Jim is planning to run away tomorrow night. He has asked me to join him.
‘We will leave through the small door on the side after dinner. No one will notice. Not for a long time,’ he says.
I am not so confident. The price of getting caught is too high. Besides, where will we go? Jim says he had thought of that. We are to head straight to the station, catch the next train and get off just before the last stop. He even has money for the fare, the source of which I am not aware of, but I dare not ask.
Neither one of us sleeps at night. The nights are the scariest. Cold, dark, and interrupted by muffled cries. We hold our breaths and pray.
In the morning, we do our chores with little more diligence than usual so that we don’t get in trouble for making a mistake. I want to take Walter with me, but Jim doesn’t think it is a good idea.
When the time came, Jim and I inched slowly to the back wall.
We have a lot of practice in becoming invisible. As Jim predicted, getting to the gate without being seen was not difficult. Within minutes we are on the street.
But which way is the train station?
A tram stops nearby, and we climb in. Further away, we are more chances of not being caught. We read the street signs and figured out the tram was going towards the city. Jim knows the grand train station is in the city. So we are heading in the right direction.
The streets in the city are decorated with Christmas lights. We pass a giant Christmas tree in the city square decorated with colored balls, lights, and tinsel. Outside the station, a choir is singing Christmas carols. Their melody is soothing and reassuring. Everything will be alright now. We get off the tram and blend in with people. There are people everywhere.
Inside the station, we stand in the queue to buy tickets. The clerk looks at us suspiciously, especially when Jim can’t tell him where we are going. The train arrives. As we are about to board, two policemen appear from the crowd.
‘Where do you think you two are going, you little bastards?’
I do not remember much of what happened afterward other than that year I made my Christmas wish for the first time.
Dear Lord, please make sure I don’t wake up when I sleep tonight.
I have been making the same Christmas wish each year for the past forty years.
On alternate Wednesdays, I publish a short story in addition to my regular Friday edition.
Since I am on vacation, I will skip the short story for the next two fortnights.