Banal Secrets

Banal secrets… Just another night. He leaves a bagful of snacks, cans of emptiness scattered on the lumpy couch, in front of the tube now broadcasting a series on those who are yet to return, the traceless ones the lost ones. The verandah on which he comes out at night comes out amid night, is touched by a sudden gust. The wind has passed rivers and mountains. It whispers the name of a sister, full blood sister of this middle aged man, who has kept her in heart and in lungs, there is those nicotine sponged. The waft calls his lost sister Traceless, fade away. He face the brazen night. Dark. A clueless dog is barking. Is there an entity? May be just a shadow from the life he has buried in the town they used to live; a town which has consumed a girl returning from school; a town which has always known this man’s, this brother’s folly. But he has only pushed her teasingly; a mere play; the canal, the greedy canal, which has sucked a girl sure is the one to be blamed for. Still he harks the screams in his suppressed dreams. =© 2009 - All Rights Reserved Kushal Poddar