Monday, May 3, 2010

mind games



she hit upon the new plan while driving to work one day.


the traffic light would tell, she decided.


if it turned green before she counted twenty five, it would all work out.


if it didn’t, there was the next signal. 


and all the ones after that. 


there were so many of them, to tell her if she was the one.


she didn’t tell a soul, of course.


they’d have thought she was crazy. 


not just crazy about him, you understand, stark, raving crazy.


or worse, they’d have felt sorry, changed the subject, laughed it off.


it was so much more fun this way. 


her private little gamble. 


random as the fortune teller’s parrot she’d gotten to know so well. 


another arbitrary attraction to look forward to in desperate times.


red…


one, two, three...


ten…twenty…nooooooooooo!


red…


one, two, three…


twenty one…twenty FOUR, TWENTY FIVE!!!


orange...red...green...


red...green...


orange...


the city was full of roads full of traffic lights.


all she had to do was drive.


image source: www.deviantart.com

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...Sounds like the traffic signals were conspiring to make her late for work that day...
Why do I feel like I missed something in the post??? :p :D

Soin said...

she dint move? did she just change the directions she was looking at? vectors and all

Jil Jil Ramamani said...

What would she have done in Jodhpur four years back?? It had only one traffic signal. *worries*

Blunt Edges said...

atleast someone doesn't mind being stuck at signals!

Anupama said...

Beautiful!! Can almost picture it in my head, the mood, the motive...lovely writing Mentalie...

Have a good week ahead!

tc,
Anu

Atrisa said...

OMG I do that all the time, the personal gamble thing! It was like you were reading my mind. Phew.

Mathangi said...

All you have to do is drive:). Quite lovely. Even allegorical or perhaps nonsensical; who knows?

As the Mind Meanders said...

Hmmm.. no wonder they call them signals... I was just foolish enough that hey were just traffic signals :D

An yeah.. they show you the light too... If only I wasnt as daft as I am...

Jokes apart... I do things like that sometimes too.. count the number of steps I take to get somewhere... and there is a number in my head already... if the number of steps it actually takes is less than the number of steps I thought it would take... me happy.. then all will be well...

Now that I have written this down... I wonder how I look taking giant strides towards nowhere :(

This is that said...

OMG..I really like the way her mind works. And I love the fact that sometimes you can play these games with almost anything. A blink. A turn. A green light. A phone call. A message. Anything..anything to keep you connected when everything around you tells you to disconnect. I loved this one. The thought. The premise. The story.

notmanish said...

Nice!

Eveline said...

I know we've all got places we need to be. But it would take me a long time to reach college back in the day. Seriously. I'd play games with the traffic signals. Yes, for a brief phase it was my oracle. This? Is insane. Get out of my way people.

Sangfroid said...

Excellent Conjecture! :)

R said...

Creepy. Didn't think everyone had personal targets like that. I also happen to go by the even number at signals. Any story here of that kind?

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