Copyright © 2023, Noel Lorenz. All Rights Reserved.
Author: Noel Lorenz
Copyright © 2023, Noel Lorenz. All Rights Reserved.
(Words – 448 words)
Title: Hotel Damascus
Rob grabbed the switch and turned it on as the shopkeeper shouted, ‘Hey man, put it down.’
Rob released it and the switch hung from the wire.
‘I am not touching it and you came from nowhere and grabbed it. U could have died. The back side has the live wire in the open.’
‘Shit!’ Rob expressed surprise at his good luck.
He saw the woman on the other side the glass door behind the man watching him. She looked in her early twenties and her eyes gave him a dagger of a look.
Rob strolled forward to the exit at the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station.
The auto line had a queue so he quietly stood behind the last woman in front of him.
She was eating chips and cold drinks while her children dragged the luggage.
How could one be so fatty and eating chips! Rob wondered.
After a while, it was his turn.
The auto driver was wearing a full sleeve and a newsboy hat. His sunglasses were covering his face and he didnt even look back.
Rob hopped in and mentioned the hotel name.
The auto started for its destination.
After crossing the school ground, Venus More, the auto kept moving towards its destination.
Rob remembered, Susan, his sister, told him the hotel was near the Mahananda bridge so he did not check maps.
At Sevoke More, he saw a signboard showing the bridge was straight, but his auto took a right turn.
Rob asked, ‘Weren’t we supposed to go straight from here?’
He got no reply and the auto kept going steadily in the wrong direction.
After the main road the auto took an alley with deep sewerage on either side.
‘What the heck! Will you stop?’
The auto came to a halt at the doors of an old abandoned house.
Rob was irritated and he stepped out and saw the rusty letters on the old board read ‘Hotel Damascus’.
‘Where have you brought me?’ Rob turned to face the driver and saw that young lady staring at him with pale blue eyes. He took a step backward.
‘This is it! Your final destination,’ the lady said.
Rob wanted to say many things but he chose to remain silent.
He took his luggage, crossed the road and waited for another auto.
Seven Years Later
Rob saw the same girl at the railway station counter. She looked like she didn’t grow in time.
He asked the shopkeeper.
He looked on either side and said, ‘You must have seen my daughter. She died at a very young age. While coming back from college, she died in a hit and run accident in front of Hotel Damascus.
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