A short story

One evening, I went to an ice-cream parlour close to my house to buy ice cream, once I finished the ice-cream, I realized I was short of money to pay, When I told the vendor, he smiled and said it was okay since I went there often I could come back and pay him later on another day. I thanked him and left.

A few days passed by and I almost forgot about this incident, but suddenly one fine evening I had a strong urge to go and pay back immediately, as I was walking towards the parlour, a car zoomed by and something fell out the car window. 

Reflexively I went to see what had fallen, On going closer I noticed it was an Iphone 4 which had fallen out. 

I switched on the phone to make a call to some contact on the phone so as to let them know the situation but the phone was locked. I waited for a while thinking maybe the car would come back, but it didn’t. So I began to leave with the phone, on my way back I told the street vendors near by that if someone came looking for their phone he should call on it and I’d give it back. 

While I was walking back home with the phone in my hand, a series of thoughts came to my mind. 

It is odd how often so many situations that could affect our lives deeply our at grace of someone else. A simple decision made by someone could affect our lives in such a strong way. 

My decision to either give the phone back or not would make or break his day.

I felt the owners apprehension and anxiety upon realizing the loss of such an expensive phone. I could imagine him praying to his God, hoping that whoever did have the phone would be a god-loving/fearing person and would not be overpowered by the vices of greed. 

I could feel him desperately wanting time to turn back a few minutes, he would be more careful with the phone then. Suddenly realizing all the memories the phone held and how often he must have thrown the phone around.

At that minute someone called on the phone and my thoughts vanished, I picked up and heard a girl’s voice. The hope and fear I heard in her voice made me recognize immediately that this was the owner. I explained what happened and told her where to come so she could pick the phone. She thanked me and hung up, in a few minutes she reached where I was. 

When I gave the phone back she thanked me profusely and left.

When her back was turned to mine I thought, how often do we get an opportunity of doing something for someone without him ever being able to repay us back?

How often to we seize it?

Kaushali Kanakia