Of late my mother and father had begun talking about my marriage. They had shown me the pictures of a few girls but I had rejected them all on one or the other ground. It is not that I did not want to get married; on the contrary, I wanted to fall in love with a girl and then marry her, though I could not tell my parents about my intention. At least once in a day, either my mother or my father reminded me that I had to meet a so and so girl on Sunday or Monday. I met them, talked to them, and finally rejected them. I was looking for the girl who could think like me.

There are two sales girls who attend the customers and sell them the ornaments which my father and I, with the help of three assistants, mould, design, and give finishing touches. Designing gold ornaments is not an easy job, for eyes have to be very sharp and mind precise. For all that, when a beautiful girl or a woman entered the shop, I stealthily lifted my eyes from the work I would be doing to have a glimpse of the girl.

I was around twenty two at that time and it was quite natural to be attracted to the young girls who visited the shop. I reached the shop early in the morning and left it late in the evening, so it was not possible to see the girls outside the shop. My shop was my only world, the only window to the outside world, the only way of meeting a beautiful girl one of these days.

One day, the sales girls were on leave because they had to attend the marriage of a relative. The sales girls were cousins and both of them had to go, though I wanted one of them to stay in the shop. 

I did not know that the very first customer was going to be in my memory for the rest of my life.

A tall beautiful girl entered the girl, in blue embroidered suit, her long black lose hair reaching up to her waist, her eyes full of confidence, and the voice the most pleasant of the sounds I had ever heard.

“Good morning,” the twinkling voice my ears and I looked up from my seat on the floor. I was working on a design, hiding behind the counter.

I left the piece that I had in my hands and left the ground. I took two steps and reached behind the counter.

“Good morning, yes madam?” I smiled, the very rare act which I had reserved for such occasions which were equally rare.

“I don’t see any sales girls today?” she looked around.

 “Yes, madam, they are on leave today. What can I do for you?”

 “Actually, Seema, one of the sales girls working here was my classmate at college. She told me that I would get some reduction in price if she recommended…” she was hesitant.

“No, problem, I will solve your problem. Seema’s friends are always welcome here. Tell me what should I show you, I mean, necklaces, finger rings, ear rings, or any other special design which you want to get made?” I said in a highly professional manner.

“Nothing special, actually, I have a broken gold chain. I was thinking if you could make a pair of ear rings using the gold of the chain. It belonged to my grandmother. She is no more now and the chain was lying uselessly. I thought of getting a pair of ear rings made…”

“Of course, we can do that. May I have a look at it?”

She began to look inside her shoulder bag but my eyes were fixed on those beautiful hands, especially the fingers. She had the most beautiful fingers with long polished nails. I imagined those fingers would glitter if she put some of our gold rings around those slender fingers.

My reverie was broken when she pulled the chain out and handed it to me. It was a heavy chain, more than thirty grams.

“You can have two things made because the ear rings of this weight would look quite heavy on your face. If you say, I could make a finger ring as well?” I looked in her eyes.

“How much would it cost?” she said softly.

“Only the labour cost, not much, two hundred and fifty rupees,” I smiled.

She began to pull the money out of her bag but I stopped her, “Not now, you can pay when you come to fetch the ornaments. Would you like to see our design album?”

“Yes, please…”

I could notice that she was excessively shy. She would have stopped at the first page and chosen the designs but I was not ready for that. I wanted her to stay in the shop for some more time.

“There are some other designs, please take your time. There is no hurry,” said I and rushed to the backroom to fetch some other albums.

“Would you like to have a cup of tea?” I took a step forward.

“No, thank you, I don’t drink tea.”

“All right then, we will have orange juice,” I said ecstatically and began to go out of the shop to order two glasses of juice at the juice vendor across the road.

I could see that she was trying to protest and stop me but before her voice could reach me I was out of the shop.

When I reentered the shop after a minute, she said, “It was not necessary. Why did you take so much of trouble?”

“No, it is my duty, after all you are Seema’s friend first and our customers second,” I gave her a pleasant friendly smile.

She smiled back but she could not hide the demureness, so rare in the girls in this blunt modern age.

I could see the tinge of pink on her cheeks. Her fair complexion was glowing, perhaps, more because of the hot weather than the exchange of words. I immediately switched on the fan and turned to her.

“It is quite hot today,” said I.

 “But it is pleasant,” the girl smiled.

“I would write a receipt of the gold. Your name please, if you don’t mind?”

“Minerva…Minerva Sharma…”

The name immediately stuck to my heart and I liked it, the name of the goddess Minerva. I was the student of Ancient History and I was doing my M. A. as a private student. The Greek Gods and Goddesses always appealed to me.

“Do you know there is something special in your name?” I began to write the receipt.

“And what is that?” she was obviously curious.

“It is the name of a Greek Goddess,” I raised my eyes and looked in her eyes.

She liked it because the smile that appeared on her beautiful face was eloquent enough to suggest me that I was not one of those boys who she must have come across during her college days.

“How do you cope up with both your studies and your work?” she changed the topic.

 “If you love the things you are doing you are neither tired nor bored. I love making gold ornaments and I love reading and writing,” I felt a clear ray of hope, sending me the signals that her heart had gradually but definitely began to beat faster.

“I must go now, I am getting late,” she finished her juice and left the seat.

“The ornaments will be ready in one week but I would like you to come and see the unfinished products the day after tomorrow,” said I, planning in mind that in this way I would be able to see her at least two more times in one week.

After her departure, my mind was flying high and it was very difficult to concentrate on the work I had been doing.

In our shop we have CCTV cameras and the day’s proceedings are recorded. We have kept those cameras for precautions because on special occasions, sometimes, we have more than twenty customers at a time and it becomes very difficult to keep an eye on each of them.

Instead of resuming my work, I decided to watch the recording of the past hour. I wanted to see Minerva again. I rewound the cassette and pressed the play button. When her face appeared on the TV screen I paused the player and zoomed the picture. I was in love with her and it was quite obvious because the following five hours went in seeing her from every angle in different poses. I pulled the cassette out and inserted a new cassette. The former one was going to be my most valuable possession, more precious than the gold ornaments I made day and night. I kept the cassette safely in the locker in the adjoining room, which served as a rest room.

On the appointed day, when she visited the shop again, I was waiting for her. The sales girls were present there too and my father was checking the designs in the back room. I was scared because in the presence of all those people it was not going to be easy to speak to her.

Instead of smiling in my direction, she turned to Seema and said, “Hello, Seema, how are you?”

“Hello, Minerva, what a surprise, you here?”

“I have already been here once, this is my second visit,” said she and looked in my direction.

I sent a pleasant smile.

“I have ordered a few things,” Minerva said to Seema.

“But I did not know?”

Obviously, I was not going to tell that sales girl that her friend Minerva was the object of my love. I had not even told my father.

“Your designs are ready, Minerva,” I said so casually that I did not feel there was anything wrong in speaking to her in such a friendly manner.

“Minerva?” this time it was Seema who was surprised, “Do you know each other?”

“Yes, I met him when I first visited this shop,” Minerva gave a shy smile to her friend.

I could see that Seema’s expression had changed and I was sure that she was thinking correctly about me. Young girls, they think same.

Instead of saying anything, I smiled in the direction of Seema.

After that Minerva occupied the seat in front of me, across the counter.

I began to show her the unfinished ear rings and gold ring. She was, as if, ready to accept the designs.

“Thank you very much,…”

“Mohan…Mohan is the name…”

“Yes, Mr. Mohan, I will come back on Sunday,” she started to get up.

“If you could spare some time tomorrow in the morning, it would be lot easier for me to finish these things by the evening. Before the final touches I want you to see them once again…”

“All right, I will be here at 9:00 am tomorrow,” said she and went back to her friend Seema.

I had determined to open my heart to her the following morning. The signals were so strong from her side that I was sure that my proposal would not draw blank.

That was the day of test for me. Seema had been working in our shop for three years but I had hardly ever spoken to her. That day I showered her with questions and she was obviously surprised. However, she told me many things about her friend.

I was thankful to Seema for the information she had provided.

Next morning, Minerva came back and as I had planned I opened my heart. As if she were waiting for the proposal.

“I like you but…”

“But what…?”

“You won’t understand, Mohan…” she left her seat and walked out of the showroom.

I was deeply hurt because I felt guilty. May be I had made haste, or I should have given her a few days.

She did not come to collect her ornaments on Sunday.

I told Seema to inform her friend that the ornaments were ready.

“Sir, she will never come back,” said Seema.

“Why, Seema? Did she speak to you?”

“Yes, she has told me everything. You should also forget about her.”

“But I don’t understand why?”

“Sir, you saw her beautiful face and her exquisite hands and other things but you missed to see that she has no legs below her knees. She walks on artificial legs. They are so perfect that no one can notice them…”

“Oh my God!”

I knew that Seema could clearly see tears in my eyes. I was not in a situation to confess anything to her and she knew it. After all I was a young man waiting to marry a perfect woman. I felt guilty of the crime that I had not committed.