Do you remember the case of the missing Coke Can in MyCoke My Pain? That little kid who lost his first ever Coke can before he could
even take a second sip had always wondered where that can went. What would’ve
happened to that little red aluminium wonder on that fateful day of his life?He
left the can in the briefing room of a ship as it was too cold and on return
found out to his dismay that the wonderful gift he received only a few minutes
back was no longer to be seen!
If you are also wondering what happened to the Coke
can that day and the emotions it went through from that moment onwards let me
invite you to embark on the journey of the Coke can…
The Coke can sat there on the table with a heavy heart
trying to understand what just happened. He was quite happy a moment ago with
the kid who was all excited to see a can for the first time in his life. The
next moment the can was left in company of lots of unanswered questions. The
can was totally annoyed with the sailor who took him noticing the open lid. It
was decided that the can is no longer required and was given an unceremonious
adieu to the military trash container present on the ship. After a few hours he
found himself being hoisted from his temporary graveyard and presented to a
larger set of orphans. These included half bitten apples, left over juices,
tissue papers that were once clean and filled with fragrance which now lie
among these unwanted elements which the humans call, trash.
He reflected upon his life while being there in the unpleasant
environment awaiting his destiny. A few moments back, he was perched high on a
pile of similar beings inside a four walled building which was quite cold. The
cold penetrated through his aluminium body and made his blood inside chill. He
had heard several times,human beings say, the likes of him tasted better when
their blood is chilled and that’s the reason why they’re kept inside this
high-walled jail for which they’ve a funny name too, refrigerator.
The jail was a happening place. All the while he could
see one by one his friends and relatives saying good-bye and new ones joining
the army. They say you are destined for delivering your life blood to the
humans. They need a daily quota for survival and you are fulfilling a major
void for them. How much moregratifying can your life be? Before even he knew,
the day came when it was time for him to deliver.
He was presented in his entire royal splendor with red
velvet coat and regal white stripes to a little boy who was looking at him with
eyes filled with wonder. He was quite amused to see the emotions of surprise,
curiosity and happiness in the boy’s eyes and realized that he was being
presented to a virgin! What a destiny! He was dreaming of satisfying the young
palette of the little boy and of course he did as soon as the tap of joy was
opened. A small portion of his life blood which was chilled to perfection slid
down the winding paths of the young adult mouth floor.The dark brown colored
liquid found its way through layers of taste buds, tickling the sensations of
taste and bringing the little one almost to the verge of an ecstasy! He felt he
has begun to fulfill his destiny.
A few moments after this glorious achievement he was
placed back on the table and the boy was accompanied out of the room along with
the family. He could not understand why. He could see the longing eyes of the
boy trailing back at him, though his screams pleading to be taken along with
seems to have been unheard. He then felt the hands of the sailor around him.
For a moment he thought he’ll be rejoined with the little kid but the trip was
to end in the trash container along with his dreams of fulfilling the needs of
a young human being and thereby achieving his destiny.
He was shaken up from his thoughts when the larger
waste container was moved to some other place. After a few hours of being
transported to some location he saw the light coming back with the container’s lid
opened again. His roommates were separated and he was taken to an awful looking
machine with large teeth and claws which seems to be filled with malice. He was
soon put on a conveyer belt and was traversing down a lane which he thought was
quite cool. Little did he realize that at the end of the belt there awaited him
the deadly jaws of the crushing machine for which the conveyer belt was the arm
that led the captives, in the disguise of a trip to paradise.
All his fears came true with death staring right at
him through the gleaming teeth of the crusher which seem to be waiting to
devour him alive! He could not even cry and before even he said Our Father one
last time the hands of death squeezed the last drop of the life blood he had
and pushed him to the other side of the world, or so he felt.
Surprise! He was not dead! Alive he was, though
something seemed to be different. He had lost his red velvet gown and the white
stripes. He now had a silvery sheen with a mat finish and people started
calling him a new name, an aluminium sheet. He was taken to a larger storage
area minus the cold seeping in and he could make out that it is not a
refrigerator. He learned from his fellow beings that they were in a storage space
for aluminium sheets which is used to manufacture cans. He was assured that
he’ll soon regain his red velvet gown and the white stripes and will have his
life again which he thought he lost. This was good news for him and he longed
to see the little kid again as well.
Years went by; he changed his shape multiple times
over and again. He fulfilled the lives of many a human beings but was never
happy since he was still in search for the pair of eyes that looked at him with
so much of awe and happiness years back. He was getting weary every time he saw
new digits replacing the years in a calendar.
He was presently relaxing in the chilled mode with his
red robe and white stripes inside a refrigerator on a large oil tanker. It has
been two decades since he met that kid and the memories of that incident in a
ship was promptly brought back to him the moment he got to know that his latest
assignment will be on a tanker. He was deep in his thoughts when he could hear some
faint voices reaching the room where he was placed. This being the captain’s
room it is quite normal for visitors to join and he had seen his friends and
relatives being carried away for fulfilling their duties.
There were three men. They all seem to be tired after
a tour of the ship in the hot weather of the Middle Eastern country they were
in. He heard a voice suddenly saying, “Hey bro, do you remember the Coke story
that happened long back?” The captain seemed to have taken a couple of moments
to respond. But when he did, he sounded quite excited and said, “Of course,
feel free to have one now”.
What happened next was too good to be true that he
felt the doors of heaven being opened when the owner of the first voice opened
the refrigerator. The man picked up his friend first but later decided to pick him
instead and looked at him with such wonderful eyes with the same intensity of
happiness and love that he had seen twenty years back.
It was him!
Tail end: He
discovered later that the captain of this ship was the little kid’s cousin who
was there along with him when they first met.
