At Traffic Lights
View(s):I braked the vehicle suddenly as the traffic lights changed color.
On our right side there was a large blue color bus waiting in the traffic to go in the other direction & my wife was staring at that bus.
During those ninety seconds stay there, she did not take her eyes off the bus.
Lights turned to green & I moved my vehicle forward. At that instant I saw her waving her hand towards somebody in the bus.
“Who was he?” I wanted to know.
“Oh, some pathetic old man with unkempt hair and a sad face”.
“And?’
“His eyes were full of tears too” she said sadly.
“So, what did you do?” I wanted to know.
“I smiled at him, Jaye & he too waved at me and smiled with me”
I wanted the conversation to go further.
“Why?”
And it hit me like a thunder.
The blue color bus was a prison bus!
| Flash Fiction | |
| This is a very short piece that despite its shortness, evokes a mood and gives a clear sense of character. One can guess the personality of the wife and even the husband (who one guesses, loves the wife) and one wonders about the old man in the bus. What had he done? And how did he come to be on the bus? It is good for writing to leave impressions and unanswered questions like this does. Writers please add your name at the bottom of your work. Could the writer of this week’s piece please contact us. Please send in your works of Flash Fiction to Madhubashini Dissanayake-Ratnayake, C/o The Sunday Times, No. 8, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2. |