(1)

He had a cold, the day he died.

The night before, he had felt a little itch on the roof of his mouth, and an irritation in the throat. It’s time I took a day off, he had told himself. He hadn’t had good sleep. He woke up thrice during the night feeling thirsty. And in the morning, he woke up with a heavy head and a runny nose.
“Cad you please bake be somb strog coffee?” he asked his wife “I have ad imported meetig today.”
He liked the way she ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead before she got out of bed.

He noticed a light red stain on his left cuff and remembered how he had got it. He was having lunch with his colleagues when the new employee had decided to introduce herself to them. He had unwittingly tilted his plate as he got up to introduce himself. The red oil of the subzi had soaked into his left cuff. He tried not to think of the neckline of her kurta as she leaned across the table to shake his hand. He sniffed hard. He had tears in his eyes. He wished he could take the day off. But he picked up his bag and went in search of his wife.
“I’ve made strong black coffee for you. Also, have that pill before you go.” She was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper.
“Will you be late cobig homb today?” He asked
“I don’t know depends on my boss’ mood” she said and turned to him with a smile.
He picked up his coffee and ignored the pill.
“I wish I could take the day off.”
One of the things he loved about her was her smile. She was spare with her emotions usually. But her smile said everything.
“You’ll be fine. Just don’t work too hard. And come back home early and sleep.”

He wiped his nose thoroughly while he waited for the signal to turn green. He hated driving to work in the morning. Luckily, he didn’t have to do it every day. He carpooled with his three friends from work. They were waiting for him just across the signal. He looked at his watch. He was only 10 minutes late today. He grinned. He started up the car when the people in front of him started up their cars. He put it into gear when he saw some of the cars moving ahead. But as he stepped on the accelerator, he sneezed. It was a loud, energy consuming, nerve shattering sneeze. He lost control of the steering wheel for a split second. It was lucky that he was on the left hand corner of the road. He would only have hit the pavement, if at all. But he didn’t. He gained control again and drove past the signal and stopped at his friend’s gate.
“You’re in no condition to drive today. Chal, I’ll drive.” Good friends they were. He put up no resistance and quietly moved to the passenger’s seat.
As they pulled up at the office building, they noticed a large crowd gathered around the gate. He cleared his throat and sniffed. He wished he had had that pill. Someone came to the car and said, “There was a fire last night. Nothing very big, but the electricity to one side of the building is completely shut.” They parked the car and joined the crowd.
“You look terrible” said his boss, who walked up to him from the crowd. The parking area was empty except a couple of cars, including his own.
“I developed a cold last night.”
“Why don’t you take the day off? Anyway I don’t think the meeting will happen today. Our floor has no electricity.”
“Are you sure? I mbeed I’d really appreciate it.” He couldn’t believe his luck.
“Go home. Get well soon” said the boss. He was grinning and shaking his head as he ran back to the crowd.

May be he will make some nice hot soup for himself, when he reaches home. The traffic was very light on this side of the road. He was going against the rush hour traffic. He was thrilled at how scarcely he used the brake. It would take only half as much time as it took to go to work.

It was almost noon when he reached back. It was scorching hot when he got out of his car but he couldn’t stop sniffling. He walked into the building, barely noticing the watchman who was fast asleep, or the third floor aunty who waved at him, or the two men who seemed to be looking for someone. The lift wasn’t working again. He had to drag himself up the stairs. His head seemed to get heavier and he felt feverish. He pulled up his bag and held it to his chest and sniffed hard. His head was pounding. I think I will take that pill after all, he decided.

If he wasn’t so drowsy with cold he would have noticed the two men walking up the stairs behind him. He would have realised they were stopping on his floor. He would have turned to them and asked them who they were looking for. He would have noticed that one of them was holding something behind his back. As he opened the door to his house, the men pushed past him into the house and kicked the door shut. One held his arms behind his back as the other cupped his mouth and pulled out a knife. Before he had time to react, he felt his flesh being sliced through. A searing pain rose from his gut and into his chest. He felt the cold blade inside his stomach twisting and then being pulled out. He tried to wriggle his hands free. A second later, he was let go. He tried to make some sound but instead, he vomited blood. He couldn’t hold himself up anymore. His knees buckled and let his head fall to one side.

He thought of his wife and then he thought of his soft bed. His head started spinning, and he started losing consciousness. The floor was covered with blood and the two men had disappeared. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He dialled his wife’s number and then he let himself sink. He was dying. He coughed and felt the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He sniffed and felt blood in his nose.