Squeaky Clean Soul Connection

Hello Readers,

The idea for this one was from  a thought on difficult it is to find people compatible with yourself and what if you end up finding someone with just the proper dose of the same kind of weird you are!

Hope you like it! 

********************************************************************************

I was walking without really bothering about my surroundings. I was far far away from the familiar road I was walking on, the road I take everyday to office. I knew the road so well, Knew the bumps and rocks and potholes like the back of my hand, that I would freely let me mind dwell on other stuff while my years of practice would be called in to guide me through that road. I came across the junction of main roads and immediately, my autopilot was switched off and I was woken up from my reverie. I dully turned my head to check for traffic on both sides before crossing the road, when my eyes saw the old mechanic shop to my right. There were 4 guys working there and one of them had taken a lunch break. Nothing very interesting but somehow, something was not quite right here. I had already turned away and started crossing the road but there was a nagging in my brain that seems to say something just didn’t fit in the scene that I just saw. IT took my boredom induced befuddled brain all of 5 secs to understand.  When I realized what it was that had somehow been a misfit there, I was so astonished that I came to halt! Right there! In the middle of the road! Stupid move! A car swerved to my right and just missed hitting me! The driver swore horribly and made some rude gestures. I raised my hands in apology and gave him a shamefaced look, that immediately cooled him down and he reprimanded me saying I shouldn’t be day dreaming while crossing the road and drove off.

I turned and walked back to the same footpath again because I wanted to analyze what I had witnessed a few seconds back. I had a look at the garage again. I was taken aback because they were all staring at me. They had just seen the stupid thing I did in the middle of the road. I was so embarrassed, I decided I’ll check this out some other time and again did an about turn. I heard someone laughing behind me which made me walk away faster!

I couldn’t sleep that night. The image of what I had seen kept flashing in my mind’s eye. I was wondering about the ‘whys’ and was coming up with countless possible answers! One weirder than the next! I decided I need to talk to this guy and figure out the answer to the ‘why’ else I shall not know peace!

So, the next day, on my way to office, I had a peek at the garage. Sure enough, they were all working. My brain was in tangles! I was finding it hard to decide whether to go talk to him or make my way to office like a coward….As I was contemplating, He lifted his head and shot me a curious look! That helped me with my decision! Coward it is!

By evening, I had made up my mind…I had to woman up and talk to this guy! I was unable to concentrate at work!

I was on my way home that evening  and as I neared the garage, my feet suddenly had a mind of their own and started walking towards the garage! Before I realized what my stupid feet had done, I was standing there, right in front of him!

I was feeling a bit awkward and was mumbling a bit when he gave me a kind smile and asked me to have a seat! I looked around for a chair and found none. He just chuckled and put one of the drums upside down and what had my heart beating so fast was ..he wiped it clean with a cloth before putting a sheet of clean newspaper on it! He then gestured  me to sit. I think that’s when I fell for him…hard!

He offered me a glass of water (which I accepted owing to the fact that I could see a clean water cooler inside). After I had gulped it down (I didn’t realize I was that thirsty!) I felt a bit at ease and started talking about what I have been planning to from the past 36 Hrs..

I told him that I had watched him eat his lunch the other day and found it surprising that a mechanic would be using a fork and knife to eat rotis! And the way he was using them made it clear that he used them well! He immediately lost his friendly disposition and appeared a bit stand-offish.

I realized I had upset him and in my eagerness to sort things out, I blurted out the first thing that came to my stupid stupid brain! “It’s just that I suffer from a mild case of Mysophobia and nothing turns me on more than a neat freak”

I realized I had said that aloud! My mind short circuited and I ran for it! I sent the empty glass in my hand flying and from the ‘Ouch!’ I heard behind me, I guess it had landed on his head!

But before I could cover some considerable distance, he overtook me and forced me to stop. I was so embarrassed, I started blabbering. He calmly asked me to be silent and inquired whether he could do some talking now. I nodded my head. He gave me a reassuring smile and introduced himself. He was not a mechanic as I had assumed, rather an entrepreneur who owned the garage and many other like them. Mechanical work was a passion he had. Hence, instead of just running the business as white collared entrepreneur, He’d spend most of his time in the garage, working with his mechanics.  He was well educated and was single. (He gave me a wolfish grin when he emphasized that!) and yes..He suffers from the very same illness that she herself had! Though his was limited to food. He just could not eat with dirty hands and he being a mechanic, his hands were bound to get dirty. Hence he had always used cutlery to eat anything and everything! That was the reason he was very particular on the cutlery and had a clean set on him always! To prove his point, he removed a pair of fork and knife from his pocket! They were wrapped in a clean napkin!

That did it! I knew he was the one! When one is berated for a quirk one had, when my family had tried everything they could think of to get rid of this oddity I possess,  when everybody made fun of or ridiculed me for being a freak, I finally meet somebody who would not only tolerate my freakiness but could also understand and relate to it!  The Gods have spoken at last!