A Raw Score

a paperback by Shashi Krishna

Story #14 : The fourth envelope

Sanjay's past has been a thing he has tried to put behind him for a long time now. In fact that may have been the reason why he finally got married to his loving wife Lavanya and now is expecting his first child in her swollen motherly belly. It is in the residual remains of a rather hectic day, that he chances upon the day's mails. While the first three seem quite normal, it is the fourth one that has him revisiting his dreaded past. A past that he has tried so hard to ignore. A past that caught him so unawares that he now finds himself debating if he should revisit it or move on without caring about its enchanting allure. A past when he was the center of attention. A time when he was so wanted that marriage has somehow put a curtain on that eternal seeming need. It is like a magic narcotic that he now wishes was injected into the barren rut of his life again. Yes! He needs it!

Will the seduction of the fourth envelope finally cut through? Will he, at the risk of lying to his employer and, needless to add, his innocent wife, take that leap of faith anyway? Will the envelope finally manage to bring him into the past? What does Sanjay decide?