Bystander

The plot was being hatched!

The woman who was around 30 or so gave detailed information about her husband’s movement, from the time he left home around 8.30 in the morning till he returned home around 8 in the evening.

The man more or less of the same age came out with several methods of elimination! Every time the man explained the plan, the woman would point out several loopholes and nodding agreement, the man would think of another one.

The conversation lasted nearly 30 minutes in that late evening in the park; while others sweated it out by walking fast, these two were busy creating a plan to eliminate the woman’s husband so that the lovers could unite.

Finally, they agreed to outsource the activity and next they discussed arranging the money required.

I loathed those two.

Has love lost its true meaning? Of course, the history is witness to extramarital affairs and falling for someone else’s wife, right from religious stories to history books, there are umpteen number of tales. What pained me was the motive! The money, wealth and comfort of living without sweating it out, that’s the underlying points of the plan that was being formulated by the two and it was not for love!

Suddenly, they left.

Even as I heaved a sigh of relief, a policeman in uniform came and what a coincidence I thought.

Is he following those two? Will they be stopped before they commit the crime and kill an innocent man? I wondered.

But the minute the man took out his mobile and started talking in low voice I knew that it was another tale of betrayal and crime; not stopping but committing!

The policeman was desperate to eliminate a colleague who somehow has found out malpractices and was about the expose this man.

The astonishing thing is the person whom the policeman was recruiting! Possibly one of the well known rowdy sheeter whose record would disappear if he agreed to carry out the ‘the work’ without an iota of doubt about the originator.

The two suit-clad persons were seriously discussing about business.

First, it didn't make sense. only after a few minutes I grasped. The young one among the two is a Sales Head in a company and the other man was the owner of a rival company. The sales head was explaining how his strategies would bring down the business in the next six months or so and how this would help the other man! Of course, this was a pure business deal; the sales head just wanted an equal partnership for his contribution.

The next person was an elderly woman; almost 70 plus. After a round or two, she was huffing and puffing. I expected something pleasant maybe a little bit of kitchen politics to come from the old woman. But the man who came to see her, a middle-aged man who looked as if he just been let out of jail provided the shocking details!

The daughter in law who was targeted has been silenced, albeit, temporarily with an incident looking like an accident! The man counted the money handed over by the old lady and grumbling that it was less than the agreed amount, left without looking back.

I was in for a surprise!

The old man and his wife who were my next guests were chatting about the arrival of a baby in their house and I felt relieved; like a good advertisement in between in an ugly movie!

But my happiness was temporary. The gender of the baby was the main agenda. The old woman argued while the old man listened. If this time too if it was a baby girl instead of a boy, how and why they should find a way to get the daughter-in-law separated from their son!

My god! What’s happening? Has this city become a crime capital? I wondered.

The two young lovers provided a much needed relief; they were genuinely in love with each other and despite the protest from their families, they were hell bent in getting married, albeit, by eloping!

I desperately waited for the nightfall. The park will be closed at 8 pm and the long and painful day would end.

I loathed my position; what else I could do? I wish I could speak, like all those humans who came and sat and discussed, most of the time, bad things.

For once I was happy not being human!

Being a bench in the park I could do nothing except just be a mute witness!