Mirage

We went in to see the beauties lined up .The executive assigned to us to update us on their different qualities was a pleasant young man of about 28 .Well dressed but with a smile that quite didn’t reach his eyes ,He had brooding eyes which gave him a rakish look .My lord and master moved away to check on something .The young man came closer ..a little too close for my comfort … “Madam have you made your choice /”
Umm ..not yet ,’’ but I think we’l l go for the grey one ,”
“That’s a good colour .”
“Yes its rather uncommon .”
“Would you like to have something to drink ?”
“Huh ..No thank you ,later perhaps .” I smiled masking my discomfort (did he have to stand so close and stare at my face ?Has my lipstick streaked or is it my hair ?)
Trying not to be obvious I ran my hand over my hair and craned my neck in the direction towards which my husband had disappeared .
(why doesn’t he take the hint ,I asked myself )
I surreptitiously looked down and checked if everything was in its proper place (You know what I mean ? I do have the habit of wearing mis-matched sandals in my hurry to get out ) but every thing was fine .But there he was before me as I had left him ..same eager look .
I moved away a little and put some more space between us and pretended to be keenly interested in the white shining beauty before me .He moved closer and asked ,"Madam what’s your good name ?"
"Mrs. M ," I answered coldly …I felt him move back and turn away .Hearing my husbands voice we turned and the young man indicated that we should follow him .We followed him to his cabin .Seating ourselves he introduced himself .My husband began bombarding him with questions on the beauty we wanted to own .His answers were not exactly related to the questions .He enumerated the qualities in by hearted fashion and each time the question was repeated he would start from the beginning all the time his eyes on my face …tired of this I turned to some pamphlets on the table and began reading them with an interest I didn’t feel .I could feel his eyes on me ….
Something about what he was talking made me look up .His face was a picture of grief .He was saying, “I never take the bike sir , its just that day ,It was our second wedding anniversary on Tuesday and so we first went to the church and then we had some purchases to do .So we were going towards the mall and had stopped at the signal as it was red .The lorry came from behind and hit us directly and she died on the spot .”

My eyes on him and the silence from my husband told it all ,Death is a great silencer .
“Have you got over it ?” I blurted out wishing instantly that I could take it back
Yes its been six months now ,it was in the papers ,for past six months I stayed at home ,without meeting any one .I joined today ..
Tell us about it …if you want to talk about it .,”began my husband ,
“sometimes it helps ,did she suffer or was it sudden ?”
And he talked and talked ..we listened ,interspersing with a few questions to keep him on it .
After an hour he smiled …his eyes had a live look .He thanked us for just listening to him .We had nothing to say coz no comforting words would lessen his loss bit we shared his grief with him and left our contact numbers walked out of the room leaving him staring at the picture of his wife he had dug out of his wallet ……