The Cobbler

~7~

Once I have calmed, she sits me back down, conjures up a glass of water and hands it to me.

"Not poisoned, right?" I ask through sniffles as I gaze through the clear liquid at the distorted grass underneath.

She rolls her eyes and replies sardonically, "No, just laced with enough vodka and gin to knock you out."

I grin and take a sip from the glass. Well, it does taste like water.

"See, the thing is..." I trail off and clutch the glass with both hands. "The thing is, even these people have busy lives. I'm not saying they'll not listen to me or that they'll trivialize it. If anything, those idiotic friends of mine will just blow it out of proportion." I chuckle at the thought, she joins in too. "But there are moments of extreme self-doubt and I cannot stop blaming myself for anything, everything. It becomes like a deep, dark pit."

I stop speaking and look at her hopefully. I don't know how to describe it; I rather wish she will read it off my mind or something.

"Talk to yourself then," she simply says.

"What?"

"Either go in front of a mirror and have a one-on-one session with yourself, or do it in your mind. Whatever issue you might face in life, you may not always have someone to immediately discuss it with. All you would have is your own self. So, set a rapport with it. Self-doubt and self-blame come from your lack of appreciation for yourself. That's why you need to work on it."

She leans forward and clasps both her hands over mine, still wrapped around the glass of supposed water. "People will always have something to say about anything you do. Your choice is whether to listen to the negative ones and be discouraged, or to the positive ones and grow. If nobody around you speaks of the good, speak of it yourself. Learn to love yourself, dear."

She pats my hands and smiles brightly.

The very next moment she stands up abruptly and declares, "I believe the sneakers are repaired by now." She walks to the camouflaged bench, brings the shoes over to the work table and flaps open the poly-bag.

"Torn hearts, unlike torn sneakers, mend more easily if you just pay due attention and care to them."

I nod as I reach into my back pocket for my wallet. "How much –?"

But my pockets are empty. The front ones too! "Looks like I forgot my wallet," I admit sheepishly.

"Pay me whenever," the cobbler lady says nonchalantly as she hands over the poly-bag to me. She pats my shoulder once and asks, "So, are you feeling better now?"

I smile, genuinely for the first time, and reply in all honesty, "Yes. I have made up my mind to do better at my own life from now on, to pick up where I left off."

"No 'fresh start, new you' bullshit?" Her eyes are dancing with the playfulness of her query and I laugh.

"Not at all. I don't need a new me. I just need some mending. I don't care for what problems, hurdles I face in the coming days or even in the years ahead, I'll just resume from where I left off. I'll learn to love myself." My words sound strangely confident to my own ears. When had I last claimed anything with this much assurance?

I bid her goodbye, my inhibitions for her shed to quite an extent, and leave for home. I plan to come back the next day and pay her for the sneakers.

The next day when I reach her place, it's nowhere to be found. Only an empty, overgrown field greets me where her building should have been. Bewildered, I open her website on my phone and the browser claims it does not exist. A piece of paper suddenly flies out from the thicket and sticks to my arm. I peel it away from my skin and stare at the brown matte-finished business card.

Cordswainer.

My work is done.

*

A/N: And that concludes this short tale!

So, what did you guys think? Bad? Very bad? Or, hopefully (really, really hopefully), good?

I'm a bit biased for this story and it took me all of 5 months to decide to put it here. I wrote it with a lot of love, and I hope the message gets through. #loveyourself

All right, please let me know your honest thoughts through your comments!! And please do vote and share too! I know I say it in every Author's Note, but it's true - it really does mean a lot!

Have a great day, all of you! See you in the next tale! <3 <3