An Anxious Wait

It was evening, the sun was just about to set which was looking red in the sky. Anne sat quietly on a bench nearby and got deeply immersed in her thoughts silently.

Just then the telephone rang in the public telephone booth in front of the park. Anne started looking around hurriedly but she could not find anyone nearby. She thought something and stepped towards the telephone booth.

By then, the phone got disconnected. Seeing this, Anne cleared her dry throat and turned to return back, when the phone rang again. The thoughts came like a lightning flash making Anne curious to know who the caller would be and that too so late in the evening. Anne reached the phone booth and grabbed the phone in a hurry.

Anne- “Hello, who is speaking?”

Caller- “Hello, Kelly how long have I been calling you. Why did you delay in picking up the phone?”

Anne – “Sorry, Mr. Whoever you are ... I'm not Kelly”.

Caller- “Oh! Sorry, Miss. Can I talk to Kelly?”

Anne –“Sir, I don't know anyone by name Kelly. Further, this is a public phone booth”.

Caller – “Sorry ma'am for disturbing you. I do not have her number. The day before yesterday she had called me from this number. She said that she would call me again, but I didn’t get her call. So I called her on this number”.

Anne- “Oh! I am sorry. I do not know any Kelly”.

Saying this, Anne hung up the phone and slowly walked towards her house.

The voice of the boy, who called on the phone, was echoing in her mind repeatedly. She rapidly controlled her mind and focused her attention on a book to forget the incidence.

Anne was a very simple girl. She was a very low-profile girl. She had only a few friends. Her daily routine was house to office and back. She often went to the park in the evening for a walk where the telephone incident had happened today.

She attended to her daily domestic duties in the morning and when she came back from office in the evening she invariable went to the park for getting refreshed.

As usual, Anne sat at her assigned place. After a while, suddenly the sound of the ringing of the phone was heard from the same public telephone booth. Anne looked at that side in surprise, remembering the boy who had called on the phone and she moved towards the booth fast and picked up the receiver of the phone,

Anne – “Hello”

Caller –“Hello, Kelly?”

Anne - (flashing her eyes) “So you have started harassing me again today”.

Caller-“So are you the same Miss who has responded yesterday. Madam, I don't even know your name.”

Anne - (Anne gets her name out of her mouth as soon as she thinks something) “Anne ... Yes, Anne is my name. Yours?”

Caller – “Anne is a very cute name, my name is Christian”.

Anne – “Hmm, Christian is a good name”.

Christian – “Anne I beg your pardon. I called you again today thinking that I should talk to Kelly somehow”.

Anne –“It’s OK”

There was silence on both sides.

Anne – “Hello, Christian will you call tomorrow again?”

Christian – “Hmm ... Yes, I will keep calling till I talk to Kelly.”

Christian had kept the phone down as soon as Anne wanted to say something!

As usual, Anne started walking towards her house. As time passed, Anne and Christian began to talk in the same way freely. Whenever Anne asked about Kelly, Christian would say that the day he would talk to Kelly, he would give details about Kelly to her same day.

Every day in the evening, Anne would quickly reach the park and wait for Christian's phone call. She liked this very much. Yes, in fact, she started enjoying the talk with Christian.

She started loving him from her heart. There was a magic in Christian's voice, which kept on echoing into her ears again and again. The voice was relaxing and gave her comfort.

One evening while Anne was waiting for Christian's phone call, she had decided to open her heart and tell everything to Christian.

The phone rang, Anne picked up the phone immediately.

Anne – “Hello”.

Caller -“Hello, Kelly”.

Anne –“Oh! Christian, I'm Anne speaking. Couldn’t you even recognize my voice by now?”

Christian - (bewildered) Oh! It’s not so. I was just hoping that today I may be able to talk to Kelly.

Anne – “How are you?”

Christian – “I'm fine, you tell me”.

Anne – “I'm fine too”.

Christian –“Should I ask you one thing?”

Anne- “Yes”

Christian – “Do you have anyone besides you there? I mean is there a girl around you?”

Anne - “Oh! Christian, I’m alone here. Actually, my house is a little out of town and this park is also near my house, it is not overcrowded, hardly anyone comes”.

Christian – “Hmm”

Anne – “Will you tell me who Kelli is?. Don't you know the address of her house- where you can meet her?”

Christian - (being disappointed) She has moved out from that place where she lived. I searched for her a lot but could not trace her out. I call this number only with the hope that I could talk to her. Has anyone named Kelly come to stay in your neighborhood?”

Anne – “No.I have been living here for many years and people around me are also familiar to me. I have not come across any new person coming to live here. Christian, I want to tell you something”.

Christian – “Sorry Anne I just got to go” saying this Christian disconnects the phone”.

Anne felt hurt and murmured to herself “What was the great hurry? If he had listened to me for two minutes, what was the harm? “With these thoughts, she moved towards her house.

It was already evening, Anne was standing outside the phone booth. She was eagerly waiting for Christian's phone call. She was constantly looking at her watch or the phone It was late in the evening but still she did not get Christian's phone call. She came home with a heavy heart.

Likewise, more than a week had passed. Anne went to the park daily with the hope and waited for Christian's call and then returned home blank with a depressed mind.

For hours she would be lost in the memory of Christian, repeating her words and laughing.

Anne, with the help of his voice, had made a picture of him in her mind. But as for Anne, Christian's voice was her face; her soul was her body and her spirit too. She would get restless remembering him. Her eyes used to get moistened thinking of him.

Always thought about Christian hoping that he was Okay. Then she used to console herself saying that Christian was fine. He would definitely call her. Probably he was busy with his work somewhere.

Anne waited eagerly in the park every day expecting the call from Christian. She believed that she would get a call from Christian.

THE END

इंतजार 

★★★★★ 

© Divya Patel

https://storymirror.com/read/story/hindi/ytzdxsbg/intjaar/detail

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