By the time I realised that the smooth-skinned lightweight phone had slipped off the shallow pocket of the sports trouser, I had walked a good thousand and half metres in the two lanes, not far from home. Before proceeding farther, as an act of prudence, I decided to retrace my steps and look for the phone on the edge of the paths trodden.
By then the lanes had not become crowded but my small phone didn't need an army to be picked. A lone eagle-eyed moron was good enough for the job. I was now hoping against hope; but was soon coming to terms with reality.
Fiendish thoughts crossed my mind. The moron would gain access to hundreds of photographs the phone had stored; he would arrive at my mail box; land in my bank account and play havoc with my finance. I was not sure if the local police inspector would prove efficient the second time after a lapse of barely a month.
I was now returning, with disappointment writ large on my face, when I met a friend coming from the opposite direction. We wished each other, as we do almost everyday. This morning, however, I told him of the disaster that had hit me. He responded calmly. He said he had noticed me abruptly changing my path near the temple and thought I had perhaps lost my wallet and was going back looking for it. He comforted me saying that I must have left the phone at home.
I could now no longer remain away from home. Desire to see my phone safe at home was overwhelming. I soon reached home. The phone was resting on the edge of the chair, after having quietly slipped off the pocket while I was tying my right shoe.
I called my friend and thanked him for his prophetic words. I also remembered the mongoose I saw an hour earlier in our garden while I and my wife had tea on the verandah.
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By then the lanes had not become crowded but my small phone didn't need an army to be picked. A lone eagle-eyed moron was good enough for the job. I was now hoping against hope; but was soon coming to terms with reality.
Fiendish thoughts crossed my mind. The moron would gain access to hundreds of photographs the phone had stored; he would arrive at my mail box; land in my bank account and play havoc with my finance. I was not sure if the local police inspector would prove efficient the second time after a lapse of barely a month.
I was now returning, with disappointment writ large on my face, when I met a friend coming from the opposite direction. We wished each other, as we do almost everyday. This morning, however, I told him of the disaster that had hit me. He responded calmly. He said he had noticed me abruptly changing my path near the temple and thought I had perhaps lost my wallet and was going back looking for it. He comforted me saying that I must have left the phone at home.
I could now no longer remain away from home. Desire to see my phone safe at home was overwhelming. I soon reached home. The phone was resting on the edge of the chair, after having quietly slipped off the pocket while I was tying my right shoe.
I called my friend and thanked him for his prophetic words. I also remembered the mongoose I saw an hour earlier in our garden while I and my wife had tea on the verandah.
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