Naturally Special: Water Of Hope

The Unforgettable Encounter and the Change of Perceptions

When the godly powers make life decrepit, they aren’t indecisive or imprudent. Doors and portals of love are bestowed out of a consistent mercy. If we are unable to recruit the gift, the persistent clemency turns intermittent and otiose.

Unaware of the nature’s twisted tales, Dylan, who is yet to experience his life, stands still, facing his fallen world. He pretends to be resilient and stolid but his red eyes convey an anecdote of dejection commingled with despondency.

Dylan is alerted by a strong gale from the left side. He takes a dekko to the origin. And with misty eyes, he contemplates a strapping young fellow, who seems to share a comparable pain.

Wearing a thick snow jacket, this guy observes a shanty-like small house. His stature looks as if nothing has really happened. Probably, he was following the repression strategy.

Dylan, in a topsy-turvy state, couldn’t move his eyes from the guy. Only the poignant and moving song of the rain could be heard by Dylan as he feels heavy.

By the next morning, the entire population is shifted to a bleak camp at Mt. Ossawa. It was chilly, so much that even the miniature monarch butterflies ceased their migration.

Dylan, in a rather muffled and choked voice says slowly, “I saw you last night.” {Dylan sitting beside the guy (Daniel)}

“Um…Bread? . I got it for emergency”, he adds. Daniel sits silently, stationary, looking strangely at Dylan. Dylan is bewildered at the lunatic attitude. An awkward silence paralyses Daniel. “Won’t you change? It’s wet.”, asks Dylan out of kindness. Daniel maintains the quietness.

“There’s no food supply. You will suffer.”, shouts Dylan as he takes the loaf closer to Daniel’s mouth. Daniel stays still and whispers in an inaudible tone, “Life’s a mess.” Dylan is taken aback.

Dylan: “But…”

Daniel asks Dylan to hush. “Do you hear it?”, says Daniel softly. Dylan (baffled): “What?... What did you just say?” “The Melody of drops!”, whispers Daniel as he smiles with shut eyes. “Poet?”, enquires Dylan politely. Daniel (chuckles): No, …The sound of pattering is astonishing…. Dylan (sighs): Signifies monstrosity, emptiness… a sort of a culmination or something. An end of a cycle…. Water Cycle.

Daniel (grins): Cycles are eternal. No end. …. So is the cycle of glory and sadness.

The brief conversation consoles Dylan. He is pacified. A pause erupts between the two. Dylan keeps staring at his beautiful gallant eyes. The rain sounded malicious to Dylan, as if the heaven was lamenting, before he heard Daniel. He could finally hear the relenting rain for the very first time.

Daniel gets up and ensconces himself near to the laps of nature on the rugged floor. Dylan, too is forced to follow Daniel. He too sits on the turf outside the camp near Daniel, facing him.

“You’ll get sick.”, murmurs Daniel as he sees Dylan sitting under rain. Dylan smiles and looks up at the roaring sky. {Hours elapsed.} The two youngsters remained dissolved, remembering the tragedy.

{CLAMOUR AND CHAOS. But an eerie seclusion persists.}

Dylan utters, “Thank You.” Daniel (stumped): “For what?” Dylan: To pontificate, to enlighten me… (quavers head as he gets teary) … to tell that cycles do repeat (stifling)…they don’t terminate, no end.

Seeing Dylan recklessly sobbing, Daniel is moved and heart-wrecked. He desires to embrace Dylan but he is too astray in the life of Dylan. Dylan: “I feel helpless. I lost my lifeline.”

Daniel’s heart aches. He is carried away by Dylan’s innocence and susceptibility. Maintaining a dignified distance, Daniel stays static for an hour, waiting for Dylan to unload his heart. “Come inside”, says Daniel. With clothes drenched in water, Dylan stands and reaches out for Daniel, dripping the water on the rug. As Dylan sits next to Daniel in a state of reverie, Daniel tries to hold Dylan’s back but resists to do so.

Daniel (looking at the rug): “I am no preacher but welcome.” Dylan laughs. Then kindly smirks. “What’s the time?”, asks Dylan. “Does it really matter?”, shrugs Daniel in a sophisticated tone.

“Night. Later.”

The harsh day ends into a didactic night for Dylan. He is solicited. Both try to fall asleep but fails. Laying over the rug beside Daniel, under the full moon, Dylan says in undertone, “Thanks for the courtesy.” Daniel smiles at Dylan. “It’s the time of evil. We should sleep.”, whispers Daniel trying to make Dylan laugh. Nobody laughs.

After the doleful day, the morning witnesses a watery wilderness. It was drizzling. The nylon was wet. Tents needed an urgent repair. Victims were informed to have the camp renewed.

{“Mr, Oliver Radcliffe, Mrs. Kylie Degeneres and Ms. Jennifer Winget have been declared dead by the interns. The family, friends or relatives are ordered to stay calm and stay within Ossawa. The corpses will be incinerated duly…. THANK YOU”}

Dylan senses Daniel’s perturbation and uneasiness at the announcement. “Do you know them?”, questions Dylan calmly. “NO”, answers Daniel.

Daniel: “I don’t know. [shrugs] It’s scandalous to forbade one to do the last rites of the deceased loved one, to see them for the last one time, (scoffs) to pay reverence to the departed.”

Dylan (smiles): “At least, you got to see your father.” Daniel: “How do you know?” Dylan: “I saw you … . . He was our new neighbour. ” Daniel gets tempestuous at Dylan’s remarks. Dylan sees the first ever glimpse of tear in Daniel’s eyes. In that emotional tussle, Dylan holds and enfolds Daniel into his arms. Daniel is warmed by the sultry heart of Dylan.

“Listen, hear the rain.”, murmurs Dylan into Daniel’s ears. Dylan feels Daniel’s breaths. Dylan: “It’s the shower of hope. Hope to start anew with an optimistic assurance that circumstances will turn favourable. Every shower brings with it a hope to start a new water cycle tomorrow.”

The embrace betwixt the two makes Daniel comprehend the actual purport in the eternity of rain cycles. Dylan appends hope to it.

“Thank You.”, says Daniel in a low-pitched voice as he caresses Dylan’s digits. “For what?”, asks Dylan.

“To enlighten me.”, sighs Daniel as he smiles at Dylan.

The hug breaks slowly. Daniel is bumfuzzled to have found himself connected to a boy, he has met just a day before. Deep down, Daniel feels comforted and reassured. Both return to their repairing work. Something is ignited, an expectation certainly.