Romancing the Laugh

He heard a faint laugh not so far away from where he was resting. The banyan tree he was resting under was old and he would have to walk over to the other side to find who or what was so amusing. He was lying down at the end of a long hard day. Exams were not so easy anymore. He'd spent the whole night studying hard and still did not manage to read through the entire syllabus. But every tired bone in his body was urging him to take that short walk around the tree to see who and not what was causing the commotion.

Her laughter was getting louder by the second. It was hard to ignore and just lay around. How he wished he could just lay there and not hear her voice. She was laughing like she had no care for the world. It was loud and yet it was pleasing, scary yet it was comforting and pure yet there was something about the laugh that was a secret, a secret that he wanted to know. He was trying to register this gamut of emotions that were now taking over his mind and body.

The only thing on his side was the gloomy winter weather. The overcast sky meant the there was only a hint of the shinning sun and plenty reason to just laze around doing nothing. Everything else was working against his will. He couldn't lay down any longer if he wanted to. This was a battle he was always going to loose. He sighed at his helplessness, got up to his feet, turned the corner and….

He was star struck, spellbound even. He was wishing why he hadn't gotten off his lazy ass a little earlier. Every limb in his body seized. He lost complete control of himself, he wanted to wave at her but his hand won't rise. He wanted to walk up to her but his legs wouldn't budge. He wanted to say Hi but nothing but ^%&%&^% would come out of his mouth. She wasn't like anyone he had ever seen before. Her flowing hair, her glowing skin, her slender arms and her voluptuous figure fizzed him out. He kept staring at her for what seemed an eternity. He saw her walking up to him, his pulse was racing, his heart was in his mouth. She was now a mere 2 feet from him. Her beautiful, big, round eyes were staring right at him, her hand was now slowly rising and was by his cheeks and then…

Whack!! He woke up to a "I thought I woke you up an hour back, but seems like one Mr. someone's holed up in their dreams romancing god only knows what!!".

The pat on the cheek had been replaced by a more violent form they like to call a slap. The "Hey.. Would you like to take me out?" was replaced by a more nonsensical and harsh crib. The gentle gaze of her beautiful brown eyes were replaced by a stern  stare that demanded answers. But it was not all this that caught his attention.

She erupted into a hysterical laughter at the dumbfounded look on his face.

The years had taken the toll on her body but every inch was just as radiant and serene as they had been all those many many years back.  Her laughter brought back all those memories from the gloomy winter morning, the hot chai by the ladies hostel in the college and the jumping fences for a late night movie. He sighed and laughed with her just as hysterically.  He knew then how and why this love of 40 years had not faded an ounce.

He spent that anniversary morning by her side sipping a steaming hot cup of filter kaapi and falling in love with the love of his life all over again.