You Can’t Always Get What You Want

An evening of misery, losing someone, and soulful music. Can I ever get a moment better than this to pen down something? I see these lines seem a tad depressing, can do nothing about it. 

Let us start with soulful music. Currently, it started playing  "Years May Go By" by Rickie Lee Jones. Ah, Dr. Gregory House, I can feel for you right there in the lacrosse field.

Last night there was a terrible storm. No electricity. Water started seeping. I had to unplug the refrigerator, TV, and a few other electrical appliances. With the noise outside, I could hardly sleep. I had to reach the hospital today, 7 in the morning. Somehow, I managed to make myself presentable and without any breakfast, I booked a cab at 6 am. I got a notification that my phone would last ten minutes more. The cab was 4 minutes away. I thought I would put it for charging inside the cab. 5 minutes passed. No sign of the cab. At the strike of the 6th minute, I called the driver.

"I just got a punctured tire, won't be picking you up. Sorry for the inconvenience, sir" and he disconnected. I immediately booked another cab, there weren't many. The next cab was 5 minutes away. This time, the cab arrived. My phone's battery had drained. 

"Do you have a charger?" asked I.

"Sorry, I don't have one" replied he. I heard a song from the radio, I got irritated, and asked the driver to stop it. The hospital was 30 minutes away. I was relieved that I would reach quite early before 7. There is a side road that runs along the highway. To reach the hospital, we have to take the side road. I asked the driver to speed up. 

Just before the left turn to the side road, a truck was parked, in an oblique manner. Well, it was not a case of a drunk truck driver; it was an accident due to storm. The driver went outside to check and returned. 

"He is a new young lad working for the company. He took the right turn, couldn't control and crashed with the barriers"

"Is he alive?" I asked.

"Well, yes, he is. He got some bruises on his head and limbs, but he should be fine."

"When did this happen?"

"It happened today around half past four in the morning."

"Why is the truck still blocking the path? Almost two hours have gone!"

"His phone is destroyed and he could find no one that early. Some shops opened around 6, and they have called some folks to move the truck. It should be done by 8-ish"

"8-ish?! That would be too darn late! I have to reach (I looked at my watch) in fifteen minutes sharp."

"You can walk to the hospital."

"Okay then, I am walking to the hospital."

"Can I ask, what's the emergency?" he asked as soon as I opened the door to walk out of the cab.

"The doctors are trying their last effort to save someone close to me. They asked me to reach at 7 in the morning"

"Oh, I am sorry." I paid him and walked to the hospital. I reached at 2 minutes past 7. I wondered if I should have called the first cab just after 4 minutes, I might have saved two minutes there. 

"We tried everything, but we couldn't save the patient. It was a fatal disease, as we have explained to you. There was really a slim chance that someone with those conditions would have ultimately walked perfectly out of this hospital."

I tried to remember the tune from the cab, and started searching for it. The song turned out to be "You Can’t Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones. 

Maybe without the emotions and expectations, life would be less painful than it is with their presence.

SoloQuotes

I had a photo in my wallet. I tried to stop them, but they left the eye and landed on the photo.

Siba Smarak Panigrahi