She was surprised when the doorbell rang early in the morning and even more so to see Sam's tall figure leaning against the wall.
"Hi Jamie. How have you been?" he asked.
"Have you been waiting for long?” she asked with a genuine smile on her face. Before he could answer she held his arm saying, "This is a pleasant surprise. It has been such a long time! Come in and make yourself some coffee. I'll be fresh in a moment!"
A good thirty minutes of 'finding-out-the-latest-in-each-other's-lives' later, she asked him, "I saw your work for the French consulate. I’d been there regarding med college applications. I noticed your signature on the postcard panels. I loved the shots by the country side, especially the one by the river near Toulouse. You sure made the tagline 'It’s not just Paris' come alive through those pictures. I must say your magic eye is becoming famous!”
“That was a lucky break really. They want me to do a photo series on the French culture now. May even be a published album".
“I’m proud of you!”
“I know that”.
“I wish I had pursued my dreams with the same conviction that you did. I probably am not as talented, but nevertheless”, her voice trailed off.
“You didn’t allow yourself to find out if you were. Maybe you could still be a renowned storyteller if you give yourself a chance”.
“Samie, don’t say things that you don’t really mean, just to make me feel better. I made my choice a long time ago. I’m not living in regret either. I’ll make a famous physician someday.”
“I’m sure you will, but I didn’t just say that to make you feel better. You might have forgotten but you'd told me a story ten years ago which has me captivated still. I came here to play my part in that story today. Forget becoming one, you were always a great storyteller Jamie”.
He removed the postcard and handed it over to his sistet. It had a picture of her dreaming on one side and two lines written in neat calligraphy on the other side. It brought back a flood of memories.
~Ten years ago~
“You know Samie, if you want to go somewhere, you just have to make sure you don’t forget about it and you’ll get there”
“Really? Is it that simple?”.
“And the easiest way to remember it is to create your own stamp of the place. That’s why the postman insists that we put a stamp on all the letters. Now tell me Samie, where do you want to go when you grow up?”
He recited the oft repeating lines that his sister had helped him rhyme,
Words a thousand wouldn’t capture
The world I see in my lovely picture!
“And you Jamie, where will you go?”
To the land where lives wonder
Weaving fables of seven seas and yonder!
“How long will it take us to reach there?”.
“Ten years! Promise me Samie, that when you reach there, you’ll come back and show me your world”
“I promise”
“Come let us make our own stamps and stick it on a letter and send it in advance. To tell them, in that world, that we are on our way!"
The ten year old clicked his sister’s picture to print it and write behind it where she wanted to go when she grew up!
~
Yes she had almost forgotten about it. It had become another figment that her colorful mind had created, like many others in those days. Locked up in a rose tinted box and hidden in a forgotten nook of her mind. She had devoting all her energy and attention towards helping her brother succeed. Samie's first double lens camera, the summer course in Yale, a thousand copies of the glossy brochure of his amateur snaps, even his very first photography exhibition; they had all come out of the job she'd taken instead of pursuing her dream of writing stories. She'd seen him grow, with much satisfaction, into his own dream.
That younger brother had now come back to rekindle her dream, to remind her of the land where wonder lives, to help her find that nook again. As she saw Sam drive away, she bit her lip and her eyelids fluttered. Though blurry yet, contours of her next story had already formed in her mind.
Inspired by
Tell-a-Tale.
In memory of 26/11
Posts
