Last Valentine
Written By: Zehra Nasirali
Date: 14th February, 1997
It was the fourteenth of February
and my fiancé wasn’t in town. It was a
gloomy day. I could not do anything but
think about him. I had sent him a card
two days earlier but I hadn’t received any response.
I passed the afternoon watching
Valentine shows, seeing how the couples were so happy to be with each other and
the special ways they shared their feelings.
I was the only one out of the Valentine spirit; the only one who wasn’t
enjoying Valentine’s day.
It was precisely six o’clock when I
heard a slight, haunted knock. I
shivered with curiosity at who could be at the door. I lifted my sulky face and went towards the main door. I refrained from switching on the light for
safety purposes. I looked through the
peephole. It was very dark outside and
I could barely see. When my eyes came
into focus, extreme focus, it looked like a macho guy, brought built, with a
huge turban and something in his hands.
His elbows were a little far apart from the side of his body; he was
carrying something sideways. At that
time with fright, my imagination was running wild. I thought he was holding a machine gun. I started praying to God for safety and that this ‘macho guy’
would leave.
After an hour or so I became sober,
but just then an echoing doorbell jumpstarted my heart. The macho guy had come back. I was ready to call the police but, however
something was stopping me; it was my feelings.
I tried to ignore all the knocking and before I knew it, the sun was
setting.
Later in the night, my fiancé’s
parents who lived only twenty minutes away rang me up. They had asked me where I had been all
day. I told them that I was at home and
didn’t step out of the house.
I told them of my story and they had
a big laugh. Later I found out that
‘the macho guy’ happened to have a delivery for me; a bouquet of flowers (not a
machine gun) and a huge box that my Valentine had couriered for me. I felt like a scared old cat when I learnt
of this. I received my parcel that same
very night as but of course I was impatient.
The bouquet consisted of a beautiful, fresh dozen of roses with a card
of love. In the package were two beautiful,
sweet, cuddly, white teddy bears; one that was supposed to be me and the other
that was supposed to be a gentleman like him.
Also in the box was a delicious heart box of chocolates, a large
intimate card and another small intimate card.
Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks when I saw all this. I could not believe my eyes; I was just so
happy.
I called him later at twelve
midnight; I was overwhelmed to hear his voice.
We talked about… it’s personal!
Overall, my gloomy Valentine’s Day
turned out to be a spectacular, special and forever remembering valentine!!!