When My Outlook Changed

“Why are you ruining my morning sleep,” I murmured, looking at the face of Renu, my wife.

“Kallu is not coming today.”

“What? How do you know?”

“His younger son informed me that Vijay had threatened Kallu to discontinue supplying milk to our locality.”

“What’s this?” I cursed Vijay under my breath and left for the booth.

Vijay was a terror in our locality. People were used to changing their paths to avoid him.

One evening when there was curfew in our small town, my grandmother started having trouble breathing.

After three attempts, the doctor picked up the call, asking irritatingly, “What’s the emergency?”

“Doctor, it’s about Grandmother.”

After asking me many questions, he said, “I have messaged you the name of a new medicine. Give it to her quickly, otherwise it may be fatal.”

The chemist refused to open the door, saying he can’t defy the curfew by giving me the medicine.

Suddenly Vijay appeared from nowhere. “What’s the matter? Why are you here?” he asked me.

I hesitated but narrated my ordeal to him.

“Okay. “Just wait,” he said to me and knocked on the door of the chemist vigorously. He opened the door.

Vijay shouted at him, and the chemist didn’t say another word. He just handed me the medicine and went back to the closed door.

That was not an ordinary night; it was a moment that changed my perception of looking at people.

#ZorbaStoryContest2026