Bits of life

A-20 Words-1325

able to pick up the reins and to ride away at will,” he continued.

As we went on talking, a car was seen coming through the drive way and stopped at the portico.
We saw Mr. Anderson coming out of the car and closing the door and locking it after him.

“Come on in my friend. Come and join the bandwagon,” said uncle John with a hail-fellow- well- met voice welcoming Mr. Anderson with a hug and a handshake.
Mr. Anderson wore a tee shirt in navy blue with letters painted in white saying “I am the winner.” Pretty good printing considering his winning streak, I pondered. His short sandy hair was brushed from a side parting his. Fair of complexion and tall in height, say about six feet two inches, Anderson could definitely rate the title “handsome”. I wonder if he was married and there also formed a connection between him and you know who. Our minds could be such curious mechanisms.

I sauntered along to greet him and welcome him into our midst.
“Hello, Mr. Anderson how are you? Good that you decided to join us in this holiday,” I observed.
“Oh, Hello Jim, well, it was decided by John himself. When the court proceedings were over, he invited us to join you all at his farm and the activities he has been planning for all of you.”
“How about the bank business?” asked Jonathan. Anderson replied saying, “ you know we have this spring holiday which is about three days for me but five days to Cathy.
“How come?” that’s Jonathan again.
I was surprised at his prompt question, his ability to link Mr. Anderson with the bank and conclude that in his position as the bank manager, it would be difficult at the bank to conduct business as usual. Brilliant! Is he coming back to all of us and lead his normal life? That would surely be a great blessing and wonderful.
Anderson replied “well, my boy, you have asked a sensible question. I will tell you why there is difference between Cathy and I a little later.”
“OK, Mr. Anderson. No offence meant,” responded Jonathan. I was simply stunned the way he was playing on words.
“no, no not at all. That was hardly offensive. I like your rationale behind the questions, dear boy,” appreciated Anderson.
“Come on Brian, have some breakfast before head to the animal farm, I mean the stud farm . You remember the connection between the race horse and Oliver and Jake?” a question posed by uncle John.
“Who could ever forget it John. Isn’t that the reason why we met and became friends?” replied the bank manager.
Then uncle John walked him inside the house and saw to it that he refreshed himself at the dining table while Betty hovered around like a mother hen feeding its young. While he was inside drinking coffee, I took Jonathan aside and asked him, “Hey, Johnny, how do you know that Mr. Anderson is the bank manager?”
Ashley followed us and she was listening to the conversation carefully.

Jonathan replied, “I heard you guys, I mean you and Ashley talking of things connecting the bank manager, Mr. Anderson, a theft involving uncle John and Cathy. So when you all addressed him as Mr. Anderson, I concluded that he must be the bank manager you have been talking about. That’s all to it Jim.” Jonathan’s answer was also well framed and meaningful. His speech was no longer broken or made up of disconnected sentences or whispered as used to previously whenever he had to respond vocally. His speech was better and his tone had gone up by some decibels.

Ashley was smiling widely and happiness shone out of her limpid eyes. She had every reason to feel proud and happy at the success she had with Jonathan.
I too was absolutely joyous at the turn of Jonathan’s good fortune. It was incredible and inspiring for those with similar problems. They say if there existed millions of problems there also were a billion solutions for them. It is all a matter of research, investigation and application. My love for Ashley had gone up by many rungs and I am sure in future life it will have to go further up. I was also proud that I have had an achiever in the form of my future wife.

Uncle John saw us in conversation with Jonathan and came near.

He said, “hey Jim, have you heard the way our Johnny talked. Amazing, wasn’t it? Congratulations Ashley dear, for taking him under your considerate wing and making him normal. I don’t see a trace of his previous stagger or broken look. We owe you plenty. Thank you from the depth of my heart,” said my uncle. It was an extraordinary speech coming from him. I never saw him talking in the earnest the way he did now.

Ashley said, “thank you for your appreciation. All I have done is to do my duty. I am grateful for my Indian teacher for teaching me his special skills. It is by sheer coincidence that we met and I got to know Jonathan and his problem. It is my fortune that Johnny is able to recover and be normal as any other boy of his age. That is all to it uncle. Please let us not be so formal anymore.”

“OK dear if that is how you want it,” concluded uncle John and asked us to join them all getting into various forms of farm transport.

Soon we found our seats in vehicles like tractors and pickup trucks and so on. It was fun riding on these vehicles and soon I saw Cathy giggling like a teen ager and Brian was just behind her riding in the open truck. He was looking at more than at the passing scenery. I couldn’t stop asking uncle John if Brian was married. He gave me sidelong glance as if trying to read the meaning behind my question.
“No Jim. Responsibilities kept him from marrying just like in my case. Of course he is only forty and not forty five like me,” he joked at his own self. I felt little uneasy to have made him uncomfortable. But no, he was not hurt as I thought. His next remark assured me of that.
" say, Jim what do you think of finding a match for him?”
I said, “ sure uncle. He deserves to be married like any other member of male population.”
“Do you have anyone in mind?” he queried.
“ Yes. I think so.”
“OK Jim, let me hear the name of the damsel you think would make him a suitable bride,” he asked.
“Well, the way it looks, it might be Cathy. I have just spotted them enjoying the ride in that pickup truck of yours,” I said rather hesitatingly.
“ oh yes, you could be right. Let us find out as soon as time allows,” so saying he took his seat in the land rover he drove with Elvira by his side.

It looked like they were thrown together whenever I saw them. if I saw Elvira then inevitably uncle john was dancing attendance on her. And whenever I focused my eyes on uncle John she happened to be either talking to him or simply listening to his talk. That apart I am also concentrating on Ashley whose loving closeness to me meant more than anything else in this world or in any other.
Soon, the party reached the stud farm. All of us got down and started walking towards the paddock where a number of horses were seen. They looked magnificent in the morning light shining bright brown, black or white or a mixture of two colors. Uncle John’s stable was truly rich.


He had thoroughbreds, Arabian horses, Mustangs, American quarter horses, Andalusian horses, Belgian horses and many more breeds that I did not