Hidden by Time

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He said lovingly, “I know you’ve been waiting for this since a long time”. Ranjan handed her the parcel, just waiting to see her reaction when she opens it.

Asha removed the banana leaf and gasped, “oh Ranjan, you got it for me, you got me the clock!”. Memories came flooding back to her as she held the wooden clock. She was just a little kid when she had seen this clock on her father’s desk and had completely been mesmerized by it. She spent hours looking at the intricate carvings on the clock. But then the clock had disappeared when she was 10 yrs old. Oh how she had cried! Her father said it had broken, hence he gave it away.

Asha looked at the clock and thought, ‘Had it not been for Ranjan, who actually had to nearly drag me to the party at Mr. Gupta’s house, I wouldn’t have got the clock back. So what if it wasn’t the same one? It looked exactly as the one from my childhood. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it at Mr. Gupta’s house. And when I told him that my dad had a same clock once, he gave me that weird look! Ofcourse, Ranjan had always told me Mr.Gupta was rude, but he certainly seemed a bit too offended by what I said. Anyways I shouldn’t be thinking about all that now.’

She turned to Ranjan “oh sweetheart, you actually stole it from his place, just for me.” He smiled, “Asha , I would do anything for you”. Asha giggled, “wait till that snotty Gupta finds out about his missing clock. Serves him right after all the hard time he gave you. Let me just..oh, what is this?” She had turned the clock around and found a cover stuck to its back.

Ranjan said, “That is a weird place to hide! Open the cover.” Asha opened it and found some old photographs… photographs of her father! She looked at Ranjan with puzzled eyes.

Mr. Gupta slumped on his couch. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Who took his clock?

It was… it was the only thing that he had of his real father.