The Wave

It was almost time. 15 more minutes and he would be done with his shift. Standing there, all he could think of was the cup of tea he wanted to have. Tea, the one addiction he allowed himself to enjoy.

It was his first week of duty as a traffic police. He was in other duties before; nothing significant, nothing interesting. And neither was it now. This wasn’t the regular big city. It was one of the smaller ones, where the authorities just decided to put up a half dozen signals to amuse themselves. His other colleagues didn’t even bother to discipline people who didn’t obey the lights, which was almost everyone. This damn town didn’t need them in the first place. But he was more dutiful, the kind of thing one is during the first week of an assignment, before the indifference sets in.

It was almost ten. The road was almost empty, but the signal was on. And then this guy came, zooming along in his bike. He was just going past, as if the light and the man in the uniform didn’t even exist. This pissed off the cop. He flagged the guy to the side.

This guy was strange. Even as he pulled the bike along, he was busy on his phone messaging someone. Not the usual thing kids do when they get caught. It’s usually the good guy act, and too much attention to the cop. As he neared the kid, he noticed that he was seemingly lost in his phone. It was as if he had pulled up and then forgotten why he had done so. He didn’t smell of alcohol, and this town was too small for drugs to have taken over kids so easily. There was something on.

The cop just rapped his ringed finger on the bike’s tank, and cleared his throat to get some attention. The guy finally looked up with dazed eyes.

Cop: “So where do you think you are going off so fast kid. Can’t you see the light is on, and I am still standing here.”

The guy: “Sorry sir, didn’t see that. Wasn’t paying attention.”

He obviously didn’t mean the sorry. And he obviously wasn’t paying attention either.

Cop:   “So what makes sir so busy at this time. Where are you heading off to.”

The cop didn’t care about all these details usually but in this case he was indeed curious. And the kid just looked on trying to digest the question and think up some response. He was obviously too lost to lie, and rather came blurting out with the truth. Anyway he was in a terrible hurry and just wanted to get going.

The guy: “Sir, it’s actually to do with my girlfriend.”

Cop: “Girlfriend. Hmmm...  So what's up with your GIRLFRIEND. Is she sick or something?”

The guy: “No sir.”

Cop: “You got to pick her up or something.”

The guy : “No sir.”

Cop:  (with a wink) “Going to sneak into her place when her people are away, aren’t you!!”

The guy: “No sir, not all. Her people are anyway there.”

This kid was impossible, and the cop was getting really exasperated.

Cop: “So what the hell are you doing anyway? What's the hurry?”

The guy: “Sir, I have to wave to her.”

Cop: “You’ve to what??!!”

The guy: “Wave sir. Everyday night before she sleeps she comes to her balcony. I go there, wave to her from the road. She waves back, and then I come back.”

He was telling this as if it’s a very routine and normal thing for anyone to do, like going to work or having a morning walk. The cop was clueless. By this time, the cop having the next shift had come and was listening to the conversation with amusement.

Cop: “So you do that everyday at this time?”

The guy: “Yes sir. Today, I am already late. She would be waiting for me there without sleeping!!”

He said that in such a pitiable tone, that suddenly the cop seemed like some dark villain standing in the path of true love. The cop too was tired of this guy by now.

Cop:  “Ok, get lost. And don’t get caught in my signal the next time, unless you want to walk all the way for the wave from here.”

The guy was off in a flash. No sorry, no second look. It was almost as if nothing had happened all this while. 

The cop wasn’t surprised though. The only thing he was surprised by was that the kid had pulled up in the first place.

The cop from the next shift couldn’t suppress his grin.

2^nd Cop: “So seems you had your own share of love affairs in your youth to probably let the kid have his time.  Else I don’t see you letting off people without penalising them.”

Cop: “Naah!! The bastard is already in a bigger mess. Cant screw a guy who is already screwed up so much..”

And the laughter continued over the much awaited cup of tea. What would he do in this world, but for this cup of sanity......