Short Story - 3

This is one of my earlier stories. Unlike the previous two stories that I had posted this has NO 'hidden' meaning though it has two chapters :). It's just a talkative story... now why did I say that?... read it and form your own opinions.

 

The Interview.

 

Chapter 1:
Riggit enters the room, throws his bag on the chair and sits on the bed. His face, now covered easily by his huge palms and at the same time resting on his elbows. His room-mate who was deeply engrossed in a Freud made a slow glance towards him. Now, that was not a reaction to the spectacular nature of his entry but for the calm that followed after that. The room-mate was the the first to speak. "The usual, eh? Which company was it?"
"Info Solutions."

"Was it the girl thing again?"

"No. Not girl. But girl-s! I was definitely through this one. How much of a chance do you have when you have a married guy who hadn't had sex for six months and has to choose between three people - one guy and two above average girls?"
"Yeah! Not much really... six months, eh?! How do you know?"
"You can tell from the colour of his hair. Why can't you get the bloody drift of the situation. Here I am, the victim of a crime against humanity and you are worried about a guy who barely spoke to me for more than ten minutes. Six months? How should I know?"
"You sure are in some bad mood, son. My day wasn't all that bad though. It's strange for two guys who live in the same room, eat the same food, talk the same thing have to have different lucks."

Riggit stopped and reflected for a moment, then suddenly raised his eyebrows and pointed a finger at him as though he found the answer to a burning question.

"Hey, that's because of the side of the bed that we wake up on. It's time I wake up on the other side of the bed. I always wake up on the wrong side."

Stiggy as his room-mate is known among his friends knew very well about spending hours with Riggit, discussing highly pertinent topics, like the one about 'Tomato ketchup and its effect on weather patterns' and 'Why a lamp post is the key to national integration'. For these topics he had a notepad with him, discussing each point after putting liberal amounts of thought into them. This one was out of the blue and was an impromptu. So he took up the challenge and as was his wont, came up with a brilliant reply.
"It doesn't matter which side you sleep on."

"It does."

"No. It doesn't."

"It does."

"It doesn't."
"It bloody well does, my friend." Riggit said with a finality that atleast put an end to the meaningless cycle that they had gotten into. He continued, "Stiggy dear, honestly which side do face when you sleep?"
"My right."

"You see, I face the left and get up on the wrong side because my days are usually bad. So I get up on the wrong side and my luck follows from that."
Stiggy frowns for a moment and immediately sees reason. "Yeah, I think you are right. Probably you'll need to start getting up from the other side."

"Yeah."
A small glow comes on his face, partly due to the fact that he now has hope, and mostly for 'winning' the argument. But a glance towards his bed changed his expression. "Hey, we missed something. I can never have good luck in my life. The other side of the bed is up against the wall."

Stiggy looked up at him. This was his chance to salvage some pride. This one he's surely going to win. Blood rushes back to his head, his face turning a shade crimson. He sits up. "Okay, let's see..."

Chapter 2:

A bespectacled man stares disinterestedly at the file that lay in front of him, literally forcing him to take a look at it, not because it looked attractive but because it reminded him of his duty... to go through it. He hears a knock on the door. "Come in", he said out of habit and suddenly realised that his legs were on the table. Fortunately for him, he pulled his legs back to where they were supposed to be just in time before the young man entered. To him, the young man looked about 24 and he was right about that. He ordered him to sit, to which the kid duly obeyed. "Hi, I am Prit. What's your name?" The kid was surprised at the fact that he didn't know his name though he checked the expression on his face before Prit could discern. So he answered his question.
"Riggit? Now what kind of a name is that?"

"Er... Excuse me, Sir?".

"Oh! Objection to your name in a 'polite' manner? Kid, I can see through that."

"No Sir, you are mistaken."

"What?! You are challenging my ability to understand things? Son, don't forget that this is YOUR ability test, NOT mine."

Ah yes, an interview! That's what this is. For a moment, Riggit thought that he was in the office of his principal, during his school days awaiting suspension for some act of mischief.
"Hey, you know what? You really want to know what Ringitt is? It is the currency of that country... er... Burma, was it?""But Sir, my name is Riggit."

Now there is a golden rule followed not only on earth, but also in the solar system, the milky way and the rest of the universe. It goes like this:

"If you see a fire nearby and would prefer to see it gone, the last thing that could be used to put it out would be kerosene."In Riggit's case, needless to say, it was the first.

"Okay Mr. Smart Penis. Oh sorry, did I say something objectionable? No, it was a mispronounciation of 'ass', only with a-s-s silent and replaced with other alphabets. Riggit, Ringitt, penis, ass... too many words. Too small a brain. It's up to you smart asses to DRIVE the nation into the future, as they say. Don't they, say? One hell of a future it is going to be. Only that, it is a synonym for hell."

As an extension to the golden rule there is a corollary which goes: "If you would have to use (or have already used) kerosene, then you must realise that you are now dinner for the fire."
And if you manage to survive the fire (which of course means that you have been charred) remember that it is a long walk back home. So after a long walk, Riggit enters the room, throws his bag on the chair and sits on the bed. His room-mate who was deeply engrossed in a Freud made a slow glance towards him and said,"The usual, eh? Which company was it?"

End of Story.

Profound thought for the day:

"What came first in this world... Me, The Earth or Tomato Ketchup?"