Next morning, when I opened my eyes and extended my right arm to be assured of her presence, I found that she was not lying beside me. Instead there was a black wig of long hair on the bed and a set of artificial molars on the side table. I was stunned and speechless. I felt palpitation and sweat even in that cold winter morning. I dressed hurriedly and descended the stairs, my mind almost blown away.

The main door was open. A short white hair wig was missing from the wig-stand which we had for display on the shop counter. A few cosmetic items were also missing from the front display racks. I began to understand the mystery and my mind went blank.

At about 11:00 am my wife and daughters returned from my brother-in-law’s house. What my wife had to tell me was the last straw to my nervous state of mind. According to her, an old woman was found dead by the side of the main road, which leads from Bhaktapur to Kathmandu. The highway was always busy so it was presumed that the old woman had been run over by a speeding truck. She was completely bald. There was a white- wig lying beside the dead body. People said that she was drunk.

When my wife and daughter retired into their rooms, I immediately opened a box of new wigs and pulled out a white wig similar to the one which had been stolen and displayed it on the wig-stand. I felt relieved but now I had to take care of the glasses which might create complexity in future. It was not too difficult but those moments were similar to the ones which one might experience while very near to death.

More than twelve years have passed since then but even today almost every night the face of that young smiling woman appears before me but is suddenly replaced by a bald old woman. The fear, almost incomprehensible and the one which I can’t share with anybody, has become an integral part of my existence.

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