Devouring of the Moon

It was night, not particularly dark. One could say it was a grey night, definitely not a black night. The crescent moon provided ample moonlight and the twinkling stars canvassed the night sky. Darkness was further dispelled by rebounded street lights from afar. It was like any other night, nothing particularly charming or mysterious about it. 

Hameed was lying on his back in the sand. He had just finished his supper that his mom had prepared. It was a everyday supper. Naan bread, lamb curry and lemon pickles. He lay there looking at the crescent moon that appeared like it was hinged on some invisible cosmic thread. In fact, he wasn't paying much attention to it. It was as if he was looking through it to something beyond. For a long time Hameed sat there ruminating about the game of marbles he had lost with Asif during the break hours of the school. Asif was never more skilled then Hameed at marble shooting but Hameed endured a streak of bad luck and had lost his last few matches. All the time Hameed sat there he just thought about making a comeback in his next game.

He heard his name, the voice seemed coming from far and then he heard it again. He looked back, it was his mother - she was saying "Hameed come back soon, before your dad gets back from his work". He waved his hand signalling he will be back in time. He counted marbles in his pocket without ever looking at them. The feel of their smooth curvature brought a smile onto his face. Just then a dark shadow passed over him, it was momentary and he dismissed it feeling it was just a fragment of his imagination. He was more bothered about the marbles he was caressing in his palms and hoping he wouldn't end up forfeiting them to Asif. He looked up trying to forget those last thoughts of losing the game. He concentrated back on the crescent moon and it appeared as if its brightness was reduced by half. The lower half of the moon was no more white, a grey shadow was upon it. For Hameed it appeared like an invisible entity was eating the moon from the below. As the seconds passed, the moon started getting more and more reduced. A shadow was nimbly swallowing it.

Hameed ran to his mom running "Ma, someone is eating the moon". His mom annoyed by his antics shoved him away saying - "its just the clouds playing tricks".  He complained "No ma, clouds are white fluffy things and I cannot see them right now". She said "Well they are, but you cannot see them in the night.Go and play" and again she reminded him to return before his dad got back home.

Hameed went back but the moon was gone. Hameed lingered around for few more minutes but did not see it. He went back to his home believing his mom and hoping it was just some game the moon played with the clouds. The next night, post supper he want back to his regular place on the sand and stared back into the inky black sky. Many a stars adorned it and they shone like precious stones randomly laid out on a flat black granite stone. Hameed's eyes kept searching for the most precious of all the things in a night sky - the beloved moon. The moon did not appear that night. He had heard stories from his grandma about sun stealing the moon for a night in his love quest. So, Hameed's thoughts wandered off, back to strategising the marble games. He walked back to his home and as he did so he looked back and said to no one in particular "See you tomorrow".

Every night Hameed kept returning to the same spot with more and more marbles in his pocket hoping he could catch the sight of the moon but he was always disappointed. He always walked back increasingly gloomier than the previous night. Dejected that he had lost something, though he never lost a game of marbles since that day. 

A whole month passed and Hameed never saw the moon in the night sky again.
It had vanished that night and the world was no more the same. 

Hameed won a lot of marbles and his collection was considerably big. He had variety of different colored marbles. Some bluish, some greenish, a few that were ruby red and one that was milky white with tiny speckles of grey on it. Hameed had no recollection of winning it ever.



~A very short story by Saty

P.S: Hameed searching for moon among a plethora of stars for me was like Thorin searching for Arkenstone in Erebor(Lonely Mountain that Smaug had occupied)