A week before, my chum-bum friend, "D" had told me to write an article for something personal. As a content writer, I often have to prove my worth as a writer. I have been told to write about “You just saw a ghost, and it was nothing like what you have heard from people, and what you have seen in movies. Now that you know what a ghost is, let the world know!”
I am somebody who never wanted to see this facet of society. I don’t deny the existence of this world. However, I am still not interested to find out the surreal-reality of it. As, I had just a day to finish it, I read on net, went through zillion of blogs, tortured R, P, S and C a lot to get an idea about what to write. If you think I am afraid of this side, then my answer would not be in denial.
I think by watching horror movies, reading novels & stories about them, and visiting the places, you create a negative aura around you. It doesn’t bring out any emotional upheavals, and we often experience worse mental conditions. I am a very positive person and usually shut down my brain, when anything of this sort comes into picture. Dealing with the thoughts about what to write, I decided to take help from A. As expected, he did lend his hand and came up with a brilliant idea of this story. So you now know, it is not my original idea, however, I did craft it. So, read on:
A STRANGE RENDEZVOUS
On the cold and frosty evening of winters in Ohio on December 22nd, 1991, I was working as a Front Desk Officer with Rolls Royce Radios Service Center. Everyone had left the office at usual time. I had pending orders to be filed so I decided to stay up late in office. At around 7 PM, I heard a few footsteps at the entrance. I peeped from my desk to check who had turned up at such a late hour of the day. There was an old man, in his late 80’s who had came with a problem in his radio set.
He had a limited edition old radio set, Rolls Royce Tourer 1910 Silver Ghost SD 8451, which our company had stopped manufacturing long back. I asked the gentleman about his query. He informed that his radio didn’t power on at all. I looked at the time, it was getting real late to catch the last bus to my route. As there was no engineer available, I told him to come the next day during working hours.
He was reluctant to go and despite his old age, he didn’t have wrinkled hands or face, had a very crisp and clear voice, pale skin, skinny hands, and stooped a little. He had this strange and irk look at his face and didn’t blink his eyes at all. He was constantly looking towards the exit and appeared to be turning away from me. He was in a hurry to end the conversation and repair his radio set as soon as possible. He continued to be eerily quiet person, however his actions were showing his eagerness to complete the task, which surprised me in an unpleasant way.
I couldn’t say no to him and thought to help him out of my wish. Though, power on is a common problem. As I lack in technical knowledge, I decided to call one of the technical guys in office. He asked me to check the in-line fuse found in the radio’s power cord. It was burnt out and that was preventing the radio from powering on. I hooked the power connectors to the battery terminals again as instructed, black to black and red to red. The radio was working fine. I shook hands with him for the success. His firm and cold grip gave me shiver down my spine.
I asked the gentleman to sit for a while, till I processed the bill and made an entry of the glitch in the company records. I noted down the model name and number and went inside the billing room to get the printed bill. When I returned to my desk after 5 minutes, I didn’t find him anywhere. I hurriedly went to gate man to enquire about the old man. He refused to see any person other than me in office from last two hours. I came back to my desk and check the records of those limited edition radios. I narrowed down my search to Mr. James McGill who bought the radio set on December 22nd, 1911 on his 50th anniversary….
P.S. - A told me to declare him dead as per my company records, however, I cling on this ending. I am not coming up with any Part-II of this story and make it more cliche'. So, just read-on as it is. Happy Reading!!
