Corpse And Robbers

CHAPTER 1.

Its was evening. Me and Ecks checked into a hotel...a bloody cheap one( As our monetary holdings were just a notch above 'broke'!!). We sat in the lounge area that night as the mice were busy playin soccer in our room. I tried to switch the T.V on, but the only thing that happened was that the switch popped out in spring action.
"Hehe! Careful mate. You just might have launched some torpedo with that." Ecks pointed out smiling at me.

But somewhere near the south china sea, people were far from happy...as they just got signals of an incoming torpedo.

I was browsing through the video tapes the hotel had. Most of them being cheap low budget movie tapes and a few episodes of 'Planets funniest animals'. But one tape that caught my attention had no label on it. Curiosity bubbled in me like a bowl of conc. sulphuric acid.

I put the tape in the VCR only to find that the T.V. wasnt working. My curiosity to find out what the tape was all about had taken over. I did what every T.V. repairer in my place would have done. I started banging the T.V. with my fists alternately from the right and left till some cathode ray emissions started. Suddenly light came on to the screen, and I was successful.

I was going to express my joy to Ecks, but he had gone...mostly to his room...he was sleepy anyways.

I turned the VCR on...and next of what the visual hit me on the cornea of my eye had shocked me. My curiosity went all down the drain watching a series of 'disturbing and shocking' images. I couldnt switch the VCR off...there was some force refraining me to not stop what I saw.90 mins later, I was staring in front of a black screen.
"Whatever it was , it was horrific. Why did I even watch it??" I thought as my mind was preforming triple summersaults in my head.
I suddenly found myself guilty for watching it. I shouldnt have. It was the feeling that pandora had when she opened the box...only of less magnitude(hehe! dumb pandora!).

I took a deep breath, when my phone suddenly began ringing.

Who can it be?? This was my new number!! Nobody except Ecks know about it...and the caller was not Ecks.

I slowly pressed the 'call' button and listened.
"Seven Days!!" came a suppressed voice from the other side.
My heart jumped. I was almost squeeling.
"Who's this?? And what seven days??" I inquired.

Suddenly voice turned normal, normal being that of an old man trying to sound young.
"Oh sorry! I was just telling my secretary that its been seven days since my pants have not returned from the dry cleaners!! Damn those bastards."

"But who the hell are you??"

"Oh! Me. Well I am Mr.D.A. U may call me Mr.D.A. I just came to know you just saw my movie. So....how was it??"

"It was horrible.Unbearable. I dont even know why I watched it."

"Whoa! thats the mildest criticism I have had from my viewers. You being the second....ahem....i being the first. Even the actors dont wanna watch it. Hehe."

"Actors?? what actors?? all I saw were lifeless props hanging around...their emotional expressions make Arnold Schwarzenneger in terminator look like hamlet!!! Why the human torture I ask?? Why the brutality??"

"Ummm...just watch it with a mental squint and you shall see clearly."

"But how the hell did you know I saw ur movie...n how did you get this number?"

"Believe me son, if you were in my shoes you would label that question as a 'dumb' one. Lets just say deperate times call for desperate measures..."

"Ohhhhk whatever. But this is still spooky!!"

"I have to meet you in private, we have to clear all these matters. Reach candela square, the one near the hanuman mandir sharp at 11.27 AM and ask a long hair guy at the bus stand for a match and we shall meet."

(Note to myself: There is always a hanuman mandir as a standard reference to any location in the country.)

"Whoa! what's all this secret agent stuff for?"

"We dont want to attract attention do we?"

"Depends on whether -"

The phone gets cut. The beeping sound of the engaged tone seems odd in a way. Who was the caller? And why the hell does he want to meet me. Its a conspiracy.

Next morning I spill it all out to Ecks. While Ecks keeps his usual cool and laughs it all up.
"You sure you had a good night's sleep yesterday?? At least I didnt." Ecks laughed.

"Yeah I did sleep! And whats this about you not havin sleep...your snore vibrations just caused a major earthquake in San Diego. Might have been somewhere around 130 decibels."

"Yeah! yeah. whatever. Well get out of your rotten dream...we have stuff to do."

"Wait its 11. I have to meet that guy, its all too mysterious Ecks. I guess you wont comprehend. Buh bye now, alrighty then!"

Somwhere in San diego people had been engulfed in fear with the trauma of another earthquake. Ecks had no idea about the 'butterfly effect'.



Saying this I stormed out of the room, leaving Ecks with a did-my-wife-just-divorce-me look.

Hopefully Candela Square was quite near to our hotel.As soon as I reached the place I started lookin for a so called 'long hair' guy. The problem was there were two 'long haired' men. I searched for where Mr.D.A might be... and my eye caught a BMW sedan inconspicously parked in a dark corner.

11.25 AM.The problem of the 'long haired' men still loomed. I went to the guy nearer to me and asked him in a whispering tone.
"I need a match please."

The guy gave me a reproachful look, thought for a while and replied,
"Eh?"

Strike one. I was wrong. Went to the other one.Did the same. Emptying his pockets he found a pack and started waving it in the air.

The signal had been given. But it triggered the ignition of an even more unthinkable car.

A 'Padmini Premier' smoked its way upto the bus stand, and let out a blaring horn. I stood there shocked as the bucket of bolts seemed like it was about to explode any second. I let out a muffled cry as it approached me. And the person driving the vehicle was seen...but the guy had concealed his face inside a scarf and a pair of goggles.
And the driver yelled, "Quick, get in."

I stood there. Thought for about 10 minutes calculating the various possibilities of what was about to happen, most of the calculations being how embarrassed i was to become sitting inside the 'junkyard wonder'.

Finally I took a deep breath and sat inside.
The driver gave a piercing gaze through his goggles and finally put his hand forward,
"Hello, I am Mr.D.A.!!"

Facsimilie of a Fake Smile

You know that feeling...when inside you're wrenchin in agony n torment and then you meet someone at that time...and you give that 'friendly' smile.

The smile...that you conjure up by streching each and every muscle of your face. The body and mind resist its automation...yet you sweat it to give that smile, so that the person in front of you returns the same as a sign of cordiallity. And the moments gone...you're back again to reality.

SLAM! Face first. The sinking feeling.

Maybe I should have replaced all the 'you's' with 'I's'. What the hell anyways!!!

Its this fake smile that I hate. One that you get when you're goin to a hotel n the waiter gives you one...while deep inside he's still thinkin if his wife will give him a second chance again or not??!!.

But this is something that I have been trained to do since all these years...though it does not work all the times. I consider it an art in a way. Its the degree of smile that u give, n there should be a ranking for them -
something like -
(in ascending order)

1.The painful you're getting worse smile
2.Something seems to be troubling you smile
3.Hi things are normal smile
4.Jolly Good day smile
5.You're creepin people out smile

I usually rank a 3 or a 5, though I admit rank 2 comes in the way a lott.

Sigh! masking happiness is a tiring job.
I repeat its an art!!!

[Been a long time since a post...feels good to be back again!!]