Broken Shadow Short Story By: Aram Sheikhwasany “That girl is sightless, living her life depends on fortune telling.” She makes a livelihood out of fortune-telling. Today, I decided to change my outlook and take a visit to the city’s public park. Although going out in this state of my physical condition may not be the best for me I have simply tired of staying at home all the time.. It would be better for me to breathe some warm fresh air and have a change of scenery, apart from the four white walls of home(my bedroom). Initially, I was a bit worried; but then, I was sure that nothing else would happen. I got myself together and put my glasses in my pocket. Upon heading out the door, I saw our next-door neighbor standing in front of his home. As soon as I opened the door, he stared at me. Normally, As I would normally greet our neighbor, I said “Hi” (Slaw). Our neighbor responded “Hi, look at how you are going out and about - so nicely and steadily - It looks you have recovered from your back pain?” I was in no mood to answer that question. Hesitantly, I said “I am bored at home. I want to go for a walk” “No worries! You look great, you look relaxed” the neighbor said. I did not respond to that comment but continued to walk down the neighborhood. Besides the fact that my all of my family had gone to the bazaar, today has been the only day. so far when I feel strong enough & have the courage to venture to the city park on foot. On the way from my home to the park, I ran into several people. All wanted to talk to me, but I tried to avoid any conversations in my neighborhood and on the streets. I tended to go slowly, getting distracted by my thoughts and the people I met along the way. I long last I reached the road to the park. From then on, I kept noticing my shadow. I sensed the broken image of my shadow! When I reached the street behind our home, I hailed a taxi and got in. Alas! The taxi driver was my father’s friend! He, too, started talking to me and asked, Have you recovered from your backpain? I heard that you had been in a terrible accident. Your father told me that you had hurt your back. It seems that you have recuperated, right?“ I sighed……and chose not to answer that question again. I took out the money from my pocket and handed it out to him and said, “Take me to the city park, please.” He responded, “Keep the money for the sake of your father. I don’t take money from you.” Later, I said “It is ok, thanks.” After I insisted on paying him, he finally accepted the money. When I got to the park entrance, I met an old friend from school. After greeting each other, he asked “What happened to you? Why are you walking like that - limping?” Again, I chose not to respond, instead, I continued, “I want to sit sit on that green grass for a little bit. It was nice seeing you.” Then, I excused myself and proceeded to towards the grassy area. In the park, I walked around for a while. Later I spotted a wooden chair. The way it was situated looked so inviting. It looked as though it had sprung out of nature. I noticed that there was another wooden chair. That one was l directly opposite the one I had been sitting on. While I was sitting, a newspaper began to fall on my feet. When I took a closer look, this newspaper had only four pages to it. Just as I had no desire to talk to anybody, I was equally uninterested in reading it, but I wanted to see the pictures in this newspaper. As I looked up and around me, I spotted a girl now sitting in the chair opposite me. I lifted the newspaper above my eyes so that this girl wouldn’t catch me staring at her. She was sitting very close to where I was, so I could see her very well as I pretended to look at the newspaper. I noticed that she was also glancing in my direction every now and then! I was intrigued by this. For a moment, I felt as though there was something prompting me to think more about these glances. Suddenly, a picture of a girl on the bottom of the newspaper caught my eye. For a second, I realized how much the girl in this picture resembled the girl sitting across from me. I wanted to take a closer look. I had been laying on my back and confined to my home for a long time, so I had not seen a girl throughout the entire time. I have been deprived of this experience, let alone a girl who would even cast me a glance! I tried to relax and take care that this girl wouldn’t catch me looking at her. I kept looking at the picture without reading even a word in the newspaper. I just wanted to find out if the girl pictured in the newspaper was the same girl sitting across from me. I fell fast asleep, wondering if it was the same girl. If it was the same girl, this would be a very strange coincidence confronting me. So, I looked at her even more closely than I had before. I lowered the newspaper so that I could take a better look at her. I was alone but this girl had a little child with her. I began to have doubts because that girl was now looking at me directly. I put the newspaper down to see if there was anything or anybody else around me. Fortunately, there was nobody and nothing remotely appealing. Suddenly, it dawned on me, “For God’s sake, what am I thinking about at this moment, just trivial thoughts?” For one thing, I myself, was bored. On the other hand, I found the park to be a very lovely place to be in. I felt happy. Once more, I grabbed the newspaper and continued gazing at the girl. She was staring back at me. Clearly, it was my first time to see a girl looking at me in such a manner which was almost rude. I felt blinded by the stares she cast on me. I was a little confused as to how to respond to this attention. My lips quivered in an attempt to smile, while I asked myself “What should I do now?“ Once more, I looked at girl’s picture in the newspaper. Accidentally, I saw the caption on that picture. It caught me by surprise. Upon reading it, I dropped the newspaper under my feet and hopelessly headed back home.