Look at that man on the street !

He sat on the street pavement and watched the cars pass by. Tonight the lights were hurting his eyes. Too much to drink too little to eat perhaps. He wrapped the piece of cloth that he had found today tightly around his shoulders. It was a bitter cold night and one of the worst ones he had faced. Shivering here seemed so ironical because he had all the money to buy a house and sleep under a warm quilt. But if he did that he would despise himself. Every day he saw children throw away half of the food in their plates, he was reminded of his father. Likewise His father never cared about how much money he spent. His father being a diamond dealer had provided his son with all the luxuries life could offer. After his father’s death in a local shootout, the hatred for money started seeping in. At the age of 13 he lay next to his father’s body covered in blood and swore never to touch money all his life. However he gave up by the next week as the stock of groceries ran out.

When he turned sixteen his uncle gave him a big fat envelope of money as his uncle latched the door behind him with his mother inside the room. He wept till his throat hurt, his mom remained silent. He swore never to touch money all his life and failed yet again when his mother was taken to the hospital next night. She poisoned herself and died with the guilt in her heart.

When he was twenty one he finally got richer than most of the people in town. He had the best girls, the best wine and the best clothes than money could offer. With so much of money pumping in his bank account he stopped hating money until one night the hatred hit him back.

He walked into a bar where he saw her. The heavy makeup could not disguise the amount of fear in her eyes. She looked like a scared little kid whose candy was being thrown around by the bigger kids. Only this time it was her dignity being passed around and being messed with. He tried to distract himself by trying to listen to what the tall, beautiful woman was saying. She was his date tonight and Oh the world said she had the most beautiful lips they had ever seen on a woman. Ofcourse He agreed. No matter how hard he tried, his eyes went fetching for the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind. There she stood again, now with a different group of people. He couldn’t take it anymore. He absolutely had to talk to her ! He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss those eyelids. He wanted to tell her that he could be the one to take her away from all of this. He could give her back the smile that was lost in this city. He could bring her back to the life she always dreamed of. As soon as he walked towards her the manager stopped him. He said “don’t try to rescue this one, she’s counting her last few days anyway” And then their eyes met. She smiled at him. They walked out.

Next morning when he watched her bringing him coffee, He couldn’t understand. He tried his best to recollect about the previous night but before he could ask anything she sat on the chair next to his bed, tied her wavy hair into a loose bun and spoke “thanks a lot you know.. No one has been so generous towards me.. I spiked your drinks last night.. I thought I’d do that and rob you and your girlfriend but you guys were so nice to me. I would’ve taken your money to buy myself some more of heaven. You know how heaven works right ? I cant say it out loud because your house is full of those policemen. Oh or maybe those are your servants? I cant really tell. So much of my vision has gone away. So your girlfriend seems to have vanished this morning. Maybe I did scare her. I wanted to buy it so bad! Those buggers have stopped trading it for flesh now. They say im dying and are asking me to stop. I don’t really care though. You know how to count sheep in your sleep? That’s the exact way to die I have learnt. Slowly. Or maybe not”

Before he could get his hands untangled she had already jumped out of his window.

That’s when he decided to quit money. Ofcourse the whole city laughed at the tabloid that stated the same. He couldn’t care less. He moved out of the city and lived inside the tree house that was orphaned by one of the rich kids. Many nights especially like tonight he didn’t have the will to go back to the house. He wanted to watch the cars. He loved the sound. Absolutely.

Who was he anyway ?

A wannabe non-conformist.

A man who didn’t think.

A man with no head.

Yes, many names they called him.

Again, He couldn’t care less.

Had he quit money ? Oh yes.