Julio
She was distraught. After all these years, he’d left her. Instinct told her that he’d left her for another woman, perhaps a woman much younger than herself.
As she sat at the window of her ground-floor flat, looking out onto the neat, handkerchief garden, a cup of coffee in her hand, her eyes misted over. Memories of the time that they’d spent together kept flitting by.
Why had he done it? She really loved him. She’d tried to keep him happy, tried to pander to his whims. He had meant the world to her. Through the years, as they went through life with each other for company, her shattered life took on a new meaning. Yes, he had renewed her faith in the beauty of living.
And now, he was gone forever!
Somewhere, someone was listening to a song that took her back several years.
“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away ….”
Yes, yesterday, or perhaps the day before, or the day before that. She’d lost track of time, of the day when she’d last seen him.
Seven years had passed since she’d lost her husband. It had come as a shock to her. He’d been a fitness freak. Yet, when the end came, it was so sudden that there was nothing they could do for him. Numb with grief, she’d withdrawn into a shell. Gradually, she moved away from people who’d known her. Somehow, the memories, the associations, hurt. The pitying glances, the forced commiseration, she just couldn’t handle that any more.
Not being ambitious, she had never thought of seeking employment. In any case, neither her father, nor her husband, had encouraged it. She had, instead, gladly devoted her life to being a good wife and mother. Widowed, she needed to make a life for herself, a life she’d lead the way she wanted to, doing things that gave her happiness. Now, with time hanging heavy, she started carving out a life for herself.
The mornings were spent tending the garden. Caring for the plants, waiting for the flowers to bloom each season … the sense of fulfillment was unparalleled! She never ceased to wonder at the bounty that Nature was endowed with!
The inmates of an Old Age Home near her house looked forward to her visits. For hours on end, she’d sit with these people whom world seemed to have forgotten. She’d sit by patiently as they poured their heart out to her. She helped them overcome their loneliness for a few hours each day. They loved her dearly for making them feel just that wee bit special. Her presence gave them solace.
A walk in the park in the evenings completed her routine for the day.
That was how she’d met him.
It had been love at first sight. At least, she could vouch for herself!
As the days progressed, she started looking forward to the time when she would meet him in the park. Initially, she wasn’t sure whether he’d be there for her. After the first few encounters, she became surer of her ground.
Then, he decided to move in with her.
“How could you Ma? You’ve got EVERYTHING that a woman can possibly want … then why this?? You know that I don’t approve …” had been her daughter’s reaction.
Her daughter, busy with her own family, paid rare, flying visits from her home in Mumbai. That was why it had hurt to hear her daughter speak like this. She had hoped that her daughter, as a caring woman, would understand … would realize how lonely and purposeless her mother’s life had become.
Others too hadn’t been very encouraging. As a matter of fact, some of them stopped visiting her. But that didn’t really bother her too much.
He had been the one to bring back a sense of purpose into her otherwise mundane life. That was what mattered more than anything else.
There had been times when he returned home pretty well into the night. Fearing the worst, she’d wait anxiously for him. The feeling of trepidation would mount as the hours ticked away.
The moment he walked in, her fears and worries melted away. Her love for him gushed forth as she rushed to take care of him. She would feel silly for having worried herself to the point of distraction!
He had a roving eye. She knew that and had learnt to accept it.
The mornings, spent in the garden, together, were the happiest moments in her life. He was her soul-mate where admiring Nature was concerned. His rapture was so evident, it was infectious!
Most days, they left the house together, when she made her way to the Home.
He didn’t join her for the walks in the park any more. As a matter of fact, she too started spending less time there. She was eager to get home, just in case he was back. Fussy about his food, he’d probably go without his mid-day meal. She’d hurry back to wait for him.
They’d spent four loving years in each other’s company. She couldn’t think of life without him. She, for one, had never imagined that he’d leave her for someone else!
Walking along one day, she thought she caught a glimpse of him as he walked in through the gate of a house a few steps away from hers. Hurrying forward, she peeped in and there he was, sauntering up to the front door!
“Julio! Julio!” she whispered, a hint of urgency (or was it despair?), in her voice.
He didn’t seem to have heard her. Or, was he just ignoring her?
She’d always called him “Julio”, ‘the youthful one’. That had been her special name for him.
All of a sudden, her footsteps kept leading her to the house which, she now knew, he’d made his home.
“God, please let me see him just once!” she kept praying fervently each time she approached the house.
Each time, she returned, disappointed.
“Hello! Please come in”.
Startled, she looked up. A young woman, thirty-ish and quite attractive, stood there, smiling at her. There was a look of innocence about her. Her smile was pleasant and inviting.
“I’ve often noticed you stopping by this house. Why don’t you come in?” she said.
Flustered, she just about managed to mumble, “Uhmm! Some other time perhaps”.
As she tried to hurry away as fast as she could, she felt embarrassed at having been caught! It seemed like she had been trespassing on sacred ground.
A few days left till the New Year. She was determined to get on with her life. He had made a choice, a conscious decision to move away. She decided to accept it, no matter how much it hurt her to do so.
It was New Year’s Eve. No parties or revelry for her. Today was just another day for her. Normally, she’d perhaps have cooked something special, but today, overwhelmed by a sense of utter depression, she hadn’t bothered.
The inane programmes on TV irritated her. She switched the TV off and decided to retire for the night.
Tonight, sleep eluded her. The hours ticked by. Soon, the still night air would be rent by the blaring of the ships’ sirens as they welcomed the New Year. Reminiscences floated around inside her head, keeping her awake.
It was around this time that he’d come into her life changing it irrevocably. It had been bitterly cold and depressing that year. She felt frustrated and low and decided to spend some time at her daughter’s. That would help, she’d thought. Providence stood just beyond the corner, with other plans for her! The chance meeting in the park …. She’d been thankful for his presence by her side after the years she’d spent alone.
She didn’t realize when she’d nodded off. A faint noise woke her up. At first, she wasn’t sure whether she’d imagined it.
Sleepy and disoriented at first, she was startled awake when she heard the sound again. She lay in bed, trying to gather her wits about her.
Then almost before she knew it, she’d hurried to the window and flung it wide open.
Within moments, a lissome, graceful creature landed at her feet, rubbing itself against her legs. The soft purring, gaining crescendo, was audible in the stillness of the night.
“Oh, Julio, MY Julio”, she said, scooping him up into her arms, tears streaming down her face. Caressing him, she stroked his sleek body as he purred in contentment. Her love for him gushed forth in ecstatic torrents. This was going to be her best New Year yet!
Category: Short Stories
