“Lunch 🙂 ?” pinged his interoffice instant chat messenger interrupting his thoughts -thoughts of heating capacity and temperature. He frowned at the message box and the offending emoticon. He was not an emoticon person. Who took the effort to figure out weird combinations of colons and commas. “Pretty please?” came the next message even before he could divert his thoughts from heating capacity to lunch.

He glanced over at Myra seated across the room. The rather somber formal office setup of cubicles and flashing computer screens separated them. Men in shades of white and blue, women in pinks and reds, eyes glued to screens, fingers punching calculators, muted conversations and discussions assaulted his eyes. On the yonder, there she was – in her own Eden busy talking with another co-worker. She talked with her hands, eyes and lips. Unheard words bubbled out of her lips, hands moving dramatically and eyes full of life like always.

His fingers poised over the keyboard all set to type no as his eyes darted around, his mind oscillating between heating capacity, lunch and Myra’s ebullience as “Why can’t I be you?” blasted in his ears. He envied her love for life and her gift for making people talk. He needed to say no. He had deadlines to meet, reports to type, meetings to co-ordinate, dry cleaning to pick up, dinner to plan and more. He planned to work through lunch and get out of work by 5:30pm. His mind said type no but his fingers typed yes.

He glanced at the tiny clock at the right hand corner of the screen – another 15 minutes. Just enough to check his emails and reply to a couple of pending ones – a task he generally hated. He hit the replay button on his Ipod as he read his emails.

“You turn my head when you turn around
You turn the whole world upside down
I’m smitten I’m bitten I’m hooked I’m cooked”

He sighed as the words hit him. He was smitten. Hooked. Lost. In her jollity and exuberance. Her smile and dreams. He was her anti-thesis. He did not do gaiety. He was not effervescent. He did not bubble endlessly with energy like that Zen fountain on Myra’s desk. She said it calmed her down. He doubted it. She would need millions of them to calm down.

He often wondered why her lust for life was such a big turn-on. As a rule, he hated this forsaken existence. The run-of-the-mill routines. The need to make it or die trying. He hated the trapping of the suburban existence drilled into him. He saw grays and blacks. He could not imagine seeing the vivid rainbows that made Myra’s life. Myra who had every right to be angry with this world was at peace. She did not complain or rant. Oh yes, she shed tears with ease that would make actresses in soaps envy. But she smiled with ease too. There was never a dull moment around Myra.

In his mind, he hoped to be her some day. He hoped to have her zest for life and will to fight. Her dauntless outlook no matter how bleak reality was. Her ability to see the best in others and herself. “Dang! There I go again”, he muttered scanning through his emails. Getting lost in the vivacity of Myra was his addiction and productivity killer.

“Knock knock! All set? I thought we can leave now and beat the lunch rush and by the way my treat today” Myra’s voice broke his thoughts. “Are we celebrating something? I never say no to free lunch and you know it” Shiv replied locking his computer as he got up. Where to? The new place across the road? They are wheelchair friendly”. “You read my thoughts Shiv. I was just thinking that I need to give that place a try before I take my break”. Her words stopped Shiv “Break Myra? What is wrong?” The elevator dinged and Myra guided her motorized wheelchair in before answering “It is back or in clinical terms my cancer has progressed as expected. I need to fight it yet again Shiv and as I am so close to retirement I decided to put in my papers and quit”. The elevator whooshed down and Shiv felt his blood drain. Myra – his mentor, his god mother in disguise had to go through it all over again.

“I am taking a cruise next week before I start chemo. I am so excited. I am so looking forward to all that wonderful food they seem to have on-board. You should try one of those cruises Shiv. They have some great deals going on…..” Myra’s excited voice drifted through his brooding. Her ebullience – he envied it.

I am attempting to write short scenes for the April A to Z challenge. I randomly select words and write something around it. It has not been an easy attempt but I plan to try and challenge myself. Please throw some words at me. I to Z are open. I will dedicate the story to you (if ever I come up with one) and don’t forget to wish me luck. I need them in truckloads.

This post is a part of the April A to Z challenge. 26 days, 26 letters and 26 short stories. Come back on Monday for more.