The sun baked down on the golden hued beaches of the achingly beautiful Banda island as the waves of the virginly pristine Banda sea (Indonesia) serenely cascaded and danced along the sands. John and Mary squinted at the sparkling waves and the scorching sun...both had been married just a year ago and were deeply in love since their high school prom nite...John took one slanted look at Mary and seeing her auburn hair cascading with the lovely half smile resting on her lips,he instantly felt grateful for the blissful love he was blessed wid..
Mary on the other hand also was basking in the glow of the fruition of her first and only love..ever since she'd seen John, shy and reticent and hesitant in approaching her but still unable to hide his feelings towards her,she'd known that this was her man and she'd thank almighty everyday for bringing them together..
john moved closer to mary and both their bodies were momentarily charged in each other's proximity...john slowly kissed mary's auburn hair..and whispered in her ear--'i love u'.. and kissed her gently on the cheek..mary was enjoying the feeling of being pampered and just kissed her wedding ring and said--'i love u too'..an unusually large tide came in and drenched both of them sultry and wet and laughing merrily like children...
but suddenly mary saw a towering wave welling up and she screamed out to john to look out..unable to comprehend what on earth had come upon?..both the loversheld hands and ran frantically towards the high sands ('katni' as the locals called them)..but the wave was too fast and fierce and they were fighting a losing battle..hardly had they gone ten paces tht the wave struck wid full force and knocked the wind out of them..still they clung on to each other..then a second wave ruthlessly parted the lovers and flung them about ten yards of each other..john who had been a high school swimming champion tried his best to swim towards mary but to his utter dismay he found swimming away from him as if in search of something or somebody in the raging sea..another wave smashed against john and battered him to a rock and all his world went black..
john opened his eyes to the motherly lapping of the sea waves caressing his tattered clothes on the high sands..slowly the recollections of the huge tidal wave dawned on him and he blurted out mary's name in mortal fear and panic...he scanned the faces of people surrounding him who expected a look of relief on the man's face..but found a look of utter and complete fear...
he ran down the high sands towards the edge to find that where there used to be a beach throbbing wid activity..there now played the ragin sea as if mocking and challenging man's foolish might..his mind drew a blank..he never had felt so hopeless and helpless all his life..he searched for mary among the survivors wid unflinching faith that the next face tht turns wud bring him face to face wid mary's smile..HIS mary's smile..the only thought tht kept pounding his mind was.."why did mary swim away from me..why??."..and his mind cud think of no convincing answers..
some of the locals tried to pacify him by saying that prolly mary was safe and had been taken to the nearby hospital..john checked tht out too..but the list of patients didnt bear her name..hours merged into days..and after two days the waves and water subsided..and wid them they brought a rude jolt..bodies strewn all over the beach..of near and dear ones..bloated and deacapitated beyond recognition..full of stench and stink..hardly the loved one u remembered..and john just kept a handkerchief to his face and kept turning bodies to see if her mary was amongst them adn silently praying tht her face lest never turn up...but unmistakably there she was lying amidst the ocean of bodies..still undecomposed..even angel like in peaceful repose..
john clung her body and cried lik a baby..he just cudnt comprehend the loss of his sweet world in a flicker..an instant..and just kept blurting out--"wot did i do to deserve this?"..and in answer the sea still raged mockingly...he kissed mary's hands and clasped his fingers into hers..and suddenly felt a metallic touch..he uncurled hid fingers which had become stiffer after the rigor mortis had set in..after death..only to find her wedding ring clutched in her right fist...the thing which mary had cherished beyond her life..for which she had fought a battle she knew she wud lose...but she fought..and won..by paying the price of her life...
john kept on repeating .."u foolish girl..why did u have to love me so much?"...he feels a small hand with tiny fingers curl on his shoulder and a cherubic voice asking--"why's mom sleeping here"..he turns back to look into those unmistakably blue eyes of their 3 year old daughter..angela..the very blue eyes of mary..the hue of the raging sea..john blinks back his tears and realises tht he has a whole new love to live for..he holds angela's tiny hand and walks back into the sunset.....
On september 29th 2006
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