Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy by Mishra Pawan

Author:Mishra, Pawan [Mishra, Pawan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: amazon, humor
ISBN: 9780997477115
Google: mqJJDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Lune Spark L.L.C.
Published: 2016-09-07T22:00:00+00:00

14. The Grapes of Wrath

A clay pitcher that goes to the well too often is broken at last.

Thus the big event happened, on a day when management was out of the office for an off-site meeting. Coinman had barely settled at his desk that morning, after transferring coins from his desk drawers to his left pocket, when Hukum walked up to him and put a twenty-rupee bill next to his nose from behind. “Coinman, mate, I have gotten myself in a kind of a desperate situation and need your help very urgently.”

Coinman’s chin had sensed something fishy and had started to flutter worse than a trapped flycatcher bird.

“How can I help?” Coinman asked, pushing the bill away from his face using his right hand. Hukum walked to the front to face him.

“I need to buy cigarettes—but have run out of change. Can I get some change for this bill?” Hukum could not resist a smile that risked exposing the dubiousness of his request.

His colleagues’ recent odious episodes had bred an extra vigilance in Coinman, equipping his nose to smell a malicious prank in the making. Thus his newly upgraded nose and notably precautious chin had formed a deadly alarm system that could sense and signal the minutest unfavorable activity to the brain.

“That doesn’t explain why you need change. I have always seen a full pack with you. So why would you suddenly want to buy loose cigarettes?” Sufficiently alarmed, Coinman’s brain was at work.

Hukum did not seem prepared for this question—he couldn’t respond promptly. Then he thought fast.

“I have promised my wife that I am quitting smoking,” he lied smoothly. “I am going to reduce the number of cigarettes I smoke every day. The only way I can do it is by continuously reducing over weeks. If I keep the pack, I can’t achieve this. I have promised myself that I will go and buy a loose cigarette every time I want to smoke. You’d agree I have better chances with that. Now please—give me the change. I am dying with cravings here. I have had only one cigarette since I woke up.”

“Well, these coins are a gift from a very dear friend,” Coinman said, seeing that other colleagues were very attentively following their conversation. “I can’t give them to you. My apologies. You can ask others. And if you think you might need some change tomorrow, I can happily bring it then.”

“Actually, I need the coins right now,” Hukum said, looking like a resolute lion detaining its prey. “And I really can’t settle for any other coins but the ones that you are carrying in your pocket right now.”

Coinman could see that a number of others had left their work and were gathering around them, keeping a safe distance.

“What kind of hooliganism is this? I have a right to decide about my own coins.” Coinman could barely speak through gasps of anger and nervousness.

“You have only two options,” Hukum declared. “Either gift your coins peacefully to us, or we are going to rescue the coins from your pocket without your consent.

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