A 'Zara-hatke' Love Story.

He was devastated. She was but a few feet away, hanging precariously from a ledge, while he could do nothing about it. Or so he thought..

Their family had always been there for him. Right from the very beginning. Cleaning up after him, wiping away his tears, so on and so forth. He couldn’t have asked for much more. As he grew older, they became a shoulder to cry on, a companion in his loneliness and a source of warmth in the cold.

But this ‘family’, if you’d call them that, seemed to age differently, a lot faster than human years, and he lost many close companions, before he’d even turned five! Having any emotional attachment to them was folly, but they were so close to him all through the years, that this was nigh impossible.

Then ‘SHE’ came. ‘SHE’ was different. A ray of sunlight at the end of a long winter, heat in the midst of freezing cold. As soon as he had set his eyes on her, there had been a connection. A deep seated attachment, which would soon become much more. Always decked in blue with red polka dots, ‘SHE’ became an intergral part of his life, someone to share his joys and sorrows.

He knew that getting attached was a mistake. ‘SHE’ would soon be gone. But well, the forbidden nature of this romance, was the spark to his fire. All had gone well, until… he moved house. This had been very recent, and SHE’D obviously come with him, but the move had driven them apart. ‘SHE’ had become distant, an outsider. Thus began the problems, which brings us to the present…

He was scantily clad, down to his boxers, hot water dripping from his body. They were in a relatively dark room, a single bulb providing illumination. He looked up to see her swaying gently in a light breeze. ‘SHE’ was on the verge of slipping over the edge, and if she did, that would mean definite end. Separating them, was a three foot expanse of cold, slippery, TREACHEROUS terrain.

He stood at the threshold, a single foot dangling in the air.. Bringing it down with a sense of finality, he braced himself for the cold. It surged through him like a current, arching his back. He almost turned back to the warmth, but the thought of her drove him on. He took  step after step, shivering his teeth away in the process, while she continued to sway precariously. His arms outstretched, he could almost feel her in his arms.

Just when he thought it was all over, ‘SHE’ began to fall. Gracefully, almost floating to the ground. In a mad rush, he slipped and slid over the last foot of the ice cold ground, as she fell and fell quickly. It was an almost certain end. With a burst of speed that could only have been a lovers’, he caught her, just an inch above the ground. *WHEW* He clutched her close to his chest, feeling the warmth spread through him. A joyous reunion, and she would have cried if she could. Holding her close around him, he opened the door to a gust of wind, thankful for her warmth. He smiled and stepped out..

15 minutes later.

He lay on his bed, fully clothed and warm, his blue and red ‘TOWEL’ lying next to him. He made a mental note to ask the carpenter to install a rack closer to his bathtub. It had been so much better in the old house, a rung closeby, ‘TOWEL’ within reach. These everyday shenanigans in the cold were going to kill him. And oh most importantly, as he crinkled his nose, he realized his favourite ‘TOWEL’ needed a wash.