Block Busters

‘Talent lacking actions is a sword decaying in the sheath.’ She thought.

After gulping through the dinner, with programmed determination, Mishika came to her room. She gazed at her desk. With the willpower of a politician, she sat on the chair; she was resolute not to get off easily this time.

She opened her laptop, opened the WordPad and with her fingers placed on ASDF and ;LKJ, she stared inanely at the blank screen. The screen stared back at her. They could not settle on who was blanker.

It was four weeks since the struggle had started. She knew this was transitory but she did not know how long it would last. The ambiguity caused restless nights.

After ten minutes of a little typing and a lot of backspacing, she surrendered.

She flapped the laptop down with a thump and gave away her seat for nothing. She wrapped up her aggravation and slipped under her blanket.

She dimmed the lights to try and sleep.

***

Like every night, they watched everything pitiably. They knew what Mishika was going through; they could feel it. They were in equal pain, if not more.

The table and the chair, being the eldest of the gang, called for an emergency meeting. Laptop, webcam, diary, pen, pencil, sharpener, eraser, pen stand, marker, notepad, table lamp, desk clock and sticky notes attended right away.

The table hosted everyone and began the proceedings, “Guys, we all know what she has been going through of late.”

“Yes.” Everyone sighed in harmony.

“We must do something about it. We must get her out of the trap.” The table said.

“Yes, I totally agree.” The laptop, Lappy, said. “Seeing her opening me every night; struggling to translate her thoughts into words and ultimately failing, is painful. When she goes to sleep soaked in dull spirit, it breaks my heart.”

“Mine too.” “Mine too.” The sticky notes and the table lamp were going through the same catastrophe as Lappy.

“Earlier, when she turned me on, she really turned me on; if you know what I mean.” Lappy said shyly. He loved her as much as she loved him. Their affection had amplified with each word that she wrote on him.

The fountain pen moaned and said, “I miss the times when she poured all her passion in me and the words would naturally flow out of me.” She turned to the laptop and continued, “You know Lappy, when she brought you and you stole all her attention from me, I was jealous of you at first. But today if you ask me, I would more than settle for her writing with you. I just want her to write; anywhere, anything, anyhow.”

“I still remember the love story she wrote on me. It melted my heart. Do you remember?” The diary asked the pen.

“Of course I do. How can I forget that! It was the story that made me fall in love with you diar-ling.” The pen blushed.

The eraser had his say too, “Diary, you remember, right? In the times when she wrote on you with the pencil, she did not even remove my wrapper for weeks after bringing me home. She was in such great form. She didn’t need me at all. And I loved being useless.”

The webcam, Cammy, looked at Mishika trying desperately to sleep and said, “Watching her like this is killing me. When she was in her highs and wrote with a smile, it made me feel at peace. My lens focused the best when she could focus.”

“Yes, Cammy. It made me happy too.” The desk clock said. “You know, even though I am a desperate attention-seeker, I loved it when she ignored me while she wrote.”

“She is too good to be bogged down by a writer’s block. The world is missing so much with her being stuck at a dead end. We must do something. We can do it. We must burst the bubble enveloping her. We must set her free. We must be her Block Busters.” The chair said with the calm and the confidence.

“I have an idea.” little Sharpy, the sharpener, peeked from behind the diary.

All heads turned to Sharpy anticipating what was coming.

“Do you guys remember a story she had written long time back; titled Mind It?” he said.

“Oh yes. I remember Mind It. Fabulous story. It spoke about how it is all in your mind and how your thoughts control a lot beyond what meets the eye.” The table said.

“Yes, it depicted how what we stalwartly believe translates into actions in the real world.” Lappy recalled. “For me, it remains one of her best works till date. It was brilliantly written.”

“I think it is time for some action.” Sharpy suggested with a sparkling blade.

“Oh!!! That is so sharp of you, Sharpy. Well done. Let us do that.” the table gave a pat on Sharpy’s back and winked at Lappy appealing him to do the needful.

Quad-Core-smart Lappy executed a few commands mischievously and, started beeping. They knew what they were doing.

***

“Haven’t we beeped enough already?” The clock said and yawned.

“Shhhh! I think it is working. She is not able to sleep. She is itching to stop the beeping.” The webcam broadcasted Mishika’s situation’s feed from the vantage point for others.

Everyone, acting asleep, peeked with semi closed eyes.

“Guys, hibernate. She is waking up.” Cammy said as he closed his eye – the lens.

Mishika came out of her blanket and sighed as she opened Lappy to check “Aargh…I can’t come up with some words to write and now the laptop is malfunctioning. What’s with all the beeping?” she thought to herself.

She saw Mind It opened right in front of her. She was surprised at the precision of Lappy’s fault but she could not help except read it. As she progressed, the expressions on her face transformed from frustration to comprehension to subtlety to smile to cheer.

She went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. She went to the kitchen and made herself a mug of steaming coffee.

She came back to the seat; the laptop was already waiting to be turned on again. Her fingers touched the keyboard; sensing the long lost magic again, the Lappy’s heartstrings strummed.

She started typing without a pause, ‘Talent lacking actions is a sword decaying….

__END__