Toothpaste For Breakfast...

She had the potential to be a brilliant actress, but she could never be. For she was way too self-conscious to be somebody else in public. In private though, it was a whole different story. So many, so many wonderful characters stuffed inside one person. A siren today, a saint tomorrow. A selfish, unforgiving woman today, a loving caring mother tomorrow. Unlike an onion, the more you peeled, the more there was to her. Her ability to transform herself into someone totally contrasting, that too with the ease of a chameleon, was truly magical. She could be so much more, Austin thought. He never understood why she had let such talent go to waste.

*****

Never black or white. Never the villain and never quite the hero. Always grey. Always. 

****

Her goodness, Ray thought, was her undoing. She cursed herself often, but that's all she could do. Goodness was in her blood and try as she could, her tears would not wash it away. 

*****

She was crying today. Again. 

"Why can't he see how much I love him? Why can't he see it? Why does he behave in such a fashion! I don't understand Doris! I had just called to tell him about, you know, about this new job. And he yelled at me."

"Why don't you see? He wants someone else. Someone you are not. You're too simple for him." 

"What do you mean? What should I be then?"

"See, that's the problem. You don't understand him Nina. He wants a woman, not a child. You have to stop needing him first. Only then will he come to you."

"That's not possible. I can't not need him. I live only for him."

"I know", Doris said. 

*****

In the later years he was a different man. So completely different from the one she knew from many many moons ago, that it thoroughly confused her. Was the one she knew once-upon-a-time, the real him? Or the one that stood in front of her now? Maybe she never really knew him. Or perhaps this was his hidden side she thought, now emerged. But why, now?

Time loved a good laugh as much as God did. Perhaps they were buddies, she thought. Each playfully competing with the other to script the next funny tale. God, poor guy, always blamed and cursed, was infact quite predictable. You do good, you get good. You do bad, you get bad. Infact, God was an easy guy. You could bribe him with cows and sweets, and he would do your bidding. Time, impish, loved playing pranks. With Time, anything was possible.

What God couldn't do, Time did with much cleverness. 

And what wouldn't Time do? He could turn the King into the court Jester and as easily place the Jester in the king's throne. Only Time could reveal that the shiny crown was nothing but a rusted piece of scrap. 

Oh yes, Time was a funny guy. And that man who stood in front of her, he was a bad joke.