The two wheeled beast

My husband hit a small stone and lost his balance. He couldn't control the huge beast. It started falling to its right and started skidding dangerously towards the edge of the hill. My husband had fallen off it but Joy was still clinging on to the monster bike with a haunting smile on his face, unable to comprehend what was happening. He must be thinking that this was some new stunt his father was doing. 

I was once a primary school teacher and I love to write in my spare time. I come from the beautiful city of Kolkata and today I define myself proudly as a mother and homemaker. Travelling and reading are my other pastimes. Pride and Prejudice and the Harry Potter series are some of my favourites.

I would like to believe that creativity and imagination (prerequisites of a writer) are my strong points. 'The Second Chance', 'Iallam', 'Once Upon a Train Journey','The Last Wish', 'The Sounds' are some of my short stories published in anthologies. I have also authored Life in a Palette- a collection of tales published by Wissenmonk.

Well I must also admit that sometimes my imagination goes into an overdrive in my subconscious. Not just dreams but at times I have vivid and frightening nightmares too.

And yes now I remember one incident so clearly. My husband and son were coming up to meet me. We would spend a lovely weekend at the cottage on the hilltop and I had reached earlier to clean up some dirt and dust that might have settled. They were riding up in my husband's motorbike. How often I had told him that I don't like that two wheeled monster. I hated riding it and I hated looking at it. But both of them had been persistent. Joy also had developed a love for the bike just like his father and whenever he got the chance, he insisted on riding with his dad. I could never convince them otherwise.

As I stood on the road just outside the gate of the cottage to welcome them, I could hear the throbbing of the engine as it reared itself while coming uphill. I could picture the smile on their faces as they cruised up the road enjoying the scenic beauty of the hills. All three of us loved the hills. The ever-changing beauty of hills simply mesmerised us. We all... my thoughts were broken by the roar of the engine nearby and I turned towards it with a welcoming smile. And then everything happened in a slow motion.

My husband hit a small stone and lost his balance. He couldn't control the huge beast. It started falling to its right and started skidding dangerously towards the edge of the hill. My husband had fallen off it but Joy was still clinging on to the monster bike with a haunting smile on his face, unable to comprehend what was happening. He must be thinking that this was some new stunt his father was doing. The bike was still skidding towards the edge and I started running. My husband too was running in its direction. Now Joy was screaming. As we ran, we saw the bike reach the edge and slightly topple over. We both stretched out our hands to grab our son but could only yell out "Joy!"...

"Yes mummy?" I heard his sweet voice near me. I jerked out of my trance and saw that I was in no hilltop but in our flat in the city. Phew! It was just a nightmare. I quickly gave him a hug and said, "Nothing dear."___________________________________________

By: Gargi Bandyopadhyay

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