A Rather Long Short Story Installment 15

 
I felt her nonchalant looks as she was singing in the choir and the way she stored away the significance of what she noted in a casual glance. Indeed, her awareness of me was far deeper and comprehensive even before I understood the girl I watched on the platform where she stood as just one member of the choir.
I had never felt such a poignant longing before as what I felt then, sitting alone in the coffee-shop. Would I see the girl and her brother once before I left this land to be a part of the ocean again?   I looked at the watch. It was around this time, a few days back, I had chanced to meet Emma and Charles on their way back home from school. I kept looking at the road outside, not allowing the traffic of people inside the shop to distract me even for a moment from my intense search. For a fraction of a second my eyes turned to the watch to note the time and again back to the patch of the road visible from the window. There in the smoke-screen and the mist, they emerged, floating like lilies in a stream. Yes, That's how my eyes saw them in those forlorn moments.
I sat transfixed, unable to decide whether I should hasten to catch up with them or just sit there and waste the moment.
It was just then, as if by a strong call of telepathy, Charles looked up and his eyes wandered as if in search of me to pause exactly at the place where I was sitting. Emma as usual was walking ahead of him engrossed in her own thoughts.
He stopped, spellbound, as if he heard me calling. As on the other day he tugged at Emma's skirt and drew her attention to me. Emma turned and looked in my direction. For a moment or two she stood motionless, perhaps she did not trust herself enough to believe that I would be waiting at that spot just to catch a glimpse of her. Afraid that she would hastily disappear in the traffic, I quickly got up from my seat and waved at them to indicate that I would be glad to share their company for a while. Charles looked up at Emma urging her to respond. They came in, but I missed the impetuosity of that first encounter as she had got up and covered the distance between us to reach my table despite the forbidding presence of her aunt.
As we sat at the table I noticed that the military watch that I had seen on her wrist earlier was missing. Did she sell it?Was she in need of money? Or did she just become aware that I had noticed it? Many absurd fears and questions surged in my mind.