The Unexpected Connection

There it was again! Everytime he tried to write his journal, Richard felt an imperceptible twitch in his fingers. Was his mind playing tricks again? Was this some new kind of physical writer's block? He forced himself to pick up his pencil and tried to write a few words in his journal. Pencil in hand, staring at his journal for an entire minute, Rick decided to take yet another break.

Pushing back his chair, Rick shook his head and smiled at his reflection in the window. Finally, noticing the weather, Rick decided to take his camera and head out to get some sunset shots for his journal. As soon as he stepped outside, he noticed a chilly breeze. "I'll be back before it gets colder", he told himself and hurried towards the shore.

Clicking photographs of nothing in particular, Rick's thoughts strayed to his twitching fingers. "Do my fingers really twitch or is it simply my imagination?", Rick wondered. Unable to find an explanation for this strange feeling, he switched his thoughts to the view from the camera. Looking at the world through the camera lens was interesting. He always managed to capture the world in a different perspective.

Slowing down his pace as he approached the shore, Rick saw a little girl, of about 4 years, from his camera lens. She was trying build a sand castle. Looking up from behind his lens, Rick looked around. She appeared to be alone. The wind was playing with her short curls. A stubborn curl kept falling over her forehead and she continually flicked it behind her ears. Her face was the picture of absolute concentration. Smiling, Rick looked at her through his lens. He wanted to capture her child-like concentration, her pursed lips, her stubborn curl and intense eyes. He waited for the perfect moment to click his shot.

The little girl, unaware of Rick, continued to build her sand castle. She wanted to build a conical tower with small flowers engraved over it. Try as she might, she just could not get a perfect cone for her tower. Packing sand with her hands again, she hoped to get it to her liking this time. She bit her tongue and pursed her lips, completely engrossed and dedicated to the task at hand.

This was when Rick clicked his much awaited photograph. The moment he captured was perfect, he thought to himself. Hearing the click of the camera, the little girl looked at Rick and smiled. Still looking from his lens, Rick automatically captured her smile. The lighting was perfect and taking these shots was a piece of pie, thought Rick.

Setting his camera aside, Rick jogged over to the little girl and plopped down beside her. "Can I help you?", Rick asked her. She looked him over curiously and told him, "Just this tower - I want a perfect cone." Rick smiled as she flicked her stubborn curl behind her ears, yet again. He helped her with her tower and watched as she made dainty flowers on the tower top. "That's really beautiful. You make it look very easy". Grinning, she told him, "It is easy!" "Mind if I take a pic?" Rick asked. She beamed with joy. "You think it's that good?" Rolling his eyes, Rick gestured to her to stand up and pose alongside her beautiful castle. She jumped up and dusted her skirt, flicked back her stubborn curl again and smiled with pride beside her castle.

Just as Rick was done, she ran in the opposite direction and told him she was getting late. Rick took one last shot of the castle and turned back to go home. He couldn't wait to get back home and develop his new snaps. It was colder on the way back, he noticed.

As soon as he reached home, he headed for his dark room in the basement of his home. Humming a happy tune under his breath, he went about developing his pictures. Excitement bubbling just under the surface, he turned the wet photograph to have a look at it. Staring back at him, was a photograph of the sea, sand and dusky sky. No little girl, no sand castle. Aghast, he looked at the other pictures he had hung to dry. None of them had the little girl or the sand castle.

Bonds of Faith

Alyssa nodded her head nonchalantly. She was finding it difficult to conceal her excitement any longer. Once again she stole a glance toward the grandfather clock on the wall. "Did somebody actually turn back time?!" she thought, alarmed. The clock was moving along excruciatingly slow.

She said to herself, "Just 20 minutes more." The professor's voice droned on in the classroom. For Aly, that was simply some background noise.

She started thinking about everything that made this wonderful day happen.

It was a bright Sunday morning, just 5 years ago. Mom was busy making a Sunday lunch. Dad was reading the newspaper. Sean was cursing his video game avatar for losing another life. "What should I do today?", Alyssa thought to herself. Booting up her laptop, she grabbed a glass of water and the Sunday comics section of the newspaper. Logging into her chat account, she giggled at Calvin & Hobbes' adventures for the day.

The beep of an offline message caught her attention. All it said was - 'Hi, where were you? I was waiting.' Raising her eyebrows, Aly put the newspaper aside and stared at the screen. She looked at the name of the sender - Victor22. She was pretty sure she did not know a Victor22. Usually she never replied to unknown messages - but this time she felt she could make an exception. Not hesitating to think twice, she hit the reply button, 'I guess you have mistaken me for someone else :-)'. Closing the chat window, Aly started checking her emails.

"My mailbox is always filled with junk mails", she thought glumly. Deleting her junk mails, she quickly organized her small mailbox. Replying to her cousin's mail, sending an e-greeting to her best friend, posting a new recipe for a quick snack, tweeting about her lazy Sunday morning, commenting on a friend's album on Facebook.. "Whew ! Time flies !", she exclaimed looking at the time on her laptop. Just when she was about to log off her chat account, a window pinged open.

Aly caught her breath. She read Victor22's reply, 'You're Alyssa116, right?' She smiled and replied, 'I'm Alyssa16 - you made a typo.' Closing the chat window she smiled and tried to tuck her curly bangs behind her ears. Immediately another chat window opened up. It said, 'Oooooooops, sorry.' Alyssa replied, 'It's okay. Happens to the best of us ! :-)' Before she could close the window again, Victor replied, 'I'm Victor. How are you, Alyssa?' Aly thought for a moment and replied, 'I'm fine, thank you Victor'. Hearing her mother calling out her name to set the table for lunch, Aly logged off her chat account and hurried to the kitchen.

After finishing up her chores, Aly retired to her room. Suddenly she remembered Victor and wondered if he had left her an offline message. Not able to get her mind off it, she booted her laptop and logged in to her chat application. She frowned and was surprised to feel disappointed at the empty offline message window. Just as she was about to log-off, a window pinged open. 'Hey !! It's me - Victor :)'. Grinning, Aly hit the reply button, 'Hey :)'.

The peal of the bell snapped her back to the present. Bubbling with excitement, she thought she was the luckiest person on the planet! She literally skipped back home, eager to start preparing their favorite meal.

She sniffed the air curiously as she opened the door. Tossing her bag on the couch, she rushed into the kitchen. "Victor !!", she exclaimed with surprise, "How come you're home so early?!"

He turned and opened his arms, "Happy Anniversary Wifey !! I wanted to surprise you with our special dinner." Aly rushed into his arms and crushed him in a bear hug. Stepping back, she gazed into her husband's eyes and saw the love shining from her eyes mirrored in his.