If this goes on

A Story by Ciku Karanja

If this goes on..
He was different, the kind of different that wasn't appealing to her. He had a way of twisting the world around. Twisting realities, ideas and feelings into what they were clearly not.
She remembered the first time she had met him.
She had been in a good mood and her day had been fine. Normally, she wouldn't have spoken to her bus seat mate, but the long traffic jam had broken her resistance
"Isn't it a good day?" He had asked
"It had been a good day before this jam," she had replied uninterested.
"This jam is the single reason the day is fabulous," he had joyously replied.
She had taken a close glance at him. She needed to see the face that saw anything good in a traffic jam.
"You like me," he had said "it's the reason you are staring"
She hadn't been staring, she had just glanced up at him, and she didn't like him, she had thought he was weird.
She had decided to ignore him. But then almost miraculously something had happened, and out of his bag had come out the best thing any man could possess. Her favorite novel. Bloodline.
"Can I borrow it?" She had asked angry at her passion for literature.
" Only if I had a way of getting it back," he had replied smiling victoriously
She knew he wanted her contacts, and she knew that would be the second worst life decision.
Unbelievably, she had sold out her peace of mind, for a piece of art.
Two days without a word from him had her convinced that her prayers had been answered, that he had lost her contacts.
But then right by her side, on a home bus two weeks later, he had mysteriously reappeared.