Arjun was walking through the vast expanse of paddy fields in his hometown. He had enough of the deceptive city life. So, he chose to take some days off in his hometown.
The lush green paddy fields are now golden brown. Summer was near and it is almost time to harvest.
"Ah… I hope this year's harvest festival would be better than the last time." Thought Arjun while walking along the paddy fields enjoying the evening sun.
Arjun was walking towards his most favourite spot in the entire universe. A run-down bridge near the paddy fields.
For others, this bridge was nothing special. But for Arjun, it has a significant role in his life.
If someone asked, who knew Arjun the best. There was only one answer. No, it's not his mother or his own family. It was not even his friends. It was the bridge.
From his childhood secrets to his present dilemma. It knows everything.
Arjun would sit on the bridge peering into the horizon looking past the crimson giant and into the vast expanse of space. He would talk about nonsensical things and let his imagination run wild.
It was fun for him. And having a companion that would listen to his blabber hours at an end without any complaint was valuable to him.
On the bridge, Arjun was the king he could completely give up on common sense and think anything he wanted. There were no limitations nor there were any stressful thoughts. It was as peaceful as his life could get.
Today, he came to his home town just to enjoy some alone time in his favourite spot. He was fed up with his hypocritical boss. He had enough of following that scum of a boss who tries to woo every woman that walks into his office.
Just because his boss's dad was the owner of the company doesn't mean that he should bear with everything.
Today he was looking into an important project to change icon designs of the company website. But suddenly one of his colleagues was called into the Boss's office. A colleague that Arjun considered a close friend.
She went into the office expecting usual rude remarks and vulgar attempt to woo her. But today it was different. The twenty-something year old boss behaved well until he couldn't bear with it and became physical with his attempts.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the first thing Arjun saw when he went into the office to check up on his friend was her hand being forcefully grabbed by his boss.
The thin line that separated rationality from irrationality was gone. Arjun lifted in hand gave straight punch to the nose of his boss. There were no unnecessary thoughts nor there was any fear of consequences.
"Bang…" The punch landed squarely on the nose of his boss. There were some splashes of blood and the sound of someone falling down.
The only thought in Arjun's mind when everything went down was.
'Why didn't I do this sooner?'
So the reason for Arjun's sudden appearance in his home town may have been the loss of a well-paying job or the satisfaction he felt when he punched his boss. Not everyone was blessed with the opportunity to smash their bosses nose to a pulp.
****
Arjun reached the small dilapidated bridge after walking for some time. As expected there was nothing special about the bridge. It's almost five in the afternoon and there was no sign of any people nearby. He was all alone near the bridge.
Arjun sat in the railing looking at the evening sky.
"There seem to be clouds. There may be some rain at night."
Arjun just stared into the horizon thinking about all that happened today. On one side, he was glad that he could react to injustice the way he reacted and on the other side he was feeling down for putting his friend in a precarious situation. It may not just be him that will lose a job.
'Anyway, let's forget about all that…' Thought Arjun.
Then Arjun caught sight of something falling from the sky with immense speed. The dark spot that was falling suddenly expanded in his vision and began falling straight towards him. It had the shape and colour of a cucumber.
Immediately, sensing something off. Alan jumped away from the vegetable. Fortunately, it fell a couple of feet away from him.
Unlike what he expected. There was no booming sound or scattering parts of the vegetable. Everything was surreally quiet.
Arjun turned to look at what happened. This crazy cucumber gave him the fright of his life.
'What just happened?' Thought Arjun. He had no idea that cucumbers could fly. But when he turned around, it gave him another fright.
'What the heck is happening…' Arjun was really scared this time.
The creepy cucumber that had just fallen was now levitating just a couple of centimetres from the ground.
Arjun had seen many weird things in his life. But it was his first time seeing a cucumber that defies all common sense.
Arjun pinched his face. He thought he was dreaming. But the pain on his face made him realise that everything is real.
Arjun stared intensely at the cucumber. The cucumber would have stared back in protest if it had any eyes. Arjun became daring after sensing that there was no immediate danger. So, he took a five-foot pole and poked the cucumber.
"Pik…Plop…" The cucumber expanded a couple of centimetres and imploded swallowing everything in a couple of feet in radius leaving behind an empty crater.
There was no sign of the cucumber or Arjun. Everything disappeared.
****
In the vacuum of space, thousands of feet above the earth's surface two alien beings were having a chat in their space ship.
"Boss! One of our Zenofium-space-cucumber is missing."An alien with a kitchen knife told the other slightly fatter alien.
"Then look around, the ship's shield was active all this time. It would still be inside the storage unit." The fatter alien answered.
"No, I checked everywhere. I think it escaped when we went to collect the earth-beef. Should I go down check for it on earth? It may implode, Boss!"
"No, it's just a baby cucumber. So, it will not implode. Even if the aboriginals find it. They won't be able to differentiate between the earth cucumber and space cucumber before it mature. Even if it matures it would just implode destroying a small area and clean up its own mess. So, we don't have to worry about it." The fatter alien said with utmost certainty. "And you should buy more Zenofium-space-cucumber when we pass through the Sagittarius A* market."
"Yes, Boss. Then I should return."
Both aliens returned to what they were doing.