Sketch

He was very upset. It was the third time when the result was hanging on the wall without names. It was a shock to him to believe that he was failed he was taken away and when all his friends were cheering, He sat on a garden bench alone ashamed and unhappy.

The last bell of the college rang strictly and showed the direction of home to all students. Recalling mother's face, all successful students wanted to go home without wasting a minute.

The boy seemed to be a deaf as he ignored the bell. He had no reason to return home. He knew, no one would call him because it was the time to return home of his office elder brother and father.

But he could not stay there more as the keeper locked the garden. He could not but boarded in a bus towards Alextion Street.

At 8:00 p.m., He came out of the bus. He ran out the bell of the third mansion of Alextion Street. A good looking well dressed lady opened the boy and said: "come my boy, join with your father and brother. it will be a lovely family dinner."

The boy who had the habit of dinner in his room late night was asked by no one why he was too early.

The boy could not say that that his family did not love him. They loved him very much, they cared for him. It was the boy who felt uneasy. They advised them but did not listen to him. They told him solutions but didn't ask him problems.

He could not understand how he should present the matter. As the most stupid boy he said - " I am fail " just when his mother was preparing red chocolate. He had thought nothing about the reaction. His heart was beating first. It always happened to him. He always felt weird. He always felt that he was the one born into the wrong world.

"Oh it is not a matter. try hard and you will pass. We all know that you are not very much interested in the study. What about your paintings? His brother said gently. "Yes Papa, you know what, painting can earn well. One of my colleague's sister had a great hand in painting and she recently joined in a great advertise company. What you are thinking? The custard is better than the past. How much time you spend to it mom ! "A full a whole spoonful of caramel custard went to his brother's mouth.

Yes the boy had only one thing in the world he which he could do well and which he loved to do - painting. He never thought of joining any advertising company. He just painted. He had painted sky, rivers and the dew drops on the grass and the rainbow of the sky. He liked to paint and he thought that the painting is only the way to express his emotions rather his emotions.

The boy could not believe that he would come out so easily. He was expecting the punishment of hang or hemlock. Suddenly he had a sound of calling him. He heard his father telling him " my boy, I expect, you will have a holiday tomorrow for Isabella and Arnold marriage."

" Yes, yes papa."

" Get ready in early morning. Beresford is almost three miles. Is not bill ?"

"3 mile is to near it will be must four and half " his brother said.

The boy only sighed long and it continued till when the maid gathered the clean dishes on the table.

(2)

The old church was ordered the oak to welcome all the guest. The boy noticed the nest of the swallow in the third bunch of the oak was already left by the swallows whom he had seen last time. The boy knew that nothing is steady but always he hoped for a steady thing which he could hold lifelong. He sat on a bench. He seemed to be an old bull, nothing to do.

The bell rang and unobtrusively, the boy plodded into the gathering people who were going to welcome the newly married couple. The boy found nothing interested. His eyes was loafing here and there but suddenly his eyes crossed with someone's. The golden hair, neatly trimmed eye lashes, blue eye ball and a charming look made him uneasy. The boy was totally speechless. He even could not addresses single word to this magical beauty.

Yes, it was the first girl of his life whom he observed for some minutes. The straight golden hair floated in forehead by an rural wind. The white gown was kissing the grass. The sharp end of the face was like lightning in the sky. And the lips, the original red lips reminiscenced the wave of blue sea, the essence of red apples in autumn, cherry blossoms in the winter. Her smile was the thing which forced people to look again to her and it was the same thing which forced them to stay away. The boy looked at the mysterious beauty with undivided attention.

The bell seemed to a devil by ranging in this glorious moment. Like a flash, the girl was gathered in the groups of people. The boy could not find her anymore.

(3)

It was four days later. The boy almost sketched a sketch of the girl. The beautiful golden hair, the cherry blossomed cheek, the almond eyes all were beautifully printed in the picture. But there were still a thing missing - the beautiful lips. The boy could not sketch it. He had to see it again. He only wanted to see it again not to fulfill his desire, but to complete her sketch.

The boy did know whether he had feeling for the girl but he thought he had fallen love with the sketch. If loving someone's sketch means that loving the person, then obviously the boy had fallen in love with the girl. But how he could love the girl whom he had seen only once in his life !

the girls shadow was haunting him. He was finding the girl, at college, station Street, everywhere. His eyes for finding someone. But the skatch was still incomplete.

(4)

Forty years later........

The boy was no more a boy. The man what's still finding the girl. Everyday he came into the church to find the girl. He expected that one day, the girl might be reached there. Now people admired him as a printer. Well, He could make some money also but he did not know what is his problem. He that is the doctor said that he was very ill and he would not live more. But how he could die without completing the sketch!

Every day, sitting in the same bench of the church, he expected the sound of someone's foot. He had no complaint to the world but he had only one wish. He wanted to see the girl.

Now he could feel that a person could fall in love in only a second, only a glimpse.

Only he was sitting in the church as usual he was thinking about the girl like everyday. He did not know whether thinking about someone for long time, wishing someone to see for a long time is called love. But if it does then he had obviously fall in love with the girl.

Some men were carrying a coffin. The man glanced at the coffin. He knew that the day was not far away when he would be also sleeping there, in a peaceful rest, in the scary silence.

As the man thoughts became heavier the sky was also became heavier. The dark cloud covered the smiling face of the sky. It started raining heavily the. The flash of thunder was burning. The man with them who was carrying the coffin took shelter in the church.

While running to the church, the man noticed that the coffin was opened by chance. The man's feet was glued to the earth as he took a glance at the coffin.

Yes God fulfilled his only wish. It was the girl sleeping in the coffin. The golden hair was pale, the almond eyes were closed, the beautiful face was wrinkled but the lips.the lips were same. The scarlet red colour, the magnetic smile was same.

The man did not wonder. He knew that the things which we love remains the same for us. The boy was in love with the sketch. He was in love with the lips. He did not lamented. There was no reason to lament. His only wish was granted.

The man knew what to do. He ran to his bag and took up pencil and incomplete sketch which he always kept with him. He ran again to the coffin disregarding the pleading people, he sat under the oak. The wet red lips were looking like a divinal thing. The rain became more heavier. The man put the pencil in his hand and started to draw.

Next morning.......

The whole townfolk came to the church. All of them heard about the boy spending the horrible night under open sky.

They found the boy lying bedide the coffin - dead but a satisfaction reflected in his face. They were not surprised a man who stay outside a stormy night like this surely would not survive. But thing what surprised them was the paper under the boy's jacket. No drops of rain got it wet. The sketch was shining, the complete sketch. The girl's smile was completing the sketch.