How lucky we are...

Whenever I had gone to Basent nagar beach with Kuttapan,
I used to challenge him,
“Hey… you... Nincompoop, let’s run… let’s see who wins”

I knew I can’t win, I knew he will be far ahead,
But still I used to race.
Just to see the enthusiasm in Kuttapan’s face, Just to see him smiling.

As I was running,
I saw a little girl.
I had seen her there couple of times.

I stopped. Kuttapan was already far ahead.
She was smiling at me.
That smile was very special, something that I can never forget.
I could see in her eyes that she too wanted to run.
But she knew she can’t.

I heard Kuttapan shouting.
I started running again leaving the girl behind.

When kuttapan asked, what happened?
I smiled and asked,
“Do you know how lucky we are?”

Saying that I pushed him and ran,
“At least this time I’ll win”
I mused.