It was a Sunday night towards the end of March. He was driving his Honda vehicle setting up the drive in a cruise control, sitting comfortably on his leather seats. His speedometer read a constant speed of 75 miles pr hr. His Xeon lights fell on the blue color interstate sign, reading 95 South. There was mist all around and there were barely any cars on the road. He could see an eighteen wheeler driving directly in front of him in the second lane. It could be almost half a mile between them. The orange lights on either side of the road were glowing in the mist. He looked up and the banner of Kings Dominion was glowing. It was the only thing he could see on that dark misty night. He could see the colon sign blinking in between the numbers 11 and 56. The music system display read AUX and a black wire from it was connected to his iPhone.
It was almost a minute to mid night. He knew he had to take a left exit at exit 84b to go to his apartment at Glen Allen. So he canceled the cruise control and took the control on his feet and then his iPhone rang. It was playing Dr. Jones theme music as its ringtone. He has always been a great fan of Indiana Jones right from his childhood. The name on his iPhone read “Ramkey” above his family photo. He took the cable out of the phone and answered.
“Hey. Wats up, you are still awake? “
“What do you think? I have never missed your birthday? Happy Birthday man” wished Ramkey.
“Thank you so much brother” answered with a smile.
“So you are 26 now. WOW ! I had a blast of a life when I was at your age. So what did u do?”
“Me! Nothing. Was at Aravind’s Place at Fairfax for the weekend and driving back home now”. BTW, what happened to your life now?”
“Now! ….Now I am married, in my thirties, having a kid this summer. Life is not the same. Whatever, I would go to sleep now. Did mom and dad talk to you or what?”
“Ya they did. She called me around 9 PM. She wished me in Indian time.”
“Alright brother, Happy birthday again. Talk to tomorrow. Let me go and catch some sleep”
“Good night”
He was already on I-295N when the conversation with his big brother ended. He was on the road for another 2 minutes. He was trying to connect the phone back to the cable with one hand and the phone rang again. This time it was some Indian land line number. It read +914423351667. He dint hesitate to pick the phone again. Afterall it could be someone he knew, wishing him on his birthday.
He answered “Hello”
The person on the phone with a loud voice said “Hello…... Hello…..One minute sir. One minute”
Then she answered “Hello… Ramsee ?”
The moment he heard her voice, he knew it was her. His heart was pounding fast. There was some kind of fear in his body. His mind read thousand things at the same time. How did she get my number? It’s been 5 yrs. Why is she calling me now? It was all over. Man is she starting it all over again. He took a heavy breath.
The voice on the phone called softly and so caring “Ramsee… are you there?”
“Sandhya – Hey is that you Sandhya?”
“You know it, I prefer you call me Sandy and its Great! You still recognize my voice. Hmm”
He said to himself silently, “Man she hasn’t changed a bit. But why is she calling me now?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s been a long time sandy. How are you doing? And what’s up?” He asked her.
“Happy Birthday Ramsee. You though I would forget your birthday? I have been trying to find your number for quite a long time. You stopped responding to your emails. Your parents moved out of Chrompet. Finally, I did it meet a guy Sanjay who studied in University of Toledo. He gave me your number. He said he lived next door when you both did your MS.”
“Trivedi ke bache… I will kill you the next time I see you, Sanjay Thrivedi “he spoke to himself in his mind.
“Oh! That’s nice. Thanks anyway.” He answered anyway.
“NICE! Really?” She questioned as if she dint believe him.
He dint know what to answer. He was speeding at 90 mph and he saw a cop pulling over another car at a distance. He immediately removed the leg from the accelerator and applied break to bring the car to 55 mph. He was at 70 mph when he crossed the cop who had already stopped another vehicle. Exit 53 was just a mile away, so he said
“Sandy, I am driving now and its illegal in this state to drive and talk over the phone”. He knows that there was no such rule in the state of Virginia. But he thought that would be a suitable lie to get rid of her.
“I would reach home in another 10 min. Can I call you back?” but still he couldn’t be harsh to her when she is online. So thought he would never call her back nor pick the phone if the call is from this number.
“Never mind, I just wanted to wish you. It’s a public phone and there is quite a bit of line behind me. So it’s alright. Take care Ramsee, I still love you.”
“What?” After a brief silence, he continued with a louder voice “Sandy! What did you say?”
She didn’t reply and there was a dead silence. He took a look at his phone, there screen was blank. She has disconnected the conversation.
He spoke loudly staring at his phone, “Exactly” and he continued “exactly for the same reason, I stayed away from her. Having told her thousand and eight times, she would never understand”
And he took the exit to I-64 W. He travelled 10 more minutes and parked his car in a parking lot in front of building 23. He took his back pack and locked the car. Climbed the wooden stairs for 2 floors and opened the apartment door reading 2332. He saw ladies hand bag on the couch and realized that his roommate’s girl friend is home. He just hoped that his stupid roommate dint crash in his bed like he did three week ago. He changed the thermostat to 70 degree and crashed on his bed.
He thought about what Sandy had told him, but he later made up his mind thinking she would get over it in time. He kept alarm in the clock beside his bed and closed his eyes.
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