By Sanjana Bhachawat, Class XI C
Mr Lawrence, a stout young man was walking down the footpath with hands in his pocket and tears streaming down his cheek which no one could notice because it was night time and pouring cats and dogs. It was that situation when even the weather seems to empathize with the agonized person. He had two oxymoronic features in his life, he was an educated broke.
He had received his third consecutive rejection letter this morning, which apparently was the reason for his sombreness. Rejection after rejection! He could not take it anymore. He cursed god for making him inefficient or rather his bad luck. He had a degree but his personality didn’t seem to please the interviewers. He was like gold without lustre. To top it all up it was the time of recession.
He kept walking aimlessly as he was rendered homeless for not paying his rent for three months.
“You’re all drenched young man”, said a female voice from behind.
Lawrence, startled by the voice, quickly wiped his tears and turned around. It was a middle aged woman with a rubicund visage. He could see her because of the porch light.
“Do you want to share my umbrella?” she questioned.
“No, thank you” replied Mr Lawrence politely.
“Alright then” said the middle aged lady but no sooner had she started walking than he stopped her. “Hang on, can you walk me to the nearby park?” he asked and the lady nodded. “I’m Raven by the way” she introduced herself and further added “Why would you want to visit the park at this hour? I mean shouldn’t you be going home?”
“I would if I had one” Mr. Lawrence replied as if it was no big a deal to not have a home.
“Oh boy! I am so sorry”, sympathized Raven.
“Don’t be! Recession has taken a toll.”
“So you don’t have a job as well?” enquired Raven timidly.
“Of course I don’t.”
“So, what are you going to do now?” Raven questioned.
“Well as of now I just received my third letter of job rejection and I do not have a single penny so…”
“So what? Are you going to steal?” snapped Raven.
“I didn’t say that, it’s just that desperate means cause for desperate measures” argued Mr. Lawrence. “And anyway, at least in prison I will have food and shelter, unlike right now”.
“So? If today you adopt wrong means and tomorrow supposedly you get caught and are sent to prison for a year or so but in the meantime the recession ends and there are ample opportunities in the market, no one will accept you because of your criminal history.” explained Raven in one breath.
“Okay, I agree with you, but what about now? I shall die of starvation and won’t even be alive to see the recession end. Do you have any idea why most of the people steal? Well, not for fun but because of desperate times, they can’t help it.” Mr. Lawrence further argued.
“Okay then, go steal, do it! I won’t tell a soul, but just remember, what is life without salt in it? Only if you can walk from failure to failure with the same enthusiasm will it be called success. Today in the heat of the moment you will go steal but when you regain your senses you will realize what a blunder you have done. Anyway, it’s your life, do what you feel like. I am no one but a mere stranger” Raven concluded the argument.
By that time they had reached the park and it was Raven’s turn to leave. “Alright then, this is it. We part ways now.” Raven said handing him over her umbrella.
Mr. Lawrence astounded by this kind act of Raven asked “won’t you get wet then?”
“I will manage” Raven said and was ready to leave but then Mr. Lawrence started “Ma’am, maybe you are right and I must not give up like this. Who knows what god has planned for me next? I will not steal but strive.” Hearing this Raven turned around to smile at him and started walking away.
The next morning when Mr. Lawrence woke up, he found an ID card lying on the grass. It had Raven’s photo on it and it read “The chief police inpector.”
