The yellow scarf

'' If you truly madly deeply love me,

Oh, tie the yellow scarf round the ole oak tree,

Cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see

I'm really still in prison & my love you hold the key

A simple yellow scarf's all I need to set me free ''

The tune kept humming in his head as he watched her intently gaze back at him ruffling his hair. Her silky smooth hair wavering around dancing with the breeze made her look like a fairytale genie. They were sat under a tree in the shade of the moonlight wrapped under a blanket of the million twinkling stars. The only sound they could hear was the crashing of waves against the mighty rocks and the shining beacon of the lighthouse signalling the distant ships to keep away from them.

For many it might look like a dull irritating habit which would cause one's head to split up, however in the haze of infatuation, it was perhaps something he'd longed for all his life. Her perfume caressed the air around his nose like a hallucinating drug & her touch put the warmth back in him during the cold night. At that moment he knew he was in love. But his mind kept going back to that yellow scarf.

Like an awful commercial break smack in the middle of a kickass cinema, the yellow scarf kept recurring again & again while the flashbacks dawned on him, each with greater intensity than the other. About how he'd yearned looking at the ceiling fan for this night, almost every night. About how he'd consulted the scientific and supernatural to achieve this moment. One particular instance bothered him the most. The day he'd visited the sorcerer for some clairvoyance. About when he was told to tie that yellow scarf with two rocks, one rock of his & one rock of hers into that big oak tree up the hill yonder. About how he'd realise the true value of his love by doing that.

He'd asked her to get the yellow scarf that night. He confided in her his intentions and as agreed upon they gathered two pebbles nearby. He picked one and she picked the other. She carefully placed the two pebbles on her yellow scarf and folded the scarf tying it into a bun. In the dim light of the moon he could see her name knit in the corner of the scarf. With a twinkle in his eyes & euphoria in his soul he thought, this act of tying the yellow scarf would make their love immortal & thus they spent the night in each other's company before sneaking up to their respective homes before the break of dawn.

As the darkness dwindled the next morning & his eyelids slowly opened, he could see the yellow scarf, his fingers tightly clenched around it. He'd held it close to his heart all morning. He got ready & with the scarf in hand he huffed & puffed his way up the steep precipe of a hill to reach the oak tree. As he approached the summit, the view seemed breathtaking. The blue sea all over & the ships scattered around like ants in the background. He could now see the oak tree perched bang in the middle of the summit, it was the only tree up there.

Elated & joyous he approached the big oak tree to find a strong branch to tie the scarf onto. As he got closer he could see many scarves tied around the tree. ''Many courting couples wanting to make their love immortal'' he chuckled with a smile across his face from ear to ear. As he was about to tie the yellow scarf he happened to steal a glimpse out the corner of his eye at another scarf, just like his made out of the same silk material & having the same pattern. Out of curiosity he surged forward to take a closer look, it had her name clearly knit on it. His heart was shattered, the world around him seemed to collapse. He looked around and saw more scarves and many had her name written on it.

Tears streaming down his face & pain searing his chest he sat dejected. Until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to look around. In front of him stood the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. Her silky smooth hair wavering around dancing with the breeze made her look like a fairytale genie, her eyes the colour of heaven. The radiance of her velvet skin making the glow of the sun look insignificant. The perfume so intoxicating that he was lost in hallucination once again. ''This is not a dream, this can't be a mirage'' he convinced himself rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Not until she held out her hand and held open a yellow scarf with one rock in it and said '' I need another one to tie this scarf, will you add that rock for me? '' & kissed him.

P. S. - A fiction based on a mix of multiple true facts. Opinions are the sole ownership of the reader's discretion. Haha Enjoy.

Strangers

We are strangers, you and I

destined to nothing,

but a hello & a bye.

a casual glance, a smile

a desire to make merry

Before reburying back

Into the blackberry

Strangers? Not quite yet

You and I

A salsa of the uncertain,

Of half hearted steps,

uncomfortably taken

unbeknown of a how & when

a catastrophic miscalculation

Aint we strangers any more?

you and I

days when dreams annexed reality

nights when fantasies conquered chastity

that disappeared in a crimson tsunami

disseminating any honour left or any vanity

No we aren't strangers any more

You and I

And when the malice's passed

With the years gone by

When we've shed our tears

& laughed our guts away

A life fruitfully withstood

It may be then,

it may be then that you look back

retrospect back memory lane

a stranger that you knew

and wonder

Wonder if he remembers you

Late

Perhaps its too ''late'' to write this story but however dark be the cloud there is always a ''late'' lining. I am going to narrate an incident which exemplifies exactly that.


Jogging my memory at a cheetah's pace to back in the day a few years ago, it was a ''late'' December evening when I had called her and called her ''late''. I then had a good night's sleep and then disaster struck like a chain reaction.

• The alarm rang ''late''

• I got up ''late''

• Approached the bathroom to brush my teeth, take a bath, drink some milk and head to the meeting rendezvous but I had forgotten to get the soap, paste and milk the previous day.

• I sashayed across to the corner shop. It was shut & the shopkeeper was ''late''.

• I didn't brush, didn't take bath, didn't drink milk. My phone's battery battery was down, the electricity wasnt there & it was supposed to come back on ''late''

• I hurriedly put on my clothes & witht the rickety battery I had, I left the house ''late''

• Tried kick-starting the motorbike but it didn't start, had to push it all the way across to the petrol station. Petrol station had a long queue & everyone seemed ''late''

• I said fuck it, parked my motorbike in a parking lot right there, decided to call the cab and the goddamn cab company executives picked up their phone ''late''

• Now having waited ages for them to pick the call, they now said there was some cab strike

• I tried to flag rickshaws, they were either full or the empty ones cane ''late'' and when asked to drive me to the destination the common reply was 'no sir, I don't go there' or just a nod to say no

• I cursed fuck em and hitched a ride on a jam-packed bus filled with people, The stench of human perspiration was choking my breath. However the bus stopped in all stops situated a few metres apart from each other whilst taking a long route. I couldn't get out due to the immense crowd. The bus finally reached the destination, but reached ''late''

• When i reached my destination thoroughly drenched with sweat and exhausted to the core. I found the seat empty and she wasn't there. I thought she was pissed with me and left. With the remaining little battery I had on my phone, I called her bracing for the angry impact for calling her ''late''

• She picked up the call and said ''Sorry kats, I might be LATE''.