In The Loop

I push open the glass door and enter what looks like the receptions area of an office. The area looks very empty, there’s a curved wooden desk behind which a lady is sitting and writing something. In front of her is a computer screen. There is a wooden panel with a brown heavy looking door on the opposite side of the door through which I have entered. The upper half of the wooden panel is made of thick glass panel. Through the glass comes in very bright light as if on the other side of the wooden panel lies vast expanse of brightness. And yet the reception area looks dark and gloomy. There is no chair in the room except the one in which the lady sits.

I slowly walk up to the lady. I am surprised at my shuffling gait. I am unable to understand why I am walking like this.

“Is she in”, I ask as if speaking to the shiny black hair on her head which is tied down into a pony tail with a black band.

“Yes”, she says nodding her head but doesn’t bother to look up at me with her spectacled eyes. She continues to write on the note pad lying in front of her.

I try to read what she is writing but I am unable understand a word. It looks like a foreign language to me. She gestures for me to take a seat with her right hand; a silver bracelet hangs out from underneath the grey sleeve of her business suit. I turn around, there is a black leather sofa opposite the desk. I am pretty sure it wasn’t there when I walked in. I sit on the left corner of the sofa.

“She will see you in a moment”, the lady says, her pointed nose still points towards the notepad in front of her.

‘How did she know who I had come to meet and that she would see me in a moment’, I think. I am sure she hasn’t seen my face, neither have I told her the name of the person I am here to meet, nor has she spoken to anyone on the phone since the time I entered. I look confusedly at the white round face of the clock on the wall behind the lady, but I am unable to figure out what time it is.

I look outside and suddenly notice that there is no door, but I am sure I opened a heavy glass door when I entered the room. The outside looks like a corridor of a mall. There are two more floors above the one that I am in and all the floors have shops with colorful merchandise hanging on their windows. I can see the sunlight coming in from the glass roof of the mall. The escalators are going up and down on both the sides. But I am sure I didn’t come to a mall.

I see her. She is on an escalator on the other side, going up, to the floor above mine. She is wearing a short, sleeveless dress with floral prints, which comes up to her knees. As it always is, her sunglasses keep her hair from falling on her face as they flirt with the nape of her neck. The hand bag on her left shoulder has shiny metallic beads, which shimmer as the sunlight falls on them.

I turn to say something to the receptionist. She is not in her seat anymore. I try to run out, but I only manage to move in a shuffling manner. I run as fast as my shuffling legs would carry me towards the escalator she is climbing. I reach the escalator but she has already reached the top and mingled with the crowd. I climb the escalator taking two steps at a time and reach the top but I don’t see her. I see people moving around. Everyone is walking. I see faces but I can’t distinguish them one from the other. I try to locate her by the color of her dress, but suddenly the whole ensemble becomes a jumble of colors.

I look down towards the door of the office that I came out from. She is entering the door her dress flutters as she pushes open the heavy glass door. I run towards the escalator going down to the floor below. As I reach the door I can see inside but the reception area is empty and everything inside is either black or white.

I push open the glass door and enter the reception again. I quietly walk up to the receptionist sitting behind the curved wooden desk she is still writing something.

“Is she in”, I ask the receptionist again. “Yes”, she says nodding her head but this time also she doesn’t bother to look up at me. She continues to write gibberish on her notepad. She gestures for me to take a seat. I sit down on the black leather sofa.

“She will see you in a moment”, the lady says, but she doesn’t look at me. I feel confused all the more.

I look at the clock and I am still unable to figure out what time it is. I look out and again I see her on the escalator on the other side of the mall. I get up to run. My mobile rings, its not there in any of the pockets of my black trousers. I check the upper pocket of my white shire, but it’s empty too.

I turn to say something to the receptionist. She is not in her seat anymore. The ring of my mobile has become louder now. I look outside again she is still on the escalator. I see a mobile kept on the railing in the corridor with lights blinking. I move towards it in a shuffling manner.

As I reach the railing I look at the escalator, she is still on the escalator. She is looking around her and is smiling. I look at the mobile phone and pick it up. The screen blinks and the sound is louder than ever. The screen says, “7:30 A. M. calling…”