Excerpt 1

Ricardo went and opened the door, to find a fair and short person standing with a bunch of papers in his hand.

“Mr. Anthony?”, he asked.

Ricardo’s mind at once began to search for some lies to put forth in order to escape these moments of agitation. Controlling his tongue, so that it wouldn’t go out of place, Ricardo said, “This is Anthony’s cousin; he has gone out…”

That guy stood in silence for a minute, and then said, “Ohh… hey… hi… this is Eleanor; I am the owner of this building!”

Ricardo smiled and nodded, nodded and smiled. He was finding it tough to bring his acting instincts into play.

Eleanor said, “By the way, I wouldn’t mind if you’d offer me a cup of cold coffee!”

Ricardo was in a fix; he couldn’t say yes, and he couldn’t afford to commit a blunder by saying no.

Eleanor moved in, and Ricardo moved back. There were two dead cadavers lying in the bed, and then there was this guy who wanted a cup of cold coffee! Ricardo began to develop acute hatred towards the present moment.

Meanwhile, Andrew was in the bedroom, wondering what was going on between the two. He tried hard to experience at least a modicum of solace, or else, the situation would grip him to death. Ricardo offered Eleanor a seat, and with expressions of great munificence, he went into the kitchen.

Trying to make the best out of what was available in there; Ricardo managed to find a bottle of beer and a few tumblers. He brought and kept them on the table and took his seat. As he emptied the bottle into the tumblers, Andrew came.

“This is Andrew,” Ricardo said, “my friend.”

Eleanor glanced at him and they both exchanged handshakes. Andrew took his seat, and then his share of beer.

Before Ricardo had started, Eleanor had already done with a glass. Having some more of the drink, Eleanor asked Ricardo, “So what do you do?”

“I am into a sports gear business,” Ricardo replied almost instantly, as if the answer was waiting at the tip of his tongue to jump out.

Eleanor looked at Andrew, and before he could ask anything, Andrew said, “Me too… we both are partners actually!”