My first day as a salesman did not begin on a pleasant note. Early that morning, a pesky old man walked into the store. He had picked a few items and put them in the cart. Then he started stomping around looking desperately for something. I realized that the situation called for a little help from a salesman which incidentally was me. I went up to him and asked as politely as a salesman who hadn’t sold a damn thing for a week or so would, if he needed any help. He turned around and glared at me like I was responsible for all the bad times he had been going through, and bellowed in his croaky voice, “Where on the earth do you keep Flambos?”. I winced. That was the first piece of work I had to do in my new role and I didn’t know a damn what that old timer was talking about. I had never heard of that brand before. I did not have the faintest idea of what on earth Flambos were. Not to look uninformed of the products in the store, I assured him that I would get them and requested that he go to the counter to get the items in the cart billed. “You’d better do that soon.”, he hollered and staggered to the counter. I had been searching frantically for Flambos just when the manager walked up to me and asked what I was doing. I told him the predicament I was in. He laughed out loud and said there was no brand called Flambos and that the old man was a regular visitor who would always forget something or the other. He went to the old man and whispered something in his ears and they both shared a laugh. The old man turned around, smiled and waved at me. I managed a faint smile myself and waved back. I began to dread more such incidents in my new career.
A few days passed without much activity at the store. I picked up a few tricks from experience and fared fairly well at learning the ropes. I learnt that customers could be really dumb, forgetful and undecided. Life seemed to have got back on smoother track just when a totally unexpected incident occurred on one Friday morning. I was in the store strolling around and helping customers with choosing the right kinds of products when a lovely voice called me from behind. I looked around to see a beautiful face. Well, that wasn’t unexpected as I got used to seeing beautiful customers every once in a while. The thing that almost swept me off my feet was that she was someone I had known for some years but lost touch after coming back to my country. She had been a friend of mine who had helped me through the gruesome life I had led in a totally alien country. She was too tough for her beautiful countenance. She had endured pains like a man and survived some of the most trying times. I was stunned to see her there. She was an American and I could distinctly recollect seeing her off at the airport a few months before. “Why was she back? Did she come looking for me? Did she start missing me already? And how the hell could she find me?” My head was filled to the brim with all these thoughts. “Hi Tom!”, she cried in excitement. “I can’t believe I have run into you like this. Small world it is.”, she shouted unable to control her excitement, while all the other customers gaped at us. Some of the questions that I’d had in my mind were answered. “Hi Julie! Great to see you. How have you been?”, I managed a less louder shout but enough to show her that I was excited too. “Just great, Tom. I couldn’t be better. And now that I have found you here, I guess life’s gonna be all the more interesting in this new place.” she shrieked again scaring a few kids who were in the toys section of the store. For all the woman-like things she did occasionally, she was a strong person inside and I knew that very well. I would now like to walk you down the memory lane…
It was almost six years ago. I had just finished my graduation in Computer Sciences. I hadn’t decided what I was going to do next. I could land a good job anywhere but that was not what I had in mind. I wanted to start a new venture of my own with a couple of my friends. But starting a firm wasn’t really something we were totally familiar with. We needed guidance and probably a quick crash course. We searched for such courses on the Internet and found a few links to some good institutions. There was one such college which offered a reasonably good course on management for less money. It had a good track record of placing students in big financial firms and helping some with starting their own firms. I instantly liked it. There was one thing that posed a little problem though. The college was in Japan and that made us think about it before considering it. After a few raging arguments, I had finally managed to convince them that going to another country to study wasn’t such a bad idea after all. We registered for the course and looked forward to going there soon.
We were on the airplane heading east to one of the most technologically advanced countries of the world. Though I like the course I was going to join, I was a little worried about food and language. I wondered if I would get decent food and get along with people there. “Excuse me, sir. Would you like to have whisky or rum?”, a sweet voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up at the most beautiful face I had ever seen. She was smiling warmly at me and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She asked me the same question again but I was so busy admiring her beauty that I didn’t care to answer. Jack dug me in the ribs snapping me back into reality. “I am sorry. You were saying?”, I asked, just to hear her sweet voice again. She repeated the question with a warm smile stuck on her pretty face like somebody had pinned the ends of her lips on her cheeks. It was like the smile had frozen on her face. That was the poet in me trying to rear his ugly head yet again. He did that often, whenever he saw beautiful faces. “Sure. Thanks for asking.” I gave a dumb reply. “Tom! They are paid to do that.”, Jack muttered to me in a rather sarcastic tone. I gave him a cold stare and he looked away at some other air hostess who was equally gorgeous. I called her several times and asked her rather silly questions like, when we would reach our destination, how much was the altitude we were flying at, were the life jackets working fine and some stupider ones. But that goddamn smile, it never left her face. I even gulped down a whole bottle of whisky she had served me. I began to feel a little dizzy and slowly slipped into a deep sleep.
I was awakened by some pandemonium on the plane. People looked scared and there were announcements being made about rough weather. I turned around to see my friends still in a sound sleep. They must have drunk even more. I knew them. I woke them up. I looked around for Ms. Pretty Smily Face to ask a serious question this time. But I couldn’t find her. Amidst the turmoil, a voice announced that the weather was rough outside and the pilot was requesting an emergency landing. Barely had he finished his announcement when a big jolt shook the plane. There were screams of fear all around and some people wore pale faces unsure of what lay ahead. People were requested to put their life jackets on and that terrified people even more. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me. I had dreams about my future, about my career, about my life. Should all my hopes go down the drain? Should my life come to such an abrupt end? I was deep in my thoughts when I was jolted out of them by a bigger jerk this time. I could sense that the plane was steering out of control. It would probably nosedive soon. A chill ran down my spine. All my worst fears came true. The pilot had lost control and the plane started losing altitude at an alarming pace. I prayed to God for the first time in life. I prayed hard He would save me…
Someone was tugging hard at my life jacket. I didn’t know who it was. I strained every muscle to look around but it was futile. After what seemed like a day or so, I woke up and found myself on the shore of a sea. I wondered what had happened and was not sure if it was real. I survived a plane crash!!! “But where are my friends?” I wanted to go around the place and check if there were any more survivors. I tried to get up but my body wouldn’t let me. I lay there a few more minutes when I heard a jubilant voice, “Hey Tom! Man! You woke up. I thought you would never make it. Thank God!”. It was Jack and he looked alright except for a few cuts here and there. I had never felt happier before. “Hey Jack! Thanks buddy! You saved my life. Where is Bryan?” I enquired. “Sorry Tom! I couldn’t find him anywhere. I have been searching for a day for him. No luck. Hope he is alive” he replied in a sad tone. Bryan had never wanted to go to Japan for studying. I had talked him into this. I felt terribly guilty for that. I just hoped against hope he was alive. “Found any more survivors?”, I asked. “None, Tom. I found a few dead people who had managed to swim to the shore but later succumbed.” I felt sorry for everyone. Jack gave me a few fruits and I stuffed them down as I was terribly hungry. I regained my strength and could get up and move around without much difficulty. I had fewer injuries than Jack as I later discovered.
It had been two days since we had lived in that godforsaken place, but it looked like a year. We were not sure where we were. Jack said we must be somewhere in Korea. All we could see was big vast sea on one side and a thick forest on the other. We would go into the forest to get food, mostly fruits, but occasionally managed to kill a small animal, like hare or something. We would sleep on the shore so we wouldn’t be eaten by one of those wild animals. We hadn’t seen any though. One morning we were out in the jungle to get us some food for the lunch. We were carefully treading around, watching our every step, looking for some good delicious fruits when we heard a moan from behind a large tree. It sounded like a woman’s voice. We hurried towards the source of that sound…