Page 22 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

I tried to catch up with Tsiku. The meandering road inclined, and after the hairpin bend, we overtook Tsiku and
hit the steep road. The crisp wind whipped my face and adrenaline pulsed through me. Sherab gulped down the air
as his spiky hair fluttered in the wind. I braked, but the speed remained the same.
“Hell, no!” I said to myself. “I am dead.”
Sherab hunched in exhilaration. “Yahoo! It’s cool.”
Nothing came to my mind, only the death approaching. I clenched my teeth and applied the brakes hard again.
The front brake-pads snapped. “I am dead now.”
A puddle-brown Land Cruiser rumbled up from the opposite direction, bellowing acrid smoke. At that moment,
it seemed like a red-eye bull galloping to gore us to death. “God, I am definitely dead now!”
“Car,” said Sherab. “Brake!”
I shut my eyes, steered the handle to the right, and lifted it. It plunged into the culvert. Sherab fell onto the
bicycle and I landed on him.
He winced. “Ouch! My leg.”
A man with half-grayed hair peeped down at us. “You okay, kids?”
“Yeah, fine,” I said, dusting my shoulder.
He stared at Sherab. “And you, kid?”
Sherab grinned. “I am fine, la.”
“How’d it happen?” he said.
I cringed my face as my shoulder thudded in pain. “Over-speeding.”
“Drive cautiously, kid,” he said. “You almost hit my car.”
“Sorry, la,” I said. “We will.”
The moment the car left, Sherab squirmed on the road. “Ouch, my legs! Mom! Dad!”
“You moron, stop whining,” I said, lifting the bicycle from the culvert. “Oh, no! The handlebar is twisted.”
Sherab paused whining. “What?”
“The handle—it’s twisted.” I picked a stone and hit the bent part of the handlebar. “Lend me a hand, would
you?”
“What happened?” said Tsiku from behind.
“Accident,” said Sherab. “He almost killed me.”
Tsiku rolled his eyes. “What happened to the bicycle?”
“The handlebar is bent,” I said.
“This is not cool, man,” he said.
“What was I supposed to do? Kill ourselves to save this darned bicycle of yours?”
“I didn’t mean that,” he said. “You gotta understand.”
I kept hitting the handlebar. “Yeah, that’s what you meant.”
“Now, what?” he asked.
“What?” I replied. “All you care is about this damn kaput Avon bicycle, not our life.”
“How can I return it to Motay?” he said. “He won’t take it.”
“Well, that’s your problem, not ours,” I said. “This bloody bicycle almost killed us.”
Tsiku shook his head. “Okay, let’s straighten the handlebars.” He brought another stone and hit it.
We straightened it, but the handle bore a dent on the edge. More than anything else, I worried Dad would have
to pay if Motay didn’t take it. He would even thrash me. The next week, Tsiku brought me another Hero bicycle for
our next ride.

***

The inter-house football tournament kicked off soon. My house had a set of talented players, but the captain
wanted me to be a goalie.
“But captain,” I said, “I want to play on defense.”
“I insist you,” said the class captain. “You must play a goalie, please.”
“Why me when there are many people who want to play a goalie?”
“Because you’re tall,” he said. “Height makes a lot of difference. You can save many goals.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Why don’t you ask Gopo? He is a good goalie.”
“Please Dorji,” he said. “You should listen to me if we must win this tournament.”
“Since you insist, but no blame if I can’t play well.”
“No blame game in football.”
I couldn’t go to sleep that evening because I didn’t have football boots.
“What’s the matter?” asked Dad. “You look worried.”

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