Cycle of Time

1.1

Uben slowly put aside the piece of paper he was reading, the one he had picked up yesterday. He looked outside the window at the night sky. There were no dragons that he could see. He was much too old for that, if 40 was an age. He lived in a time when dragons were already dead, in a time that thinking about things came easier than feeling about them. But now he could just imagine one, and he felt something. Strangely Excited!

The morning before was a sunny one, but too early in the day to make you sweat, the sun hadn't been out that long. There were many people on the streets. While the electric cars glided noiselessly, there was still chaos on the pavements. The chaos was of a different kind. Uben remembered a time when there were vendors on the pavements trying to get the attention of passers-by. These days the chaos was due to people paying less attention. Devices in hand, people were cocooned in their own worlds.

Uben had an observant eye for things, for most things. He was a private investigator. He wore a sleek shirt and trouser, and looked the executive type. Uben's casual glance captured how people used their devices. These observations told him a lot; it was a science he had learned. The way their hands moved the pauses, and even the way they looked at the screen meant something if you looked carefully enough. The rhythm of their walk, how they unconsciously sidestepped others were rich sources of information. He gathered all this information from just looking at the devices. Once he actually got hold of a device he used the electronic traces left behind to put two and two together.

Today he had no work except for some follow up work for an angry man trying to trace whether his spouse had any online affairs. It was a run of the mill everyday chore for Uben.

His boredom was broken by an unusual sight that caught his eye across the street. A female in her 30's was seated on a bench and peering into a device. The pattern did not match. He couldn't quite make it out and the rhythm was different. There was a glow in her eyes. It was not the same dumbed down look he had come to recognize. Her whole body and soul, if there was such a thing seemed to be on a ride; the emotions reflected on her face, changed from moment to moment. It was as if she was playing a game, a less mechanical and more emotional one.

He had seen similar reactions in new lovers, chatting to each other on their devices. But this was different. She almost seemed like someone from the past reading a love letter! Uben was filled with curiosity, he had to know. He discreetly took a small detour and moved in behind the bench she was seated on, so that he could get a better view. At that moment the woman brushed her hair to a side and he had a glimpse of what was so engrossing to her. It was not a love letter, nor a device but a book in a cover that looked like a device!

The woman feeling Uben's shadow on the pages of her book was suddenly woken up from her trance like relationship with the book. She hurriedly swerved around and their eyes met.

"I am extremely sorry," Uben managed to blurt out, recovering enough to know that he had briefly forgotten whatever investigative skills he knew and had been intrusive.

She just stared at him for a moment. Through the furrowed brow he could almost see her brain working furiously to figure out the situation.

She too recovered in a while and the furrowed brow gave way to a smile.

"OH that's okay. What do you want? "she asked.

"I was just passing by and saw you reading a book"

She quickly shut away and put the book in her bag and stood up to go

She smiled but nervously this time.

"It's my grand ma's, I keep it to remember her by."

She would have moved away that second if Uben had not moved to engage her again.

"What is it about, is it interesting?"

"Not really it's an old cookery book, "she said unconvincingly, as she brushed past him and merged in to the rows of people rushing about on the pavement.

As Uben rushed in after her he could not catch her, but as she walked hurriedly she dropped something. It tried hard to stay afloat in the wind but finally gave up and landed in the gutter. As Uben climbed up to gather it he realized it was a piece of paper!