By Sharmila Bhattacharjee
“Papa,” she screamed.
Mr. Sen rushed into the room. Huddled in a blanket, in a corner of the room sat a terrified six-year-old girl. Mr. Sen had been quite worried to hear his precious daughter scream so loudly. He looked at her questioningly.
Pointing a shaky finger towards the wall, she said, “It’s there. Hurry.”
Mr. Sen stared hard at the wall. He saw a tiny speck of black moving quickly up the wall. He smiled to himself. It was a tiny spider! He managed to shoo it away and sat beside his daughter who had closed her eyes and was murmuring incoherently.
“It’s gone”, he said.
Flashing the brightest smile she could, she jumped onto her father’s lap. Mr. Sen ran his hands through her hair, untangling the knots as he pulled her close to him. Those brown orbs shone with a myriad of emotions, but love was the one that dominated.
Twenty-eight years since that day had passed. Simrina was a pilot and one of the best, as her father proudly claimed. She had travelled the world and visited every place she had ever wanted to. She had scaled great heights in her professional career and she was determined to achieve many more.
Mr. Sen, on the other hand, had grown old. His face was wrinkled and grey tinged his hair and beard. He had slowed down and the pain in his joints had progressively worsened. He sighed as he flipped through the pages of the album. Tears clouded his vision as he struggled to stay composed. It felt like yesterday when he had tied her hair into two long braids while she had pouted and told him that she wanted a fancy hairstyle.
It felt as if it was just the other day when she struggled to tie her laces and cried when she could not. He had gently shown her how to. He was the one who was her best critic and also the one who rejoiced at her every little achievement. He was the one who taught her to take the fall and stand up stronger each time. This time too she had done her duty – thinking of saving the passengers in the aircraft before saving herself, resulting in her untimely demise.
Sometimes he hoped he had not taught her to be so brave, courageous and responsible, then probably he would not have to lose her. He wished she was selfish to have protected herself.
Each day he waited for her to call but it never came. He knew it would never but that did not mean he had stopped hoping. He always thought of her – her beautiful smile, her soft, soothing voice that was the balm to his aching heart, her twinkling laughter but most importantly her eyes, that spoke volumes. Just one look at her eyes and he could read everything she had not said!
As he looked at the wall, filled with pictures of her, he saw a tiny speck of black. Alas another spider! He knew if his little princess was here, she would have buried her face in his chest and waited for him to shoo it away. No matter how old she grew, she would always be his little girl! She was the bravest and the strongest woman he knew but she would have still been terrified of spiders because her father had to be the one to shoo them away!
By Sharmila Bhattacharjee
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