The Middleman Chronicles — Ch 01: It’s a Tough Job!
It is indeed a tough job. You do not get paid. Your name floats around in the air. You do not receive proper publicity. People think you are the cause of their pain. If something goes haywire, you feel guilty. There is no standard way to excel at the job. It’s all experience, and believe me when I say, “I have a lot of experience!”
I have been on this blue planet, for more than a hundred years. Yeah, no one believes me, you would not also. That discussion is off the table. To be specific, thirty more years than a hundred.
See, whenever a particular job involves feelings and emotions, it gets up real crazy, real fast.
Catherine, the girl. Robert, the boy.
Yeah, I am not going to reveal the actual names. I always sign a non-disclosure agreement before I take up any task. I assure one party to have faith in me, in case the party fears that the details would be disclosed.
I was strolling near the lake. A lake filled with garbage. The boy is one of my best friends. He opens himself suddenly with the question, “Have you ever loved anyone, I mean, the kind of love you describe as ‘you see when you close your eyes, you dream about them in the night, and you wish to take them in your arms and never leave them’?”
“Indeed, I have” replied I politely. The party need not hear the truth. You have to assure that you know his condition to a certain extent. Then only, the party would like to confide certain details with you.
“Great! The brilliant lady. The most beautiful creation of God. Her smile vanquishes the gloom of your eyes after a bad exam. Do you know her? Catherine?” I had never heard such a description from Robert!
“Yes, I know her. I was thinking of …”
“I love her. I really do.” And I was cut-short from Robert’s excitement. What I wanted to say was, I was thinking of asking her out this weekend.
Ah! This point of revelation hits the hard. You really like someone, but your job lands you at the crossroads. There is your thoughts, your hopes, and your wishes. But, then there is his or her too. You resort to lies and march with the party’s interests. Further, it sounded like he loved her, and I merely liked her more than other girls.
Yeah, in my job, there are levels of liking, having crushes, and so on so forth. I better not bore you with the theory.
I recall a funny incident here. And I have marked it for the next time!
“You afraid to tell her?” asked I.
“Yeah, see, she would have someone far better than me at the top in her hierarchy. I do not know where would I be!” exclaimed Robert.
“In my opinion, you have two options — either you ask her or let me be the Middleman. Clear things out, man!” said I, with a simple smile.
“Could you do that? Ask about me to her? I would be indefinitely grateful to you. I swear, I could ask her. But it is better to hear a No through you, than a direct No” said I. He shook my hand, talked about the Signals lecture, and vanished. See, I said, no money.
I had research to do. The standard stuff. Dig her past and a bit about her choices. She had one break-up, with her high school boyfriend. She liked two boys the most here. Two days later, equipped with all tools and energy, I scheduled a meet with Catherine at 3 in the afternoon. Location, the entrance to her Hall. She came with Christina. Her closest friend here. Her roommate. Christina hated chocolate.
“I have something to tell you,” said I. Christina broke into a smile.
“Why? What’s funny? Is there something on my pants?” I peeped back.
“It’s nothing.
Last night, we talked about what would be the topic of discussion, and we ended up with a fact, if you or Robert ask me out, I would prefer you over Robert. Nothing else.
Yeah, you were saying?” said Catherine. I knew this, and yet I remained calm and composed.
Tough job, ain’t it?
“Ah! My bad. I see nothing more of you than a very great friend. In fact, Robert loves you a lot! I mean according to him, ‘he sees you in his dream’. Should I fix a date this weekend?” Writing this is difficult. Imagine speaking this to her, in her face. A chill passed down the spine, as I spoke.
“Yeah sure. No problem. But you had your chance” she laughed away.
“And I got a topic to pull your leg!” said I before taking leave.
She was cool. The task was hence straight-forward from her point of view. There was once a girl, she was not this cool. She gets aggravated when someone speaks stuff like this in front of her. Well, that’s a story for some other time.
The penned out stuff is poor. Yeah, you might say so. Everyone has different vibes to respond to. Further, I am the Middleman, not an author. You don’t know how difficult the task is until you are a Middleman.
Hope, we meet again. Signing off. The Middleman.
