I used to have this classmate when I was ten.
Eons older than his age,
Lanky, shabby, silent, slow.
Never talked a word to any of his classmates.
Always sat in the same place- the left corner in the back.
The last one to enter the class always had to take the adjacent seat.
Even our teachers would send naughty kids to his row as punishment.
Although we never talked to him, we always talked about him-
this mysterious new kid we knew nothing about.
Some believed he was sick in the head.
The more imaginative ones foretold he was of another planet altogether.
Some started a rumor that he was possessed by an evil spirit.
No one dared to talk to him.
But that never seemed to bother him.
He’d be at his chair sharp at 9 in the morning-
with his only bag, only book, and an immortal black pen.
When the bell rang at 4, he’d be no more in the vicinity.
He was never in the school bus,
no one saw him in the streets or the shops nearby.
In the middle of the school year, a new teacher was appointed.
On the first day of class, he asked students what their ambitions were-
started from first row- there were doctors, engineers, teachers,
pilots, astronauts, politicians, actors, athletes-
Before we could warn him of the ghoul at the back corner,
he was face to face with the silent spirit.
He repeated the question-
‘What is your ambition in life?’
That was the first time we heard him speak, and the last.
He answered- ‘an unremarkable death’.
