HOPE FLOATS

HOPE FLOATS


Finally , after hours and hours of searching in different newspapers , Tim got what he wanted . He got the add for a story writing competition to be held in his town 2 months from now , in which he decided to take part .

Right from his childhood till today , he always nurtured only one dream in his crystal clear eyes , which was to be a writer .When he slept in the night his dreams mostly comprised of him holding his book , in the middle of photographers saying ? this is my novel and it will be in all leading book stores from today ?, in the morning his thoughts began from where his dreams were left last night .

He had the right mix of talent and hardwork required to enthrall any successful sky , although his penchant for writing had increased through all these years , but the only thing that acted as a thunderstorm on his successful sky was his terrible luck . His past experiences of abandoned childhood made all his triumps look sour , when he was 12 years old his parents died in a plane crash , since then he was staying along with his grandmother who was also on the death bed .

Everyday he was unhappily happy , he was a rebel but all the stories that he wrote were inspired by this massacre in his life . His stories mostly comprised of hidden human pain , unfuelled aims , uncontrolled anger and unfulfilled wishes all of which he wrote from the bottom of his broken heart .



He rang up on the phone number mentioned below the add , in a miss of a blink he got registered for the on the spot writing competition .He then went towards the calendar and marked 31st may , the day for the competition which left him with exactly 60 days . As all the writers in the world he also had no social life , he just remained confined to his house and did not get out of this isolation much .

He started getting ready for the competition from today itself , since it was a huge competition so he wanted to improve his vocabulary by using some hard words in the story which would enhance his story .

He wanted to purchase a dictionary so he decided to go to the market 1 km away on his cycle . He was riding his cycle with ease since there was a huge rush as it was a Monday morning and people were going out to work . Suddenly a speeding car came from behind , it was moving so fast that sparks flew between the wheels and the road . Tim saw the car coming from behind , he turned left to avoid any accident .



?Open your eyes , son I?m your grandmother , do you recognize my voice? , the chemical molecules of his brain felt a remain of a known voice , as a result he opened his eyes , he was shocked to see his surroundings , he was shocked to see the bed he was lying on , he was shocked to see the wire connected from his body to a dripper but the biggest shock came when he realized that he had no hands left anymore .

He screamed loudly , he asked the doctor standing nearby ?why? , the doctor replied ? the people who brought you here said that your body , especially your hands , got attracted to an open electric wire attached to an electric pole , where some work was going on , because of increased exposure to electricity , your hands got burned and they had to be cut at all costs? .

Tim just kept quite , it looked as if his tears froze in his eyes , his smile got locked up on his lips and his life got confined to the broken pieces of unfulfilled dreams . He was beautifully broken with no sign of pain and anger .



After 20 days of hospitality where everyone were shimmering their false caring nature aglow , he came back to his house with his grandmother by his side . She said ?I got a call on my mobile in the hospital yesterday , it was about some story a-a-a writing competition , have you taken part in any? , Tim looked at her and said ?what difference does it make , I cant take part anymore? . After a brief silence she replied ?when I got the call yesterday , I realized how much this means to you , so I-I have fixed an appointment with Henry O? James , he-he teaches writing and doing other jobs from the legs to people who have lost their hands? .



?I have read your article in the magazine ?Dewdrops? , it was wonderful , I remember it because it had a great impact on my life? said Henry O? James to Tim . Although Tim was not healed completely internally but he made an effort to pretend that he was happy and had come to terms with his this situation .

Henry O? James explained him that how he would teach him to learn writing with his legs , as he himself had learnt , when he lost his hands in the war against Green Parody Troupes .

This all made Tim uncomfortable , there was a lot of confusion going on in his mind , as he had left the hands of normality and caught hold of disability firmly .



The first day , when Tim started using his legs to write , he could barely hold a pen , he had become sick of it and thought that he could never write ever . But on Henry?s insistence he put a lot of strain on his legs as a result blood started oozing out from his stitches, he was again rushed to the hospital . He started crying and told his grandmother ? I can?t do it? , Henry O? James came in his room and said ?you know Tim I can only provide you the means but you have to work hard , do you want to be just another person who lost himself to disability or do you want to fight this disability and emancipate yourself?

, these last words instilled a sense of strength and pride in Tim , he knew that he wanted to be the latter and he knew that he would be the latter .



After his recovery on the third day , he caught hold of the pen in between his legs thumbs , he was so happy. When he returned home this was the first news which he broke to his grandmother , she was equally excited for him . He wrote the first word , his name , on the 10th day , it was such a great feeling it was looking as if he was free from the constraints added to his life by this disability .



Slowly and slowly words grew into lines which grew into sentences and finally into paragraphs , he had reached the alter but all he wanted was a little more perfection which he would get only with time .



The day which was eagerly anticipated by Tim arrived , he was waiting outside his house , as Henry had decided that he would take him to the competition . On his way he asked Tim ?are you feeling nervous today? , Tim said ?obviously? , after a brief silence Henry replied ? well , understand one thing that this world is under your feet and you have to win it at all costs? .

When Tim was writing , these words kept on reflecting in his soul , they gave him strength . The one month of hardwork , contemplation and sleepless nights finally paid of as he was feeling relaxed , calm and strong . The competition finally ended , Henry asked Tim ? so how was it? , he replied ?it was okay , lets see? .



After ten days , Tim was sitting in his backyard when the postman came and delivered him a letter , without waiting for a minute , he opened it , he was shocked as it read that he had won a consolation prize , just because he was disabled . It further read that he had to be present for the prize distribution ceremony tomorrow at the Narrow Bridge Stadium . He started crying , he felt so bad , he thought that the prize was given to him out of sympathy , he did not want to be perceived as a disabled but today he felt that he had lost the fight against disability .



He told Henry and his grandmother about it ,they both were sad but displayed a fake smile on their faces saying that it was okay and he should go to the ceremony and accept whatever he has got with grace . He could not sleep that night , for the first time in his life he felt unwanted , which filled his eyes with tears .



With a lot of disinterest he was sitting amongst the crowd , the host for the event came and said all the words that encouraged the writers , he said that winning was not important but participating was important ,all these words felt crap to Tim . After few embellishing performances of folk songs and dances , the host came and started announcing the results ,he said ?the consolation prize goes to , any guesses? , Tim put some force in his legs as he knew that he had to stand up , the host said ? Tim Robinson? , Tim said ?what? , Henry who was sitting next to him said ?your last name must have been written wrong by you? .

To their surprise another boy stood up and went towards the stage , he was mentally challenged . he caught hold of the prize said few things and came back to his seat . Tim was further degraded because he thought that he would not win any prize .



Finally the moment of truth arrived , Tim and Henry had stood up and were about to leave , they had reached the door . The host said ? the big winner tonight who would sign a free contract with Lambard publication for writing a full fledged novel is? , a silence had spread across the room , Henry opened the door of the stadium to get out of there , The host said ? Tim Andrews?.

Tim was startled , it looked as the world had stopped for him , he could no hear any applause but a brief silence , he went towards the stage and accepted the award .

Meanwhile , Henry had concluded that the postman must have misplaced the letter , he felt so happy for Tim , he could see a young himself in him . Tim after controlling his tears said ' we are surrounded by so many problems , so many dreams break everyday and so many people fail everyday but all we need to do is give hope a chance to float and when it does , it solves all the problems , joins all the broken dreams and shows the way to success'