d mAd mAd worLd!

Honk!! Honk!! ...the screeching sound of the horns filled my ears. The next moment all the traffic lights flashed RED. Engines roared…heat poured. The junction was steaming. Dust and smoke swirled high in the sky trying to reach the unforgiving sun. A bead of perspiration trickled from my forehead and splashed on to the burning earth. The concrete world fluttered in the steam as if it would crumble the next moment.

You always have a two second lag between signals. It is like the blind spot of your eye. My eyes paused at the street lamp on the other side of the four lane. I had half a second to make my mind. I kicked myself forward and the lights turned GREEN!

Smoke gushed out from the engines. Horns screeched. Steam rushed in through my nostrils and puffed up my lungs. My gaze never wavered. I could sense those roaring monsters nearing. I never stopped.

I heard a steaming monster screeching past me when I hit the pole. A smile emerged from the corner of my face. I felt exhilarated. I felt liberated, cutting my way across the race…across the crowd…across the madness!

I saw people. People hurrying & scurrying everywhere. I took a closer look of their faces.

Oh dear! They dint have eyes!! They just had two holes instead. I looked even closer.

In one hole they had a timepiece…ticking…’TICK’… ‘TICK’… ‘TICK’…

In another, they had a roll of paper. A green roll…a bundle of currency. It kept rolling in & out!

Alas! They were blind!

They never even blinked. Blinking would mean they would miss a ‘TICK’ in their clock and a roll of the paper!

Slowly a shadow started to sweep across the madness. Anxious faces stole glances of the changing face of sky. The hurrying & scurrying increased dramatically. And then without warning the inevitable happened!

The scent of earth filled my nostrils when the first drop touched down. Just like the drop which shattered while touching down, the mad world scattered into different directions.

Water soaked my glasses. I saw the world through the moisture in my glasses. Blurred…faded…unclear. 

Puddles of water echoed my footsteps as I stepped over the floating concrete world.

Mother Nature wept. She was tired…of the race…of the heat…of the crowd…of the madness!

The sky reflected her emotions.

As I walked through the wet streets, my footsteps ricocheted from the thick concrete walls surrounding me.

The MAD MAD world was again preparing for the MAD MAD race!

A tear or two trickled from the skies.