Alison's Wonderland Chapter 3

Being her Alter-EGo.

That night came the phone call. THE Phone Call. Five of them in a row.
Four of which were blank ones.My picking it up was closely conjugated by their dropping the line. I cursed under breathe--freaking no-good morons! And the caller i.d. display of our landline was impaired too. Everytime a call came,it sprung to life and excitedly blinked and flashed our phone number. And I'd be like "Oh shut up, you stupid thing.." when I'm in bad mood,and in good ones its more like "calm down, we all know you know your name.Now keep it down,will ya..."...yeah,I'm used to talking to things.Inanimate things. Ma says I'm crazy. Papa says,I belong to a world of my own,which is yet another way of saying,---I'm crazy!
The phone rang a fifth time.Actually it hadnt even completed the first cycle of ringings, when I ambushed the receiver wherefrom it was trying to tempt me.
"Hello?"---a rather proscribed greeting for someone who felt like turning the polyhedral phone into a one-dimensional,no make that poly-infinitesimal point objects.
"Hey,its...ME! Dhruv,..from school?" The last bit couldnt have been more reduntant.Completely pointless,to be to the point.But its the thing about him,you have to struggle to be rude.
"I know. I mean,I dont know any other Dhruv.." What I meant was, ---how can I not recognize your voice,???Mellow...,yet sensuous!
"Oh,right.!" Laughter. My god,he has a great laugh! Left my insides tingling.There was something oddly funny and familiar in that laughter though.But I decided to concentrate on the laughter alone and not what it asserted on me."Anyways,The reason I called was,..um,--"
There it was. The apparent hesitance, the apparent faltering, the apparent shyness, conjugated with the obvious charisma that betrays no eyes. Male or female!
I held my breathe.
---To ask you out. Or, To declare my undying love for you…To tell you the moment I saw you, I knew it was you! ---
"Well, to tell you that…" I was basically slipping off the chair on my butt."…I found a poem of yours on a loose sheet, which I ,uh,think came out when your dropped your books the other day at your locker, and I kinda saved ya,--" Chuckle. Ohhh…---"and I wanted to tell you that I think you're a great poet!"
Not quite in step with my hypothesis. But still a compliment, right? But, what did I expect? I was acting like such an idiot! What's happening to me? I'm acting like Trisha's god-blessed sissy friends! As far as my concern for boys were concerned, they're good at math, physics and knew commendably well about cars.
I unstuck the receiver from my reddening ears. Took a deep breath, leveled a final stare at Trisha's vase, and returned to my call.
It's a wonder, what self-psychology can do at crucial times. Well, this was in my life a crucial era!
When I spoke again, my voice was cold. Chilly as ever when I spoke to Dhruv.
And my insides cringed at the permanent evaporation of that laughter during the whole of the rest of the conversation.
He said that he found my poem powerful.
I said he should work out more if he thought words on a piece of paper were powerful.
He said he looked forward to finding more loose sheets of paper with poems on them.
I asked him if he wanted me to tear out the poems from our English text-book.
He said goodbye, and 'see ya tomorrow'.
I said "Whatever" and "Think I'll feign stomach upset tomorrow."
Hey, what can I say, he was getting too close!
******************
There was a blue-bird
Of a dead wizard of the haven,
Who sang from afar,
Blue meadow ,and skies raven,
Where the wizard lived in daylight,
In the light of the moon,
Where the golden rings were woven
In earthen looms,
She had roved into his silver bridge,
But usurped by the old airless breeze,
The cold,and the wheeze,
Taking over her lease on life,
She stood at the hem,
Her eyes once opened,
Like a sesame mantra,
His blue-bird's song,
Unraveled a world,she dared not enter,
The bridge seemed surmountable,
But imploringly long.
The blue-bird sang again,
Through a crystal cage blue,
She could bare it no longer,
She closed her eyes,
To begin her venture,
From across,she could hear the soft mumur,
Of the looms,weaving,
The rings in the air,
Towards her path,they were coming,
She was on her way,
To let the bird fly away,
She was on her way,
To let the Sun reach out its rays,
She was on her way,
She was on her way…

The roof was wet and slippery and in my haste to absorb everything with my sole two eyes, I slightly skidded. I reached out my hand, and to my surprise caught a tree branch, that had sneaked into the space of our roof from my next-door tree buddy.
This day was sprawling across the seconds, like an elastic band. You think its elastic . But in real scientific terms, it's some of the less elastic objects of daily use.
Someone had rung the doorbell.
Salesmen.
I remember…
Three days from that day, when Trisha approached me on the phone, I was home alone, on the day of the hand-outs of the results of unit test cum parents-teacher meeting.
Mom and Dad were due in an hour from the meeting. My stomach rumbled.
I studied so hard for this one day! When the teacher would inform my parents that I was doing just fine, no troubles, no hitches.
-You won't need to tell her off…you can use that time to yell each other's head off instead!
-Thank you.We really could do with more shaking the foundations of our house with our screams.
-You're welcome.
That day Ma and Papa for once didn't have a fight.
Worth studying for that or what!
Papa ordered pizza over and with chips and soda and pizza,it was fun. Who doesn't enjoy a night off with pizza and soda and Cheetos and old horrors,eh? Everyone! Well,except,the company did kinda matter,especially when it involved being squeezed in between your dear parents,and have your cheeks yanked at from time to time by your mom and having to deal with moustache-y kisses on your soft other cheek from your dad! Man,I'll be needing some extra moisturizer tonight! My cheeks feel like over-used scrunchie on one side (for you guys out there ,it's a elastic band girls use to hold their pony tails),and like elastic-less scrunchie on the other! Ugh!
I desperately need a social life apart!

*****************
"Hey, Al! Ready to hit the books? Or would you rather hit the net?" Trisha had come over to my house on our designated Wednesday to research on tree-dwelling mammals. Bats!
I'd rather exchange sleeping with them than,having Trisha tar my soft cushions,whose covers I had hand-knitted when I was like eight. I was hoping upon hope that in the inevitable rule that all humans have imperfections, Trisha's would be short-term memory…
Apparently she didn't. She was examining a blue and orange one, turning it round and round, as if looking for a brand-name or something…like all her clothes had!
"Its hand-made, no tags." I blurted.
"I know, no, I was just wondering if this was the one or…" She picked up the pure white one, one head cocked at the lining, dropped it, and regained hold on the blue-orange one," No! This is it! "
She squinted at me. "This is the one I spilt orange-juice on, isn't it? And then…joked that orange-juice purposefully aimed at the orange part, not the blue…anyways..."
And I thought only I was the one who had remembered that minute detail! God!
I tilted a head as if thinking, then shook my head "Don't remember!"
Trisha blushed, as if embarrassed that she had let me know that she had actually remembered, a fragment of substantiation from her buried past with me. I felt triumphant. Trisha Bigmouth had finally met her downside when it came to… well, being a bigmouth! She shot me a sideways glance. I had pasted my all-time favorite expression. Blank. It's the strongest I got. No one can tell what's going on inside. And this, I have mastered over the past four years.
We hurriedly got back to our work. I tried to see through to her inside to know if the little snag had caused her much of persistent discomfiture. …but actually I was just looking for a shore-line, where the last water had thrashed, an insinuation that the old Trisha wasn't conclusively dead.
But she was. End the story. And I had too…till she had opened the book again.
She was leafing through "Histolytic Phenomenon of Mammals".
I booted the computer, connected to the internet and began surfing for Tree-Dwelling Mammals. Even the net was running at a mere 50Mb per sec! This is sooo boring! Even the net knows this is boring! Hey wake up!
An IM window popped up.
" DribblingDhruv says: Hi! Is this Alison?"
"Al_of_the_Alps says: Yeah!...Dhruv?"
"DribblingDhruv says: Yeah…listen is Trisha over there?"
My heart dropped down a few notches.I wanted to ask him how he found out my IM-id or why he couldn't just contact Trisha at her state-of-the-art mobile phone….but my ego took over.
"Al_of_the_Alps says: Yeah…wait,I'll get her…wait ok?"
On my summon,Trisha came and took my seat before the computer. And before long, was typing away at a feverish tempo…
Whoa,must be some replies he must be giving her! Trisha is supposed to be immune to sugared male talk. What was Dhruv saying?
But I,on principle,had taken refuge in a corner immersed in bat-droppings and the traditional courtship tales of bats! Rats!
After about some 10 minutes or so, Trisha swivelled around in her seat,and asked," Are you free for like,….".she stole a quick glance at the computer screen,before continuing,"Say tomorrow,after school?"
"Yeah,but why?"
But she was once again typing away.
I didn't ask her about that "free" thingy once again the rest of the evening. I just felt refrained by my prestige. Hell with it. My curiosity was killing me!
There lies a besotted cottage,
In the trees,
There lies the cavalier,
Among the hills,
There lies, that cold old bridge, that narrowing isthmus,
There lies that face, upon that tattered canvas,
The looms are sleeping for the night,
The owls are tentative,quiet,
Something is happening,
No one know not,
Something is not right,
In her foresight,

For there lies the falcon wings,
---Shed in rain---
Carried by the softened beams.
There lies the sore voice,
That sings of freedom,
From within the busy noise,
There lies the wind and the tickles,
Of the loose prickles from that beauty green weeds,
And in there lies that another girl,
That soul,who breathes ,then sleeps,
Who asks, then sees,
Who dies,then lives…
And the rings of light that encompasses,
Surpasses,
All that seems,just seems,
And that dies out,
Before they gleam....
Again.
"So done chatting with your boyfriend,Trish!?" I asked,in a tone,I admit was pretty taunting and bit my tongue,for calling her Trish again! I saw a flicker of aggravartion upon her face,or it was ,maybe ,just my imagination.Its strange but its a fact that the younger you are,the faster you learn,and again,the faster you can forget and replace that erased files by new facts.For we both had had different nicknames and many of them too,of which hardly half can I recall,bestowed by our parents,aunts,grandparents,etc.and when we went upto 3rd standard we decided that they were simply too uncool for us,and reschristened ourselves as the new and improved(hopefully---we did know upto 19s tables by now !) Trish and Al,and I remember neither of us would react or reply straight,if we were hailed by any of our previous dorksome names.And so we became Trish and Al.
Presently,Trish's voice brought me back to the reality.No,Trisha's voice,that is.
"I wasn't chatting and he isn't my boyfriend! Why else would I ask for your help!?" Trisha replied,in a prosaic tone.
"Oh right,I forgot.Well, I hope you didn't forget my refusal to do so? That is if you haven't forgot…."
"Yeah ,yeah,my memory isn't that faded…"
I deliberated a 'hmph' to clearly suggest my doubts on that memory part!
But Trisha swung aroung and in a typical Bollywoody stylesnapped," And what's that supposed to mean?!"
"Oh,what?" I asked,open-eyedly.
"You know perfectly well what! You think you're smarter than me! That's it isn't it? Yeah well,guess again…I think you envy me!"
I had meant to deliberate an open laughter,but in my haste to leave no doubt about my opinion regarding her opinion, I snorted.And blushed too.But then again,that's my laugh.A snort!
"Envy you? Of what? Wait,if you think I care about being super stylish or not being so,for that matter,you couldn't be more wrong! 'Cause believe it or not….it is humanely possible to achieve most things without it,while…" I twirled around a stray strand of hair in a typical Trisha-ish way and fluttered my eyelashes, to add drama,"…when that's all you have,…" I eyed Trisha up and down with a nauseated expression,"…it becomes hard to achieve most things…".
Trisha was opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water…literally! And I was enjoying it! Get me some popcorns, will ya!
Suddenly her expression shifted, she leaned over me,towering …with her 5'6" figure…over my puny 5'2" one…and for a second I felt intimidated!
"By the way Johanus,in case you didn't know….it doesn't work like that.You see,that worked in the millennium before last.Now however,preference matters…and believe it or not—" She spoke the last few words in a mock intonation of my last statement,"---Nobody prefers you,Miss Brainy!"
She hissed.
I was leaning back underneath her shadow,and remained so speechless for a while.
But then ,thank god,my denial swung back in place,and I yelled into her face," Well,I don't care!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
The two souls
Could feel no pain,
As one by one
Their eyes were stained,
In blackness bright,
In a dark sunlight,
They,who swum
Across the dewy starry oceans.
The rings of light had broken apart,
And yet formed in the air,the same disfigures,
But their shadows had different hues today,
Their inner children had incarnated,
Supressed by stories of the blues,
Tangled in their inner mesh,
Their other heart,had been one at once,
They had been but two buds of a stance,
Till came the other people,
Till the stakes were revealed to their blindfold,

When the sunlight burned
Fiery out of the dark…
But there in the other kingdom,
Sunlight was but yet a doom,
For the two sisters it was,
All but a moon.
And with the lore of the dead loom,
The howl of a wolf,
The cry of a hungry owl,
Blue-bird and her,they fled the prowl,
Forever,they thought the road went on,
Not in towards the same mountain,
But,
Towards each other...
She could see the blue-bird now,
Thinking it was a mirage,
But as it neared,no colours so bright,
She mused,could be a mere mirage,
And yet,the road wound up on so many hills,
But,
Hills,they were,not mountains,
Hills of sand,that a wind would conquer,
And rings to form with the reminiscent share,
And now and then she could see,
In the curve of a dune,
Drying,but still alive,as a prune,
The flickering hope,in it she tread,
Without scarring her little two feet.
The rings of light were new,being torn,
The rings of light,were alive,though yet forelorn...