Ghost

Finding a place to stay in Bombay is a very tough job. Either you
must own a house in the city or you must stay in the innumerable
suburb-towns. Owning a house in the city is not free from trouble. If
you keep tenants the house may pass on to them without your consent.
Again if your house is in a precious prime location the land-mafia will
force you to hand them your ancestral property.
Rico and Rita were looking for a house to start their married life.
Both of them were journalists and worked in shifts. They wanted a place
near both their offices, a house which would offer them some degree of
privacy. Naturally even with their double incomes they could only
afford a one-bedroom-kitchen flat and they were very aware of this. A
few days after their marriage they were walking on Worli Sea Face
(which was essentially the local beachfront) when they found a familiar
person approaching in the distance. It was Ketan, a friend from school.
Ketan was surprised to discover that Rico and Rita had married for they
not even been friends in school. Nevertheless Rico deemed it fit to
mention to Ketan that they were looking for a place to stay. Ketan
immediately responded, 'You can stay at my place'. 'What about
you?',Rico asked. Ketan informed them that he was leaving for Bulgaria
on a year long assignment the next day. It was decided that Rico and
Rita would start living in Ketan's ancestral home the day after. The
house was near Worli Crossing and was called Russy Court.
On the appointed day only Rico moved in with their collective luggage.
Rita was busy at work. When Rita came back by mid-day Rico was already
gone. She was very tired and after a light lunch dozed off. When she
woke again the clock on the wall was striking five. For some time Rita
failed to recall where she was. But when she looked at her PC she felt
secure and strong again. It was then that the bell rang. At the door
was a young, strong looking man in a well-fitting tshirt and jeans.
Rita enquired brusquely, 'What can I do for you?'. The man said 'Hello,
I live next door. I was wondering whether you have some orange juice in
your refrigerator'. Rita did not know what had hit her but opened the
door of the fridge nevertheless. Yes they had some orange juice. The
young man who called himself Jimmy excused himself to drink the orange
juice. And then he went his way. Rita mentioned the matter to Rico when
they next met but he dismissed it as a stray incident. However, Jimmy
became a regular visitor to Russy Court but only when they had orange
juice in the fridge. He would come, drink orange juice and after some
small talk do the disappearing act. If this was not enough Jimmy began
to follow Rita to the nearby market. He would say a few things about
the weather and politics. And then he would ask to be fed orange juice.
He would say that after a pack of orange juice he could do anything he
pleased. Once he tried to jump from the local TV tower but Rita was
looking the other way. Rita mentioned the matter to Rico and Rico
promised to make enquiries. However the enquiries revealed nothing.
Bang next to Russy Court was Worli Coffee House. The people there did
not seem to know Jimmy and the caf? had no residential quarters
attached to it. Things reached the very limit when Jimmy began to visit
Rita at work. No one had given him the address and Rita was shocked to
find him at her desk. After feeding Jimmy his orange juice and seeing
him off Rita rang Rico. They decided that they would invite Jimmy over
the coming Sunday.
The next Sunday Jimmy was at their breakfast table. There were three
large-sized packs of orange juice before Jimmy. After consuming one
pack, Jimmy declared that after a pack of orange juice he could do
anything. Rico said , 'ANYTHING?'. Jimmy replied, ' Anything!.'Rico now
had steel in his voice, 'Can you disappear into orange juice? '. With
all the confidence in the world Jimmy said, 'Certainly'. Rico said,
'Show us'. Without so much as a bat of the eyelid Jimmy poured the
remaining orange juice into a tall jug. Then, the most amazing thing
took place. Jimmy disappeared into thin air and a ripple was felt in
the jug. With all the adroitness at his disposal Rico picked up the jug
of orange juice and drank it's contents at one go. What Rico drank must
have included Jimmy for he was neither seen nor heard ever again.