Friday, February 20, 2015

The Last Turn

He was waiting at a signal couple of blocks away from home when the phone rang. The lovely face of his sweetheart showed up on the mobile screen. The signal was still red and he quickly answered the call enabling the speaker mode.

“Where have you reached?”
“Almost there”.
“Hey listen, mom had called and she reminded about the insurance premium payment.”
“Oh yeah, I totally forgot! We never got around the plan to double the premium to make the policy better. Something or other keeps coming in between and we keep pushing this out. Let us do it at least this time”.

The signal had turned green and he was a bit late to realize that. A couple of honks from behind and he took the car ahead.

“Just a minute, let me cross the signal. You know the traffic is getting crazy off late. The city was much better a couple of years back.”
“Be careful!”
“Of course sweetheart, don’t you know I care for you and our little one?”
“That I do, but I’ve always told you not to speak on the phone while you drive”.
“Oh that’s alright, I’m on speakers. But I guess I’m running out of battery”.
“Hmm... Btw, Junior had a great day at school! He could identify the pictures of all the animals shown. Our son is a smart cookie, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely! Where’s the little rascal? Give the phone to him”.
“Papa Papa, where are you? Guess what, I got a prize in school today!”
“Great news son! Proud of you! Papa will be home soon and will have a surprise for you! Now give the phone to mom”.
“Hey, I’m almost there. Do I need to buy anything today?”
“Nope. You just come home. Where are you now?”
“I’m nearing the last turn”.


She got out to the balcony along with the tiny one and could see his car coming.

“Hey we see the car Papa!”

“Oh yeah, I can see you as well standing there at the balcony. I’ll be home in a...”

What he didn’t see was the huge truck taking a reverse that got in his way. He was at the last turn at a speed of 60 Mph and had his eyes fixed on the balcony waving at his sweetheart and the little one.

The mobile screen still showed her face, though now it was coloured all red! The last thing he heard was a familiar voice of the RJ from the FM station.

“Please don’t use your mobile phone while driving”.

The phone went dead.


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