In The Eyes Of The Beholder~2~ Chapter 13, Pg 73, June 4, 2016 - Page 8

Introducing Inspector Abhinav Shukla.

"Geeet!!!! Stop this right now. You have not eaten for the whole day and now you want to go and rescue the bike from the police station. No Geet absolutely not. Hades is not running away anywhere on his own. We will go have dinner first, then I will drop you off to your hostel and we can go there tomorrow after college and bring Hades back."

Maan glared in frustration at the woman before him. Her lip was already wobbling and she looked like a chastened child.

They had both arrived at the park where Geet had been sketching previously and where they had abandoned Hades on the green patch of grass. Instead of the bike they had found a piece of official looking paper that informed them that the bike had been impounded for illegal parking. Geet had snatched the paper from his hand, gasped on looking at it and been all set to march into the police station to rescue the stupid bike. He had been arguing against it futilely for the past half an hour with her.

"But Diez, how can we leave Hades all alone over there."

"It is a bloody machine Geet, an emotionless, piece of metal. Besides, the ownership papers are with Praneet Da."

"Then let's call him Diez or go pick them up from him." She jumped in, even as her hungry stomach gave a loud growl.

"Enough Geet!! I am not arguing about this with you anymore, neither am I calling Praneet Da. We both are hungry. Come on let's go."

He dragged her to a fast food restaurant he'd seen off of the main street. She had not eaten the whole day and he would have preferred taking her to a place where they served more nutritious food. However, he knew she would not be able to afford it and he was slowly coming to learn what kind of a person she was. She had preferred going hungry rather than telling him or anybody else that she was short of money. She had risked sitting on the street and taken abuse from strangers instead of sharing her problem.

He knew it was not her ego or pride that had stopped her from sharing her problem, but perhaps the idea of sharing it had not occurred to her at all. What was it she had said just back there on the church steps?

"Do parents actually give money to their kids if they ask them? Do yours give you?"

That only meant that she was self-reliant and nobody provided for her or took care of her. He wondered where her parents were. Were they no longer alive or had there been a falling out with their daughter, just like he'd had with his father?

It was that fierce sense of self-reliance that he saw in her that he had not wanted to cripple. That was the reason why he'd asked her to pay for the dinner. He knew how much of a boost it was going to be for her morale, to pay for the meal of a friend. He was definite that it would be her first time buying anything for a buddy.

As they entered the restaurant and checked the menu on the wall she slowly lost her apathy and started fidgeting with excitement. He looked at her and smiled.

"Diez, what do you want to eat? You can pick anything. It's my treat." She said it with a wide grin on her face.

"Why don't you order for me Geet? Order the same thing as you do for you"

"Are you sure?

"Yes. Absolutely."

She ordered two chicken sandwiches, two sides of fries and two cokes.

He changed the coke to milkshakes. It was a healthier option then the soda.

"But I like coke Diez. I so very rarely get to drink it. I have come to a restaurant after so long and never ever with a friend." She rattled on excitedly as they grabbed a table and awaited their order.

He looked at the shining eyes, heard what she'd said and swore to himself that she was never ever going to go hungry no matter what he had to do to accomplish that. In that moment he wanted to let her have whatever she desired in the world. However, the acidic soda was going to create havoc on her empty stomach.

"Next time Geet. Next time it will be my treat and at that time you can get a coke.She pouted for a moment, then thought it over and nodded happily.

"Wow Diez. We are just like any other best friends right... treating each other at a restaurant. Ok I am looking forward to your treat. She laughed in delight and settled in her chair while they waited for the food.

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Inspector Abhinav Shukla sneezed into a tissue for the umpteenth time, and dumped it on the already large discarded pile of tissues in the waste basket at his feet. He then picked up the bottle of Dettol disinfectant spray that claimed to kill 99% of the bacteria and viruses and sprayed it around the waste basket...yet again. He then pumped some clear gel from another antiseptic bottle that claimed to kill yet another 99.9% of germs and rubbed it between his palms vigorously. He detested germs. He hated them with a passion. He had a cold, his nose was leaky as a faucet with a broken washer, his head was a dull throbbing mass and he was doing the graveyard shift; when all he wanted to do was go home, curl up in his bed and die peacefully.

He closed his eyes, and hoped to hell that there would no emergencies tonight and he'd be able to catch a nap in his chair. One of the two constables on duty, looked at the miserable man curled up in the chair and rolled his eyes. Inspector Abhinav Shukla. He was called Inspector. A.S in short. It was an inside joke that the AS stood for Anti-Septic. Inspector Anti-Septic. He grinned looking at the idiot now. That man was completely unsuited for the profession of a cop. Whenever there was trouble he turned his tail and ran in the other direction. The words In the line of duty' were quite often proudly spoken about cops, however, as far as Inspector A.S was concerned scrambling towards the line of safety', suited him best.

The inspector had barely closed his eyes for a minute when a commotion outside the doors had him snapping them open rapidly.

One of the constables came inside with a young looking girl. Her hair was a mess falling over her eyes and she was dressed in what seemed like pajamas to him. She impatiently pushed the hair out of her eyes and looked at him anxiously.

"Where is Hades? Did you guys pick him up and bring him here, or send him somewhere else. He was right there sitting quietly on the grass minding his own business when some cops came and picked him up. Now tell me where he is? I am here to pick him up"

The dull throb inside Inspector Shukla's head slowly intensified, keeping pace with the rapid fire rambling from her mouth. He pointed to the chair in front of him and motioned her to sit down.

"Calm down Miss...?"

"Handa. Geet Handa."

"Miss Handa calm down and tell me where you lost him? Let's file a report first. Please start by giving me details about him. Let's start with the name shall we?"

"Hades"

"Excuse me? Is this a joke?

"What do you mean? I named him that." She sounded offended.

If she had named him...so he must be a child then.

"How old is he?"

"I...I don't exactly know."

"How tall is he?

She stood up and lifted her wrist, palm down a little above her waist.

"About this much. No no...maybe this much." She raised her hand higher a couple more inches.

The Inpector sighed.

"Hmm. Please describe his color? Is he dark, fair or wheatish?"

"Ummm...black...and silver."

His eyebrows shot up at that answer, but he nodded.

"What color are his eyes?"

"Eyes? Weeell he has only one eye. It is sometimes yellow and sometimes clear."

Inspector Shukla wanted to bang his head against the desk. The child's description was getting stranger by the minute. Perhaps she was in shock...confused, he thought and so was unclear with her descriptions.

"What was he wearing?" He continued.

She thought that over for a long moment and then replied.

"Umm. Not much. He was wearing leather on his seat."

Strange way of saying he was wearing leather pants wasn't it. He mused but the whole description she'd given him had been bizarre.

"Do you have a photograph of his?"

"No I don't."

"Is he yours?"

"No. He is his papa's. No wait... now he is Praneet Da's." She said with a wide grin.

Two men and a child. And why were they not out looking for him, instead of sending this strange creature in their stead.

"Can you get one of those men to come here right now?" Perhaps one of them would make more sense than her.

"I don't know where Hades's papa is, but I can call Praneet Da. Just give me a moment. Thank you so much for being so helpful Inspector Sir. I am so glad you are the one on duty tonight." She got off the chair reached across the desk and clasped his hands and gave them a soft squeeze. Then she walked outside to make the phone call.

Inspector Shukla still felt the warmth of her hands after that heartfelt squeeze and thought that maybe a few germs weren't so bad next to that warm touch of a woman's hand. For the first time in his life he did not reach for the antiseptic bottle after shaking a hand.

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Maan blinked sleepily as he heard his phone ringing. He'd had a long day and had crashed as soon as he entered his room after dropping of Geet at her hostel. He looked blearily at the time on the screen. It read 12:59 AM.

"H'lo" He mumbled.

"Maan. It's me Praneet. I just received a phone call from the police station from Geet. I think she is in trouble. She was rambling on about the bike, but I was half asleep and did not understand half the things she was saying. She just asked me to meet her at the police station with the ownership papers. Do you know what's going on?"

Maan groaned out loudly as he threw off the covers and got out of bed. He was going to kill her right there in the police station and then surrender himself to the cops there and think his life sacrificed for the greater good of humanity.

"Praneet Da. I am coming to pick up the bike papers. You don't need to get involved in this craziness. I will go rescue her and that stupid bike from there. Then I want you to sell that piece of junk to the first person who is willing to pay even air for it."

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She fidgeted in the chair and sipped tea from the Styrofoam cup that one of the constables had gotten for her on Inspector Shukla's instruction as she waited for Praneet da to show up.

The Inspector was struggling to stay awake in the chair opposite. Every once in a while his eyes glazed over, Geet fidgeted, the chair scraped and he would jerk to attention. Or he would have a sever bout of sneezing and coughing that would jerk him wide awake and he'd repeat the whole routine of the tissue, the spray and the antiseptic.

Geet looked at him with wide sympathetic eyes.

"Inspector Sir, why don't you have some of this hot tea. It will soothe your throat."

He shuddered as he looked at the cup in her hand. God alone knew who had made it and how and where he wondered.

"The germs on it...Uhh".He mumbled.

Geet caught the words looked at the Dettol can and the antiseptic bottle on his desk and smiled.

"Inspector Sir, how about we play a quiz round until Praneet Da gets here? Let's call it Germiquiz."

Inspector Shukla sighed and nodded. Might as well, he thought. At least that would kill some of the time and distract him from his miserable condition.

"Ok first question. If you had to pick a country to pack off all the germs to, where would you send them?"

"Where?" He asked curiously.

"Why Germany of course."

He groaned at that one while she laughed.

"Supposing some of the germs do not want to go to Germany, but wanted to form their own country, what would they name it?

He thought it over for a minute and shrugged.

"It's very simple. They would call it Germination."

He grinned.

Geet poured hot tea from the kettle, in one of the Styrofoam cups the constable's had set on the desk and pushed it half way towards him.

"If people migrate to another country what do germs do?"

He raised a brow.

"They germinate."

A bark of laughter left his throat which set off a bout of coughing. He picked up the tea on the desk and sipped at it absently.

Geet hid a smile and continued her silly quiz.

"Now then, what if some of the germs do not want to leave for Germany or Germination and they decide to commit suicide? What would you call it?"

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"Germicide."

He cracked up loudly and then looked down at the cup in his hand as if an alien had landed there.

Damn it when had he drunk the tea.

"Are you feeling a little better Inspector Sir?" She enquired, biting her lip to hide the smile that was trying to peek out looking at his shocked expression.

He grinned sheepishly and asked for a refill and then frowned.

For having lost a child, she didn't seem overly concerned. The tea was finally making his brain kick in and he looked at her.

"How is the lost child related to you Geet?" And why would the cops pick him up and bring him here?"

"What child?" She looked confused.

"Why Hades, of course."

"But I never said Hades was a child Inspector Sir."

"Then just who the hell is Hades? Who is he?"

An extremely grim voice spoke from the doorway.

"It is a bike Inspector, my cousin's Harley Davidson."

Inspector Shukla looked in shock at the tall young man framed in the doorway.

Maan Singh Khurana. What was he doing here?