MY SHORT STORY- III

                               THE PROMISE

           I ran behind it as fast as I could. It was the world's cutest puppy I had ever seen. I found it while playing in the beautiful Apple orchards in a village near Nainital. This was the place where I visited every year during my holidays. It was where my uncle stayed with his family. So the entire vacation was spent exploring the village and the outskirts of town along with my cousins. I was the eldest among them, but still loved their company. So chasing the white fluffy puppy I reached that part of the village which I hadn't explored before. I stood before a huge warehouse situated in the middle of tall pine trees spread all over the place. It was a quiet place. Fresh breeze blew across my face. I could hear the chirping of birds. And soft sunlight peeped through the dense pine leaves. The wooden warehouse was indeed located in the middle of nature's mesmerizing part. The white pup had stopped running and was playing with the red cherries grown on the tiny bushes. I could not resist the curiosity, so I decided to check the inside of the warehouse. 

             As I entered the already opened doors of the warehouse,the first thing I noticed was a huge glass ball placed on a wooden platform. When I looked around the place, I observed that there was a long wooden table which had several different types of small and big machinery kept on it. There were short and wide wooden cupboards in one corner and some metal and wooden rods in another. That's it. That meant this place was surely not used for storing the harvested crop.  

        The glass ball started fascinating me, hence I went closer to it. TIME MACHINE. I could see the words on a metal plate located on the platform under the glass ball. There was a plush seat inside the time machine. I could not believe that I was actually standing near a time machine, I had read about in some stories. I couldn’t help but laugh. I knew all of this was fictional and I thought that if it was a time machine, why was it hidden here? It was just an unsuccessful experiment carried out by a young crazy scientist, I thought. 

         Like every other twelve-year-old curious kid, I went and sat inside the time machine. I looked through the glass walls of the machine but couldn't see a thing. Strangely the glass was opaque from the inside. There were many buttons on the front side of the machine to enter the date and time in which you want to travel. I had started finding it droll. So without even thinking about anything I randomly pressed the buttons and finally clicked on the large green ENTER button. Nothing happened. Neither did the time machine shake or vibrate as described in the stories I had read, nor did a music or a robotic voice inform me about the time in which I was. Everything was fake, I said to myself and climbed down the time machine. 

          I scanned the place, which was totally unchanged. The only thing I hadn't noticed before was a wall clock and an old calendar-like faded thing. I was about to leave when an old woman in her seventies entered the warehouse. 

"Who are you kid? What are you doing here?" She asked me. Unlike other ladies of her age, she wore trousers and t-shirt. She had her silver hair tied in a low loose bun. She stared at me with a surprised look. "I'm sorry ma’am. I came here chasing a puppy. I'm sorry for entering your warehouse without permission. " I apologized. Her expression changed and she smiled at me lovingly, "I don't own this place my dear and no one owns it for many years. I'm just taking care of this machine and this place because many years ago I promised an old lady to do so." She said. "I'm somehow connected to this place now. And now I'm waiting for a person to visit this place through this time machine.” I could not believe what she said. How could someone come here through a non-working, so called, time machine, I thought. “Do you believe that someone can travel through time in this machine?” I asked. She looked at my innocent face and broke into laughter, “no dear,” she continued, “I don’t know about this but that lady who told me about this believed firmly and I trusted her” I nodded in response. She continued further, “But I can’t do this anymore. I’m tired now.”

“So why don’t you handover this responsibility to someone who would take care of this place just like you did?” I asked. There was silence for a few moments. “Why don’t you take responsibility of this place little girl?” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes. As I was an innocent 12-year-old girl I instantly agreed and took over the responsibility.

      It was 2 pm. The strange old woman had left the place to bring some cake for me and promised to return in half an hour. I went back to position myself in the time machine. This time, I entered the date and time carefully. I decided to put the same date but changed the timing to half past two.

 

 

DATE:13-09-1996

 

TIME: 2:30 PM

 

ENTER

  

EPILOGUE:

17TH SEPTEMBER 1960, 2:30 pm

I pressed the enter button but nothing happened again. I came out of the time machine. Everything was the same. I went outside the warehouse. The white pup was still frolicking there. I went there and started playing with it. Long time passed but the old lady did not return. I waited for her for a few more minutes but she didn’t come. It was almost evening now. I decided to return to my cousins, so I closed the doors of the warehouse and along with my new friend, the white fluffy ball of fur, started walking towards home. I promised myself to visit here every day.

 

17TH SEPTEMBER 2020, 2:30 pm

I came back with a delicious chocolate cake for the little 12-year-old girl who had accidentally come to the warehouse. I went inside but she was not to be seen anywhere. I checked outside the warehouse. Where has she gone? She told me that she will wait for me to come. For a moment I thought that I’m late, I’m 72 now and I tend to do things slowly, but as I looked at the watch I understood that I was on time. I waited for the kid for some more time and ate the chocolate cake myself. It was almost evening now. So according to my daily routine, I closed the doors of the warehouse and started walking towards home.

This was the second time that someone had failed to keep their promise to meet me after half an hour.  60 years back; the old woman broke her promise of not coming back to the warehouse. And now 60 years later the little girl broke her promise of not waiting for me at the warehouse.

On her way back home, the old woman analysed the entire situation  in her mind and laughed with delight. She was very happy after realizing that She had finally fulfilled the promise she made to herself several years ago.

-Shreya Mahabal.