Madman.

Every town has a Madman. Every town I know has one and he had his privileges. He can enter any house, any time. He can grab that piece of meat from your plate. He can peep into the bathroom when the ladies are taking the shower.

Nobody cared. In fact everyone cared. They always reserve an extra piece for the Madman every time they made something special. Ladies took bath in such a way that the Madman could see more with less effort.

Our town too has a Madman; or should I say had a Madman? Our Madman died a week back. He just died. Nobody cared; some even said they were relieved.

But slowly they started missing him - not him; they were actually missing the ‘Madman’. The piece of meat lay uneaten. Ladies stopped taking bath in the morning. That’s when the town council decided to elect another Madman for the town.

There were many applicants. Why wouldn't there be? Free food everyday. You get to watch ladies naked and what more! I hope that they will select me this time.

The Plot.

“It is definitely an issue.”

“How can you be so sure of that? We don’t have the slightest of proofs, do we?”

“Don’t say we - you may not have, but I, I am sure. I know it.”

“How? This is not a simple thing, my dear. You cannot just assume and act; given your position and the consequences, the wide consequences, mind you!”

“I know. But can’t you see that if we wait for the proof, the time, the chance will pass. And it will be too late then. It is a decision which has to be made now.”

“O dear, don’t be so hard on yourself, please!”

“I know - I hate my job!”

“Yeah! Being a God or a Goddess is a tough job.”

“So whom do you think, that we should support - Raaman or Raavanan?”

“I would say Raavanan, he is so sexy!”

“Then he shall die! Raaman will win. I have spoken!”

Epilogue.

It was the Royal Priest’s turn now. The chief of ministers had just left now. The priest was an old man and he was against the use of violence in all his public speeches. The Kid thought for a moment that maybe this man, this man who is always smiling, might let him go free. But it wasn’t so. He thrashed him; he even poured some hot coffee on his face. Next came the commander of the royal army. The last thing the Kid remembered was hearing him saying - “How dare you humiliate his highness! How dare you shout that the Emperor is Naked!”.

Athiest.

The Dog was expecting a piece of fresh bone that day. He had become little too old for the rubber bone and had also started hating the dog biscuits. He always yearned for that piece of dead rat outside or that piece of meat stolen from the butcher. Not that he had tasted any of these, but this knowledge came with his genes. His parents would have planted that thought into his genes, which would again had been planted into his dad’s and mom’s by his grandparents and so on and so forth until that particular canine who had been a free dog or at least had a chance to have experienced some of these adventures. 

Again that is what his parents told him; that’s the common belief.But the dog did not believe in all those, he was an Atheist.

Across the River.

8:45 p.m.

He has 15 minutes to complete his assignment. It is not a tough set to finish, but he should not waste even a second. He took out his book and got with it.

8:55 p.m.

He was done with the home work, but he decided to wait till 9 before starting with the procedure. He knew he was not going to turn back; he had decided to do it.

9:00 p.m.

Time to start. Took out the paper and pen and started writing the note. He had decided on the contents long ago; in fact that was the first thing he had decided.

It was a short note, nothing melodramatic, matter of fact note. No remorse no pain nothing.

9:10 p.m.

He took out the syringe and the vial of Mercury that he had obtained from the lab. You might think he had to hide these, but he had absolute privacy in his room, something which his parents were really particular about. He had read that since Mercury is thick normal hypodermic needles won’t help. He had done enough research on this. He injected himself with it.

9:15 p.m. +

He switched off the lights and lay down on his bed. He had read about the effects of Mercury, but he had decided to write down symptoms as and when he was going through it. His lips were getting heavy. His eyes were starting to droop. He could no longer write anything.

** There was a news about a teenage boy’s suicide in Kerala more than a decade and half ago. The boy was a perfect 10 - be it academics, relations or extra-curricular activities. He had no known love affairs or failures; family was well to do. No domestic issues. Nobody knew why he committed suicide and why he chose Mercury. I hope he got what he wanted.