Tag Story

Here is the story I was supposed to post a while ago but never got down to it. I have obviously exceeded the word limit and I hope I have stuck to at least Rule No.2 and not repeated the words. And to boot it is quite a strange story. Hopefully it will make sense to at least a few people. Read at your own risk! :D

The rules were:

(1) Write a 100-to-200-word entry using the following words:

I, me, blowjob, grapes, random, power, loneliness, water, robot and blue;

(2) Use these words once and only once; and of course

(3) The entry should make sense.

She looked around at her surroundings, still unable to believe that she had made it to the city of Robot. Watching all the machines acting and doing things like normal flesh and blood human beings had caused her much alarm the first time she saw them. She never thought that it would be possible, at least not in her lifetime.

The way they looked was creepy enough, but they also seemed to possess human emotions. This was what had disturbed her the most. But now she was quite used to their presence. She had found out that the only thing that separated them from their human counterparts was their slightly high, metallic voices and the strange manner in which they spoke.

She walked along the city in a random, haphazard manner, lost in her thoughts when she suddenly found herself in a green gazebo across which was a pond, the surface of which was absolutely still and reflected the blue sky and fluffy clouds perfectly. She gazed at the beautiful scene in front of her totally awestruck, and wondered how come she had never been to this place before. A wave of loneliness suddenly washed over her, knocking out her breath with its intensity. She sighed, knowing that she could never go back to the place where her kind resided, Lande.

Suddenly she heard a rustling sound and looked up. On the opposite side of the pond stood a man, “or was he ‘one of those’”? she wondered. He walked slowly towards her and asked her, “Alright there?” His voice was deep and smooth. “A man!” she thought, and her heart leaped. “Oh! I’m OK. Was just thinking about my home and feeling a bit sad …” she trailed off. “But, tell me! How did you get here? The only other Humans that were here went in to battle a week ago. You did not wish to go?”

He looked at her with an amused smile. “Me not Human, miss.” She looked at him with surprise, “But your voice…”

“Aye. Latest technology, miss. Make sound more human-like.” He gave her a broad grin, as if he had accomplished it himself.

After a pause he asked, “Your home you miss. Why not you go then?” She sighed once more and murmured, “It’s a long story.”

“Eldor having lots time, miss.”

“Eldor?”

“That being my nomenclature, miss. You telling story now?”

“Well then, here’s the short version. Stole grapes from neighbour’s vineyard, got caught, was banished.”

“Crime suits the punishment not, Eldor thinks.”

“Grapes equal power in Lande. And that is the most important thing. Without it you are nothing. Wasn’t thinking right when stole the goddamn fruit!”

“Well, cheer up! Eldor know what help you be happy yet again. Do you know blowjob how to?” saying so he reached down into his pants.

She was stunned for a second then yelled, “WHAT???!! How dare you?? I cannot believe this! Get out of here before I ping for the guard. One must be around here somewhere”

Eldor looked at her in mild astonishment, reached into his pocket and removed a small pipe-like instrument. He held it out to her to see.

“What’s that?” she asked suspiciously.

“It a water bubbler be. You pour in,” saying so he scooped up some from the pond and poured it in, “blow from this end then…” He then blew softly into it and a melody poured out of it, like a gushing river. She just stared at it and at Eldor. He slowly began moving towards the pond and she followed him, mesmerized by the strange yet soothing sounds made by the bubbler. Soon he was ankle deep and she followed him in. After a while he stopped playing and she snapped out of the reverie she had fallen into and gasped when she realized that the cool liquid came up to almost her shoulders. She started panicking and clung onto him for support. Eldor smiled down at her then pushed her head underneath. She struggled to breathe but he was much stronger than her. Soon she struggled no more. Eldor let her go and walked back to the bank. He looked back one more time, smiled sadly and dialed a Lande number with his head. After it went through his said two words, “Job accomplished” and disconnected it.

Cupid strikes in Prem Nivas, and how!

Here’s a silly story I had made up to annoy my pal Annie! And boy did it work! This story includes many of my friends; I've of course given them new names! One of my “inspired” short stories, and this time, the inspiration is good ole BOLLYWOOD! I now present to you, in TECHNICOLOR, my latest offering:

Once upon a time, there was a guy called Mannu. He was a resident of the Prem Nivas Housing Society. He was a happy-go-lucky bachelor, without a care in the world. One day as he was going around his usual business of doing lukhagiri and singing, “It’s my life!” (Bon Jovi) he suddenly came across Annie. She was a vision in pink, her graceful body framed in sunlight. Our happy-go-lucky bachelor fell for her like a ton of bricks. He was in love! He had to have her at any cost. So he tried serenading her by singing, “Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you.” (UB40 version). Annie was impervious to this declaration of love, pronounced him a “fool” and swept past him.

At his wits end, he went to her on bended knees and haath jodke begged, “Kaho na pyar hai.” Annie saw red and kicked him where it hurts most (Now, now, are we thinking of naughty things? I meant his heart!).

Poor, poor Mannu! It was in this haalat that Preeta, the ‘lovely assistant’ of the world-renowned heart psychoanalyst, Dr. Raji George, found him sitting in a corner, holding his dil and staring numbly into space. She lifted him up gently and brought him to Dr. George. At first he was too dazed to say anything and he just sat there looking into space for an hour (Good for the doctor. She charges Rs. 100 per half an hour!).

He slowly started opening up to her. He said, “Apun bola, tu meri laila, woh boli phekta hai saala, apun jab bhi sachchi bolta, usko jhut kaiko lagta hai?” (Josh).

After listening to this tirade, the good doctor tried to soothe and pacify him. She said, “Yeh uska style hoyga, hothon pe na, dil mein haan hoyga. Aaj nahin to kal bolegi, tu tension kaiko leta re?”

After buoying up his spirits she gave him the following advice:

i. Usko bula, hotel mein khaana khila.

ii. Samundar kinare le jaake, bolde khullam khulla.

iii. Ghar se bhagake le jaa, smajhegi teri baat ko (Josh).

Armed with Dr. George’s advice and Preeta’s ‘never say die’ spirit, our hero set out once again to woo his ‘fair and lovely’ maiden. He tried all of the good doctor’s tactics and slowly, but surely, Annie’s hard as stone heart began to melt as if it was made of wax.

One day, all the residents of Prem Nivas had gone out for a picnic, except for Annie, who had by now realised that she had fallen hook, line and sinker for Mannu. So she danced and twirled through Prem Nivas’ silent corridors singing, “I’m in love! Na, na karte pyar hay main kar gayi, kar gayi, kar gayi” (Dhadkan). At that very moment, Mannu came back into Prem Nivas and saw Annie singing. He was over-over-over-joyed to see his Annie singing in her mellifluous voice. He started singing, “From this moment, life has begun, from this moment you are the one…” (Shania Twain). Annie blushed and both of them made saath jeene marne ki kasme and sang, “I want to spend my life time loving you” (Marc Anthony).

Things looked very rosy for the cozy two-some, when suddenly, a twist occurred in our lovers’ story in the form of Shari, a dancer. She came to Prem Nivas, took one look at Mannu and was determined to make him hers.

One day all the residents of Prem Nivas had gone to the local temple for a pooja, but Mannu decided to stay back as he had a sore throat, even after Annie tried coaxing him to come with her. Shari was no dimwit (ok, she was slightly dimwitted!), and seized this opportunity. She sashayed up to Mannu and began to perform a sexy cabaret for him and sang, “I’m a genie in a bottle, you gotta rub me the right way” (Christina Aguilera). Mannu stared at the lovely Shari, mesmerized.

Just at that very moment, Annie after having asked God for a long life to be bestowed upon her sweetheart, walked into his room. When she saw what was happening, she saw red (she does a lot of that, doesn’t she?!) and screamed at him, “how dare you look at another girl, however better her vital statistics are than mine? You will have to choose between her and me.” Mannu did not hear a single word his Annie had said. So she threw the ring, which he had given to her so pyar se as their pyar ki nishani and stalked off.

Mannu, momentarily swayed by Shari’s charms, forgot about his darling Annie. The only thing he could do was sing, “I can’t get enough” (Raghav). But soon, he started recalling all the stimulating conversations that he had had with his Annie and began to miss her sorely. The only thing Shari and he spoke about (when they did speak) was how Shari was the most beautiful girl in the world (“I’m more beautiful than Aishwarya Rai, no?”) and how cool her latest shade of nail polish was (“Papaya Sunlight” is the colour to spot this season!”).

All this was really, really boring to Mannu and he thought that he could not pretend to be interested in such ‘frivolous’ conversations any longer. So head bent, he made his way to Annie to beg her for her forgiveness. But all he got for his trouble was the door slammed in his face, and as a result of that, a broken nose (“Ouch!”).

All our lead players were extremely depressed now. Annie sang, “Nahin hona tha” (Pardes). Mannu sang, “Mera yaar mila de saiyan” (Saathiya). And Shari, in an attempt to seduce him again sang, “Dekhle, Aankhon mein aankhen dal seekhle” (Munnabhai MBBS), but to no avail. She was very pained to see Mannu look like a ‘Devdas’ (“What would people say if they saw such a roti surat with a beautiful girl?”). And so, she went to Annie and convinced her that Mannu loved only her and no one else. And due to this great sacrifice of the vamp-with-a-golden-heart, the two lovebirds were reunited.

After tears of joy were wept, Mannu and his beloved Annie walked into the crimson sunset singing, “Tum mile, dil khila, or jeene se kya chahiye” (Criminal).

On the other hand, poor Shari walked into the darkness, wiping a stray tear or two. Even though Mannu didn’t know much about nail polishes and designer-wear, he had been a good and patient listener to Shari’s prattle.

She walked on silently and suddenly collided head-on with a wall. The ‘wall’ said, “Oops!” The ‘wall’ was a guy – a strapping, muscular guy! Shari knew it all of a sudden that this was it! This was the guy made especially for her, her dream guy! The ‘dream boat’ said, “Hi! I’m Karan.” “Charmed I’m sure! I’m Shari.” And she started singing, “Hello! Is it me you’re looking for..?” (Lionel Richie).

Karan was surprised and pleased at once, something clicked in his muscle-bound head and his cardiac muscles went ‘lub dub’ and he replied, “I’ll be your hero baby, I’ll kiss away your pain” (Enrique Iglesias).

Last heard, they were having a stimulating conversation on the lines of, “Oh! What a lovely shade of lipstick!” “Oh wow! I can feel another muscle bulge forming already!”

And so, everyone lived happily ever after, as one big happy family singing, no, not, “Hum saath saath hai”, but “It’s the time to disco!” (KHNH).

THE END

NO, NO!

THE BEGINNING!

: D

Pride and Prejudice (part IV)

This is the fourth and last installment of my “inspired” short story. Enjoy!



She was crying now. Then suddenly she sat up, “All is not lost. I remember something else Dad had taught me: ‘it’s never too late!’ I will go to Gaj’s palace!” saying so, she opened the door and lo’ and behold, who did she find standing there, shivering in the rain?
“TA?!”
“Madhu?!!”
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then TA began to squirm and said, “Can we finish looking at each other inside? I’m sure it’s much better inside than out here (I’m guessing!).”
‘Madhu’ pulled him inside and gave him a big hug. TA almost screamed, “I swear! I swear I’ll leave as soon as the rain stops. Just don’t hurt me! Please!”
‘Madhu’ laughed and said, “Oh TA! You are so funny!”
“Sure I am I am! Whatever you say!”
Mads looked at him with concern and thought, “Why, he’s scared stiff of me!” Loudly she said, “TA, what’s come over you? I’m so happy to see you! In fact, I love you, I always have. I realized it when you left. I shouldn’t have let you go!”
“Oh Madhu! Really?” TA began to dance around the little hut and suddenly dropped to the floor. He had fainted! Mads looked at him with dismay, “Oh no! I was hoping that he’d look after me now, but looks like I’ll have to do the looking after for a while! What a pain!”
She took the pot of rainwater and threw it on his face. He got up with a start and started crying, “Oh Madhu! My kingdom (sob!)! It’s been snatched by that terrible, terrible king Gaja Raj etc. I managed to escape with the skin of my teeth. What do I do now? Waaaaaaa! Boo hoo hoo! I feel so lost, I just…” before he could finish his sentence, he felt the same sting on his cheek as he had felt five years ago, but with less force this time (Mads was pretty weak, as she wasn’t getting enough to eat).
“Get a hold of yourself! I’ll get back your rotten kingdom for you if it’s the last thing I do! I’ll go to Gaj in the morning, and no, you’re not coming. You’ll stay in this hut. But first you must promise me that you’ll marry me soon after you get your kingdom back.”
“I promise,” poor TA mumbled. He hugged Mads and collapsed once again due to exertion.
“Humph! Princes have no stamina at all, except for one thing for sure!” Mads snorted. She fell (ouch once again!) asleep too.
Madhulika woke up in the morning at about 10 o’clock (figures why she is not doing too well for herself!). TA was still sleeping. She tied him up, lest he forget her warning and wandered off somewhere. Then after scrubbing herself clean and donning the most decent clothes she had, she set off for her destination.
She reached the palace gates after half an hour or so. She found them locked and nobody around. She started grumbling and didn’t stop until two guards came and opened the gates after another half an hour.
“I’ve an old appointment with Mr. Gaj. I have to see him,” she said with much authority in her voice. All her pride had suddenly come rushing back, along with the other half of her ego!
The guards just stood and gawped at her. They knew her well and admired her beauty from afar. They kept on staring at her with goofy smiles plastered all over their faces (Mads sure does inspire a lot of goofiness, doesn’t she?).
“Hello? Can you take me to see king Gaj? Hello? HELLO?”
Making no headway with the guards, Mads walked in with her head held high, determined to find the king’s chambers herself.
After entering a dozen and more wrong rooms, she finally found Gaj’s room. He was pulling up his dhoti when she walked in.
“Hey! What took you so long?” Gaj bellowed.
Mads blinked, confused, “You were expecting me?”
“Of course I was! What’s happened to your voice? It’s become thin and sweet. And what the hell are you wearing a skirt for?!” Gaj stopped short, “Uh-oh! You are not Gainender.”
“You bet I’m not!” Mads snapped.
Gaj walked up close to have a better look and realized that it was a woman standing before him, a beautiful one at that.
He batted his sparse eyelashes at her and said, “Haven’t we met somewhere before?”
“That’s the lamest pick-up line I’ve ever heard, but yes, we have met before (unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be!).”
“We have?” Gaj asked, astonished. He regained his composure and said, “Of course we have. How are you doing Menaka?”
“I’m Madhulika,” Mads said snappily, “And you don’t remember me. You said that your palace gates and bedroom door would be open for me. But they were not! Anyway, do you remember me now?”
“I’ve recited those lines to a countless number of women. How can I remember who you are? And I am getting old too,” he tried to pacify her.
But Mads flew into one of her by now famous (more like infamous) rages, “Dammit! I was the girl who did not accept the gold coins in exchange of my field some five years ago.”
“Ohhh! So that’s who you are. So you have come to say that you have accepted my offer?”
“For God’s sake! You must be at least 70 odd years old, and I’m only 23!”
“You are wrong my dear, I’m 82 years old and raring to go!”
Mads looked at Gaj and said exasperatedly, “you are indeed a difficult and obtuse man, and all you ever think of is sex, even at your age!”
Gaj retorted, “What else is there in life? Life’s routine can get quite boring and predictable. I like to add some spice to it now and then. Don’t you?”
Mads looked at Gaj for a long time, her sharp mind ticking away.
“If I save your kingdom from being attacked, will you marry me and make me your queen?” she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes and smiling seductively.
Gaj looked at her and hopped up and down, “Oh boy, oh boy! But first marry me. We’ll have a grand wedding with….”
“No way! I mean, let’s just have a quick, quiet marriage now and give a grand reception later,” Mads snorted.
“Whatever you say, darling!” Gaj said excitedly, not wanting to displease, his bride-to-be, “Oh! I’m so happy. I could just die and float to heaven!”
“Yeah right!” Mads thought, “you wish!” Outwardly she smiled sweetly at him.
So Mads and Gaj were married. After the simple ceremony, Mads told Gaj, “There is a man in my hut who I’ve tied up. He wanted to attack your kingdom and enslave you.”
Gaj at once sent his soldiers to get poor You-know-who (if not, it’s TA dumbass!).
Poor TA was captured and brought before Gaj and Mads (dressed in rich jewels and silks), seated on thrones of gold (plated, not solid!). TA looked disbelievingly at his ‘Madhu’, who was looking more beautiful than ever. He almost wailed aloud, but managed to control himself, except for a lone tear that slipped down his pink cheek.
“So what do you propose we do with him, sweetheart of my heart, apple of my eye, my honeybunch, delicious pudding, icing on my cake, cherry on my pastry, orange of my soul (hmmm, am quite hungry, I think!)…”
“Enough dear, or you’ll run out of breath,” Mads admonished gently. “This man wanted to enslave you, so it’s only right that he becomes my slave,” she cooed to Gaj and winked slyly at TA, who gave her a broad smile.
Mads beamed happily at everyone and giggled, “Who says you cant have your cake and eat it too?!!”

Pride and Prejudice (part III)

“By the way, what is your name?” he asked.
“Madhulika”, she snapped.
She was not too happy with his description of her nose (which, by the way, she thought was the most perfect one that anybody could possess).
TA saw that she looked somewhat annoyed and tried to make amends, “Ma-dhu-li-ka… what a beeeaaauuuutiful name to match a beeeeeaaaauuuuuutiful face! I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“You think?! First you say unpleasant things about my nose and now you say that you think you are falling in love with me?! Well here’s what I think: you are a damn idiot! You don’t know how to praise a lady (?!) or how to propose to her. Get out of my sight quickly, before I lose my temper!”
“But you have already lost it!” TA was greatly appalled at the turn of events.
“WHAT??!!”, Mads shrieked, “Now you are going to tell me when I’ve lost my temper??!! Get out! Get out of my sight before I throw something at you!”
“Wait, wait! Don’t be so hasty. If you marry me you’ll be rich! You’ll be the princess of Magadh – the town my pop rules over.”
“How dare you try to bribe me? Don’t you know that I’m supposed to be this proud, egoistic, conceited girl? Just get lost!”
“Okay, okay… Madhu, I came with high hopes and was so sure that you would agree to be my princess and now… now you have embarrassed me! Bye! I may return… Ouch! Ok, ok I’m leaving!”
Mads had thrown a pot at his head!
And poor TA walked away, head bent at an angle of 90°.
Smoke bellowed from Mads’ nostrils. She went back to sleep, exhausted after her ‘extreme’ outburst.

* * *


Five years passed after this certain incident. Both our lead players had fallen onto bad times.
It was the monsoon. Darkness had fallen (ouch!). Mads was sitting in her hut with a pot over her head. And in the pot, water was drip, drip, dripping from the roof above her head. Poor “Madhu”, all her pride and more than half her ego had vaporized. She was thinking, “Oh! Why didn’t I accept TA along with all his faults? At least I wouldn’t have had to sit under a leaky roof then. Or else I could have accepted Gaj’s indecent proposal, however disgusting he was and still is I guess. But no! I had to listen to Dad, who was already dead and gone; I had to live up to his rep of being a proud pain-in-the-butt! Waaaaaaa! It’s entirely your fault Dad! If you hadn’t instilled all that nonsense in me, your darling daughter would have been a queen by now!”

Pride and Prejudice (part II)

This is the second installment of Pride and Prejudice. The saga continues!!

“Lecherous old man!” Mads spit out, along with a few colourful, unprintable expletives.
Everyone dispersed quickly, tired after the proceedings of the day, but more so to gossip about the surprising and shocking turn of events.
Mads retired to her own little, half broken down hut.
Soon night fell (hope it didn’t get too hurt). Mads was sleeping under the jasmine tree outside her hut. At the other end of town, Tarun Arun could not sleep, because mosquitoes would not let him. So he thought, why not go see the beautiful girl he had seen before?
So he got onto his horse, Ashwas, who was quite displeased at having been woken up and determined to give his master a hard ride.
After a very bumpy ride, which had nothing to do with the condition of the roads, he reached Mads’ hut. He found her sleeping and a mad thought struck him, “What if she is Sleeping Beauty and I the Prince who would wake her up with a kiss?!”
He then proceeded to bend his head to kiss her, when at that very moment her eyes flew open. And along with her eyes, her right hand flew towards Tarun Arun’s face where it landed on his cheek with such velocity, as it had never experienced before. Tarun Arun also had not experienced anything like this ever before. Both were shocked and the echo of the slap reverberated all around them.
Tarun Arun drew back, holding his stinging cheek. Mads stared at him and blabbered, “I’m so sorry! I…. I thought that…. That…” She stared at him again and gasped, “Why!”, she thought, “He looks really good!” She was slowly falling for him, but tried to restrain herself, as she wasn’t one to give into ‘extreme emotions’, especially those of the ‘attracted’ kind.
She finished her sentence after what seemed like eons, “I thought you were king Gaja What’s-his-name.”
“High hopes!’ Tarun Arun Mumbled.
“What?” Mads asked eagerly.
“Nothing”, Tarun Arun mumbled again.
“What?” asked Mads, almost snapping.
Tarun Arun did not waste anymore time and said, “hi! I’m Tarun Arun; my pals call me TA for short. You could call me that too. I saw you today afternoon. I think you are the most courageous and beautiful woman in all the three worlds. You have luxuriant hair, doe-like eyes, lovely lips, great arms, great legs (huff, huff!). Terrific figure…” TA (I hope I’m not getting too familiar!) stopped here as he was out of breath.
“Tell me more. What do you think of my nose?” Mads purred.
“Huh? Your…. ummm… Oh yeah! Your nose! Er… ummm…. It’s fine. Your nose is just fine!” he finished lamely.“By the way, what is your name?” he asked.

Pride and Prejudice - A Short Story

Having nothing better to write tonight, I thought that I would post a short story that I'd written when I was sixteen years old, in tenth class. It is actually a spoof I wrote on one of the most painful short stories we had to study in Hindi. I think my version is much better! Hehe! The original, in short, deals with a peasant girl, Madhulika and a prince Arun, who falls in love with her. He wants to attack Madhulika's kingdom, and she agrees to help him, but at the last minute, her conscience pricks her and she surrenders herself and gives up Arun's hiding place to her king, who then asks her what she would like as a reward, and she says, "Death!" Very pointless story, if you ask me.

It's more or less the same as I'd written ages ago, with only minor adjustments I've made over the years.

Am going to post it in installations, one page everyday. So here goes!

With due apologies to the late Mr. Jayashankar Prasad, I present to you my version of his ‘inspiring’ short story, “Puraskar”.
I’d also like to apologize to the late Ms. Jane Austen, for ‘borrowing’ her title.

Wet constellation… that does not sound quite right! Maybe I should not attempt such an in-depth translation. Lets start again:
There was moisture in the atmosphere. In the sky, black clouds could be seen. Thunder could be heard, which sounded like the Gods were playing the drums. From a clear corner in the sky, the ‘Golden Man’ (the sun, you dud!) was peeping out, watching the retinue of the king. From the valley, beneath the chain of mountains, the aroma of the wet mud of the plains could be smelt.
From the gates of the town, people started to hail the king. In the crowd, the fanner on the elephant could be seen seated high above its trunk. The group, which permeated, of happiness and joy drifted forward like waves in an ocean.

(Whew! That’s it! I’m not going to translate anymore, from here onwards; it’s all my creation!)

A celebration was being held in Kaushal – the kingdom of King Gaja Raja Rajeshwar Randheer Raghuveer Raj. Every year a field of one of the peasants was chosen as the best. The king would then plough it (about a centimeter at the most!) and thereafter it would become his. The peasant would receive four times of what the field was worth in gold coins. The kings and princes of the neighbouring kingdom were also invited for this celebration.
This ritual may seem quite fair, but it was not. In this way the kings would snatch all the lands (which anyway belonged to them in principle, so I really see no point in this ritual) from the poor peasants, who had no choice whatsoever in this little transaction. They were led to believe instead that this was a matter of great honour for them.
Well anyway, that year the field of our heroine, Madhulika, was chosen.
Madhulika looked beautiful even in the garb of a peasant; and she had caught the eye of a prince, Tarun (young) Arun. He was absolutely mesmerized by Madhulika.
After ploughing the field, Gaj (doesn’t this sound much better than Gaja Raja whatever?) gave a tray of gold coins to Madhulika. He was as captivated by Mads as was Tarun Arun. He grinned at her goofily. Mads bowed her head and refused to accept the coins.
Gaj still smiled goofily at her and asked, “Why aren’t you taking this money, sweetheart?” Mads was annoyed, she replied, “My father, Sinhamitra, who kept your honour in the battle against Magadh, had taught me quite a few things in his life time. I cannot accept these coins (as much as I would like to) as I am too proud to do so. And by refusing them (however crazy it may sound), I would do my dead Dad proud… And oh yes! Dad taught me one more thing: ‘stay away from lecherous kings!’” Saying so, she looked disgustedly at the salivating Gaj.
Not having heard a word of what Mads had said, he nodded his head and said, “whatever you want sweetie!” and then he took her aside and whispered, “If you feel bored or lonely anytime, you know that the gates of my palace, to be more precise, the doors to my bedroom, are always open for you!” He then walked away with the help of a stick.

[Hooked yet? Want to know more? Well, you'll just have to wait for tomorrow's installment!]