"
Daniel looked at her, shocked. "What?"
"What if I'd died? What would you have done?" Her eyes met his squarely and held them.
Daniel didn't know what to say.
"I-"
Why was she asking this to him?
"You wouldn't have done anything, Danny." She smiled, a ghost of a smile. "Even then, you wouldn't have realized how much you love me."
Daniel looked at her, amazed at her bluntness. She knew it all along!
"Lizzy-"
"Oh, you are such a fool, Daniel." She spoke softly. Maybe it was the pain in her head. Or maybe it was the pain in her heart.
"Lizzy, I don't understand." Daniel spoke hurriedly. He wanted to get everything sorted out.
"Daniel Howard - you've been in love with me for a long time now, haven't you?" she asked smilingly.
"Liz, you must be joking." He was sweating. She couldn't possibly be knowing and treat him like a friend.
"I've never been more serious in all my life, Daniel." Her voice was soft, almost caressing.
"I-I guess I'm sorry." Danny didn't understand why he said that.
"Why should you be?" she asked as she sat up on her bed.
"I don't think I know."
"Danny." She looked straight into his eyes. "You could've told me."
"What? Told you what?"
"That you love me too."
Too? Danny's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.
"You don't understand even now, do you?" her voice sounded oddly exasperated.
When Daniel didn't answer, she said softly, "I love you, Danny. I always have. And I always will."
Danny's eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't control the surge of emotion that took over him at that moment. He hugged her to himself and murmured, "I love you. I love you so much it hurts." And then he kissed her...
SALLY SIGHED pleasurably. What a romantic story that one was! Gramps and Gramma were made for each other.
Gramps sighed too. The deep loss that he felt for his wife echoed in his sigh.
"Sally!" Marja called her just then. "Sally, it's time to go to bed."
Sally got up hurriedly and helped Gramps with his blanket and sheets.
Gramps smiled, his eyes sparkling like never before. Sally was amazed at the brilliance in his eyes.
Then, Gramps closed his eyes, never to open them again.
SALLY STILL remembered how much of emotion had colored Gramps' account of their cute little love story. Gramps had loved Gramma always. She had loved him with all her heart till the last moment in her life.
As she looked up at the night sky, she could see a constellation of stars - Gramps joining hands with Gramma. They were smiling into one another's eyes; and both their eyes were shining with love, and only love.
This short story is really special to me for two reasons. One, this won me the second prize in my college magazine's picture short story contest. They gave us this sequence of pictures and we had to write a story to suit those. And two, this was my first successfully completed short story in English.
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