One Night in the Terrace

In 2012 , the year when the mobile phones with the provisions of camera were introduced. One night Binu was returning home with her father and mother. They got off the bus and bought snacks at the confectionery which was adjacent to the bus stop and the pharmacy. They walked straight and turned right to the small road that was a short cut to their home. Binu carried a glittery clutch embedded with mirrors and embossed flowers. She waved her hand with a purse and a snack packet to and fro, strolling just behind her father , with her mother. By the time they turned to the narrow street there stood a boy of around 15 years and the family hardly paid heed at him. Binu and her parents walked in the middle of the road where no one was there and the lined up houses looked yellow by the the light of sodium vapor lamp. Suddenly Binu sensed her cover was pulled backwards . She thought it must a dog and she just turned around. Lo! It was the same boy who tried to pull the clutch. Binu, being influenced by the recent news of photo morphing of women from phones started grabbing the clutch purse to herself. It was because she had her Nokia keypad phone with the camera of just 2.0 pixels at the back. Nothing was there in the clutch besides the phone. She shouted in shock , yet managed to grab her clutch purse from that boy. Her father turned around and shouted, and soon after that havoc the boy ran away swiftly as if he was adept at that. Binu felt proud of her bavery yet deep inside her mind she was terribly perturbed. She woke up at night perspired , every time. Especially when she sees her mother returning from rest room . She had the trauma for a long time. The trauma that extended her fear to not to stand in her house terrace after 4 pm. She breathed heavily whenever she stood in the terrace in the evening. Never did she expect such incident reflected in her life. The prolonged fear needed some remedy. She started reading verses of scripture for sometime at night. One day, she found her kitten hid somewhere. Binu searched all the nook and corners of the place and unknowingly reached the terrace and stood for a while at 7 in the evening . The same girl who couldn't stand after 4pm was alright then .Finally Prayers worked so well to cease her trauma.