Page 273 - Half Girlfriend

Where can I get a cab?’

'Want one myself.’
I checked the time: 11.25 p.m.
‘Walk west to Fifth Avenue.You will hit Central Park. Try there,’

someone said.

I took rapid strides to Fifth Avenue. I reached the periphery of
Central Park, near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Amber lights lit

up the museum building. The falling snowflakes created a soft-focus
effect.

Time: 11.31 p.m.
If I didn’t get a cab, I would not be able to reach West Village

before midnight. I couldn’t see any cabs. I looked up at the sky to
pray. Snowflakes fell on my face.

God, please, please, I said.
I looked around me. At least six more people waited for cabs. My

heart sank. I wanted to cry.

One cab, please, I said, waiting for magic to happen.
No cabs.
Time: 11.34 p.m.

I reopened Google Maps. I checked the distance from my current

location at the Met Museum to Cafe Wha? and chose the pedestrian
option.

It displayed this: Walk 4.0 mi, 1 h 10min
The route was simple. I had to go straight down south on Fifth

Avenue for 3.8 of the 4 miles, and then turn right.
‘Four miles. 6.4 kilometres,’ I mumbled to myself.

An hour and ten minutes to walk, I thought. If I ran, it would be
less. If I ran like a mad dog with a pack of wolves chasing it, even

lesser.
‘Madhav Jha,’ I whispered to myself.‘Run.’

I remembered basketball. We used to run and dribble on court all
the time.

A basketball court is not the same as six-and-a-half kilometres in