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Please feel free to email me on solitaire2009@gmail.com for a discount code before purchasing THE ELEVEN at http://www.saikiranpublications.com/orderform.htm

I hope you enjoy the book.

Friday, February 8, 2008

The Stranger


She lay on the couch, her body frail and weak, and unable to balance itself. She felt she needed to go somewhere but was unable to move. She was alone at home. Then how did the plate of fried rice come onto the table? Who made it? And who ate from it? She was confused. Her head hurt. She fell asleep, once again.

He entered the house through the backdoor making sure not to make any noise as he moved swiftly. He saw her sleeping on the couch and stopped for a second. Should he approach her or should he go into the bedroom first? He decided the former. And as he tiptoed into the living room, he saw her open her eyes and heard her give out a loud scream.

"WHO ARE YOU"?, she cried out with a sense of despair and fear.
He cared not to answer and walked towards her. She began screaming with all her might, with whatever strength was left within her.

"I know who you are!! You are the man who is wanted by the police!". She began shaking. She tried to stand up but instantly fell to the couch.

He kept looking at her with a grim look on his face. His mind was cluttered with thoughts, conflicting decisions, negative emotions, and yet he stood there, as still as a statue, as if he had no life in him.

"You are that man! You.. you...you...", she continued.
"Yes, I, I, I...", he thought to himself. "Yes, I am the one! I am the one who loves you dearly. I am the one my dear, who cries for you everyday. My love, I am the one who you are married to. And you are the one who has Alzheimer's".

Her muscles started twitching. He broke down into tears.

55 comments:

Lakshmi said...

very touching and sensitively portrayed ...your stories leave a strong impact

Arti Honrao said...

Short but very touching!


GBU
Arti

ceedy said...

:( i forgot what it was all about after coming to this window....

Pavi!!!! said...

Ouch!!! :(

Solitaire said...

@ Backpakker, thanks!

@ Arti, yeah why waste time describing the living room when its the woman's plight that we are talking about?

@ Ceedy, are you serious?????

@ Pavi, I know!

Anonymous said...

This is terrible!

R there men around who stay with there women even after these things happen?

I can't believe it!

I feel so numb after reading your stories! But I still come back coz I don't know why...

when there is true love there are so many problems... sometimes u feel y true love has to have so many problems!

Mel Avila Alarilla said...

Hi Solitaire,
That's a beautiful and moving short story. Very short but very compelling. You have a way with words. I really admire your style of writing. Thanks for the story. God bless you and your family always.

gypsy said...

woaha...

ur plots are awesome...hats off to ur obsrvation+imagination...

if it had been the woman livin with a man wth Alz.... then it wud have been quite obvious, the reverse makes it alll the more tchin..

Lukkydivs said...

Was waiting for this space to be updated soon :0 thanx for this one but sneha di what was the need for the guy to tiptoe into his own house :O

Anonymous said...

touching story!!!!!!!

K M F said...

nice reading

Cinderella said...

Nice one there girlie..!
Good job.

Neetal said...

It was painful :(

Pri said...

nice one :)
though expected it would be a bit more detailed...

willheim said...

you got me.

gonna bookmark you.

Nadine said...

What an excellent piece. It bought tears to my eyes.

Rendezvous said...

great one.. really.. i have a major inclination towards psychology.. and the moment i came across your blogs, well.. couldn't stop myself...

firstly, that profile pic.. speaks a lot.. the eyes.. they speak a lot.. wht... i don't know.. the read was just great.. i have such imaginations.. m sure i would learn a lot from you....

-R
another visitor

Rendezvous said...

and yes ... :'( .. touching one really...

Rho Tau GWIS said...

Hey, have read or/and seen the move 'The Notebook' ? If not, you MUST!!! It has a similar plot...very sad, yet romantic.

Keshi said...

very graphic too WOW!

Keshi.

Deepti said...

Very touching ...sometimes you dont need too many words to convey a thought ...

Amused Alien said...

u know this one made my heart sink

u can call it an art though!

neways u r a gud storyteller the one skill that makes u so is that u make people hole dthea breath n wait for next

touching!

adios!

vagabond dreamer said...

u have a way of capturing grief and angst ...touching

Sam said...

there is was preparing myself for a thriller.. adn then it goes down a completely different track!!! good story... liked it.... how do you come up with them?

Sukanya said...

thts so.. sad!! oh god!!
i honestly dunno wht to comment..

Solitaire said...

@ Veens, I think every relationship has its share of problems, either brought on by fate or by bad choices. What can we do?

I think that there are men who will stay around for their women in times of ill-health. Don't you think your hubby will?

Solitaire said...

@ Mel, thank you so much!

@ D sinner, thank you! I thought it would do men some good by showing them in a positive fashion after all the male bashing that they receive from today's women.

@ Divya, you see, the guy did not want to wake her up.

Solitaire said...

@ Ashu, thank you!

@ KmF, thanks! Come back for more.

@ Cinderella, thank you!

@ Neetal, I know!

@ Pri, Yeah I feel that too but then I also think there is no point describing what everyone looks like etc when I am trying to capture the emotion and helplessness.

Solitaire said...

@ Willheim, thank you!! Appreciate it.

@ Nadine, aww, thank you!

@ Rohit, wow! What do you do currently?

@ Carolinagal, I have not seen the entire movie but have watched a few scenes from it during a class presentation. Did you notice I put up a song from it on the page?

Solitaire said...

@ Keshi, you are the first one to say that.

@ Deepti, yes, silence is also golden.

@ Poet Manque, do I really?

@ Vagabond, thank you.

@ Sam, if I knew, I would have told you, for sure!

@ Knatchbulley, but you just said a lot with that comment too.

Rendezvous said...

solitaire: thou i m working in an IT firm, i2 technologies as a Consultant, bt i have an urge to know and learn more abt psychology... i do a lot of mind reading, and observation, and try to analyze ppl.. see how they talk, wht they talk, how and wht they do... how do ppl behave in different kinds of situations.. etc etc etc... i also at times, solve problems of my friends... which most of us do, bt i somehow do it in a very practical and logical manner..

the kinda things u write, i write them as well, bt not on my blog.. i think will post a few... i wanna learn more abt psychology.. and how should i go abt it..???

Help
Thanks

Mush said...

Good one ! ... well written. Clap clap clap :)

Solitaire said...

@ Rohit, I would like to make one clarification. Contrary to the popular belief, psychologists do NOT read minds, do NOT analyze people's behavior for the heck of it. Yes they do observe but only in the context of work. Yes, they do HELP people solve their own problems but do not solve them for them. And they do NOT follow any logic to do that. So what you have been doing is not psychology at all!

@ Mush thank you! :)

BD said...

Just amazing! Such a twist...

Mush said...

Welcome solitaire.. gonna add this on my blog roll. Don wanna miss any updates. Hope you don mind

Meghna said...

A very nice one in such a short notation! Touching .....your writings leave an indelible impact!

Sukanya said...

aloha
m blogrollin u :)

Solitaire said...

@ Equilibrium, thanks!!

@ Mush, why would I mind? Keep coming back!

@ Meghna, thanks! I like feedback on my writing so keep it coming!

@ knatchbulley, thanks! :)

Sweetstickychewy said...

I am wowed by this! u got me on my toes for alittle bit. hahaha!

A lovely stranger he is!;)

Happy Valentine's Day to you too!"D

Rendezvous said...

I am extremly sorry, but i didn't mean to offend you.. "do NOT analyze people's behavior for the heck of it".. i never said that its done for the heck of it...

now analyzing ppl is something that i do, and i solve problems only when ppl come to me.. not for the heck of it.. i seriously want to get more insight into it..

help

Thanks
and sincere apologies if i offended you.. had no such intentions

Anonymous said...

I don't know Sneha, I just he will stay along.. but not for pity/sympathy.. but because he loves me kinds..

YU know! there is no telling what my future will be kinds.. y sulk abt it :)

whatever! :D

Novice Writer said...

u r a wonderful writer!! well done!

Vik Rajagopalan said...

awwww... that was nice and short. You done good mate and thanks for stopping by and I sure dont know what your blog is so it is going to be sometime before I realize where you are coming from [:D]

Vik Rajagopalan said...

Oh actually think about the note again, I am slightly tempted to believe you took the guys side?!?!? That is interesting for it is a trend to go on an offense with the new age kids particularly girls. So, I think am slightly thankful to that different view !

John F said...

Poetic liberty eh Solitaire?

As someone who is currently invovled in managing the affairs of a close relative suffering from Alzheimer's all I know is that even if the patient is watching TV, they are actually just blank.

But then hey, you are the doctor here!

Sree... said...

This is my first visit to your blogs and I am really impressed by your way of writing.

This story is really touching indeed.

Touches one's heart... nicely written.

Occasional Brilliance said...

beautifully and sensitively written...

Hiren said...

not sure which movie u talkin abt on Woes ... but the movie that comes to my mind after reading this wonderfully crafted narrative of yours is "50 first dates" ...

And going a bit out of context – many people and many a times the loved ones of such Alzheimer's victims themselves feel that they are subjected to a lot of suffering, distress because of this state of the victim. I don’t think anyone of us can ever get into the minds of the true loved ones but somehow I don’t think their grief can be called as suffering/anguish because suffering is something out of compulsion and if someone is sticking around with the victim out of compulsion then he/she can’t be called as the loved one first of all ... Not sure why I m blabbering so much abt this and totally out of context to your post as well ... Sorry !!!

Karthik S said...

Perfect !!! Touching !!!


Cheers :-)

Satanic Angel said...

beautiful..
i loved the movie u me aur hum.

Satanic Angel said...

@d sinner - u r so right wen u say tat u know..never thought of it..had it been the man suffering frm alzeihmers and had the woman been sacrificing enuff to be wit him it wuda been oh-so obvious. Wheras in this case we think of him as some samaritan. Age old mentalities need to change.

Pavi!!!! said...

Reread the post yet another time...Don't have a count of the num of times i've read some of these posts...It yet makes me feel sad :(

Anonymous said...

Solitaire, WOW!!! This was a powerful Story! I was so so engrossed in it.. And yes it does makes one think "What If" !!

Great post!!

Ne

Nishant said...

Sad Sad

ishqia said...

very nice concept