Raman Jalota's Stories






Center of the Universe
by
Raman Jalota

    Rajiv Ratan cursed again, “Sale maderchod kutte. May they rot in hell.”
    Kamiar laughed at his cursing, “What happened Rajiv? Did you get held up again?”
    “Yes yar. There were these kids ... uh ... maybe teenagers ... not very old ... a couple. I thought they were on a date or something. A boy and a girl. I picked them up on Columbus Avenue. She was sexy, you know and I was watching her in the mirror. They were laughing and carrying on.” He licked his lips.
    “And then what happened?”
    “Well the guy ... He asked me to pull into a side street and as soon as I made the turn.  haramjada had the fucking gun out ...”
    “So, what did you do?”
    “What could I do, he put it to my head and told me to hand over my wallet. Damn haramkhor. They had bloody sneakers on and took off like Olympic runners.”
    “That’s too bad Rajiv. So how many does that make?”
    “Five in eight months. I lose all my money again man. Well other than the seventy bucks that I had slipped under the floor mat earlier. I don’t know how long I can take this shit.”
    “I can get you a three-fifty-seven magnum. You know ... like Clint Eastwood ... Dirty Harry style.”
    “They are expensive, no?”   
    “Where? No don’t go to a gun store man ... learn the right way .. Go to a pawn shop.”
    “What if it has been used ... to kill someone or something ...I don’t want to go to jail yar.”
    “Who cares as long as you get it cheap? Come on I will take you to Chang’s Pawn Shop near here.”
... ... ...
    Radhika Arora squinted her eyes as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. I look pretty good. Maybe I will brush my hair a little more and put on a lighter shade of lipstick.
    The timer went off and she hurried into the kitchen. The chicken curry was simmering on the stove at low heat. She stirred it a little and used a fork to check the tenderness. Ah it seems first class. She added a little butter to a pan and some cumin seeds. As they started to brown she added the rice and water.
    “Good, now just 20 more minutes and the rice will be done. Sarkarji never had such good food I bet. Especially from a sexy babe like me.” She laughed aloud at her joke and walked into the bathroom and took her clothes off. What do I wear? No jeans this time. Tonight is kind of special. Maybe ... Yes I know, I will wear the blue kurta. It is see-through and Sarkarji can see through it for sure. I am a temptress tonight. She laughed again at her joke. She was in a great mood. The thought of the good looking Indian kid, who was rather shy but coming along well on his way, put her in a carefree, lighthearted mood. She knew the evening was going to be special.
... ... ...
    Afshin Pahalvi sat at the table and winced. These idiots! He quickly took a long drink from his glass and let the whiskey slow down his anger. I need them. Allah bless their souls. They are idiots but willing to die for the cause. He cleared his throat and began.
    “OK. We have the green light for tonight. Fifteen or more targets will be hit tonight. We have the assignment for ours.”
    He unrolled the blueprint and pointed to the map on the wall. “Our target is 3748 East Varick street. It’s called the Sebastian Towers, now let’s take a look here.”
    The 27 storey building was quite large, occupying a big corner of the street. There were basically two parallel apartments and suites with a common corridor, elevators and staircases. The basement was used as a storage area for the tenants. Afshin unfolded another blueprint of just the basement.
    “This is an easy target. We get in the building, get into the basement and place the charges at several critical points of the building.”
    Rahman licked his lips, “Ah .. Into the posts you mean?”
    “Of course. Those are the obvious locations - there are several posts or pillars, as I call them;  running through the building and they support the entire structure.” He pointed to a few on the blueprint.
    “If they are brought down, the building will come down also, I am sure it will be a grand sight. Insha allah!  So, we need some heavy drillers - yes; and cement bits - we need to get inside some of these concrete pillars. On most we will tie the charges all around them. In the end, we set the charges, connect them, set the fuses and detonate. Is everyone with me?”
    He looked around, pleased with the concentration on all of their faces.
    “Good, now here’s the list of assignments for each of you ...”
... ... ...
    What was it she called me .. Sarkarji. Haha. I will show her Sarkarji. He brushed his hair and looked at himself in the mirror. Good looking Indian kid with lots of prospects. I am probably what her parents are looking for. But oh my God, she is hot. She is what I am looking for. How does the song go ... Aaj ki raat ... or as Rod Stewart sings it ... Tonight is the night.
    He put on his underwear and stood next to his closet. Do I wear jeans or Dockers or what ..? I think I will put on the white Dockers and a blue sports shirt. My brown sports jacket on top and I am all set for tonight.
     He called a cab and was not very surprised to see the cab with Rajiv Ratan.
    “Hello, Kya haal hai?”
    “Good sir. Where do you want to go?”
    “I need to go to Varick street, but before that I need to stop by a liquor store. Do you know one on the way or ...”
    “There are hazars of them. I will take you there. You going to a party, if you don’t mind me asking please?”
    “Yes.” He laughed. “A private party not a big hangama.”
    “Ah good, good. So you will be wanting to buy some wine then?”
    “Yes, a bottle of wine. Not too expensive but not cheap either.”
    They drove in silence for a while and then Rajiv started talking in Hindi again.. Sarkar enjoyed the friendly talk till he stepped out of the cab with the bottle of white wine and a bunch of red roses in front of the apartment building.
... ... ...
    Rajiv drove around picking up a fare and dropping him near Chinatown and then he picked up a couple who brought him right back to Varick street. What a coincidence. This is where I brought the other guy and am back here in the same night. So many days I never come to this part of town and tonight, bam bam; I am here again.
    He got out of the cab and walked to a nearby chicken place. He got three pieces of chicken and a Coke. He sat looking out the window, eating his dinner and watching the people pass by. He saw a group of strange guys park their cars nearby and walk towards the back of the Sebastian Towers.
    Why the hell didn’t they park in the Towers itself? Maybe because they don’t live there. What the hell are they carrying in those duffle bags and backpacks? None of my business I guess.
    He watched them as much as he could but with the nighttime approaching rapidly and the dimly lit area where those people were headed, he lost sight of them rather quickly.
... ... ...
     Radhika looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. The doorbell rang and she opened the door. Sarkar Talwar hugged her lightly and sat down.
    “How are you Radhika?” I guess I can’t call her honey or sweetie as of yet.
    “Fine Sarkar. Did you drive over?”
    “Naah. I took a cab. I had to pick up some wine for the dinner. This way we can drink the whole bottle if we like. Ha ha.”
    “Here let me put it in the fridge.” She came back from putting the roses in a vase and took the bottle that he was holding towards her.
    “Hey, it’s pretty cold. What you say .. Shall we open it now?”
    “Sure. Where is the opener? Do you have one of those corkscrew things?”
    “It’s in the second drawer under the microwave. Can you see it?”
    Sarkar found it and started opening the wine bottle. Radhika stood next to him, their arms touching. Sarkar opened the bottle and poured it in the glasses Radhika held out for him.
    “To us.” She clinked her glass with his.
    That’s good. What should I say? “Yes to us. To tonight. To the great chef.”
... ... ...
    Afshin walked hurriedly. “Hey you guys keep it down as we get in the building.”
    The six of them walked quickly to the back door. One of them had a set of keys in his bag and the second one he tried opened the door. They got in quickly. Afshin was the last to get in. He looked around. No one. We haven’t been seen. Good, now on to the basement.
    They walked down the steps to the basement and opened the locked door, again rather easily. As the last of them walked in through the door, Afshin locked it from the inside.
    It was a large basement with concrete poles at several feet distance from each other and a cage of storage areas, mostly containing bicycles, mattresses, etc., and locked with small useless locks that a hammer easily broke.
    They started working and Afshin ran around the area sticking large orange markers with numbers on the poles - so they would know exactly what to do with each of the poles as they got to them. Rahman took out a large drill and started drilling holes into the very first pole that Afshin had marked.
    Slow and steady. We have lots of time. He looked at his watch. 8:00 o’ clock. Good, we can probably get this done in the next three hours and detonate it around 11.00 as planned fairly easily ... that is unless we run into some people or something. Everything looks perfect at this point. He took a pack of cigarette and offered it around, lighting the cigarettes for all of them.        
... ... ...
    Rajiv got paged by his dispatcher for a ride to the airport. Great. The airport is always a good fare. Nice money and perhaps I get a little tip, too. I can use it. He sped to pick up his fare.
    It was a couple in their forties going on a vacation. They were in a good mood and chatted with him on the way to the airport. He hung around the airport for almost an hour before he was flagged to take an old man with a small suitcase to Varick street.
    “You won’t believe me. But this is my third trip to Varick street today. I go days without going to that part of town and today you are my third fare to the same area.”
    “The world is a small place. Sometimes it seems like each of us is the center of the universe.”
    “Tonight the center is Varick street for sure. No matter what I do, I end up there. ” They laughed.
    He dropped his ride very close to the Towers. Maybe I can pick up that other guy I brought here today - his date should be getting over by now. He looked at his watch. It was almost 11:00 o’clock.
    He spotted the six men coming out of the Towers and hurrying to their cars. What the heck? These look like the same men. What have they been up to?
... ... ...
    Radhika sipping wine from her glass, put her arm around Sarkar and kissed him lightly on his lips. He smiled and held her in his arms for a long embrace, ending in a deep, long lasting kiss. Ah, she tastes very nice. Soft lips with a touch of wine. Yesss.
    He held her and whispered, “I love you Radhika.” There it is. I said it. Now it’s up to her.
    She smiled and kissed him deeply. I love the way he kisses, if he keeps up this way, I won’t be able to tear myself away from him. Yesss.
    They slowly took off their clothes and Radhika took him by the hand to her bed. The love making was slow, gentle and long lasting. They lay in each other’s arms kissing, murmuring and caressing. Sarkar smiled contentedly. Maybe we can make love again tonight. He smiled and started kissing her breasts.
    Sarkarji is quite a tiger. Radhika liked it immensely and started kissing him again and again.
... ... ...
    Afshin stood by his car for a moment and pulled out the detonator from his pocket. He pushed it, he waited to hear the bang of the first charges and quickly got in the car. Smiling at the accomplishment of their mission, he pressed down the accelerator, squealing his car out of the parking lot. His car console blinked 11:07.
    There was a loud bang and three of the six central pillars collapsed. The roof above them started collapsing and slowly the building shook and crumbled.
    Radhika heard the explosion. Wow he is great. He makes the world explode. She smiled as she embraced him.
    Sarkar felt the earth shaking. What was that? What the hell did I do? He held her in his arms as the world tumbled around them.
    Rajiv walked out of the restaurant and stared unbelieving at the Tower collapsing in front of him. “Sale maderchod kutte!” He screamed as the center of the universe blew up.

              The End                 2306 words 


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Copyright © 2004 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.