"Loyalty and courage".

Loyalty and courage

By Snehasish Sinha

 I sat down on the culvert. On the opposite side of the street was a large iron gate under a shiny board that said - 'Chatterjee Mills'. To the left of the gate was a small booth, a security guard was sitting in it watching something on his mobile phone. 

There was a time when I used to be there in his place, wearing the same uniform, doing the same duty. 'Loyalty and courage' was the motto of our agency, written into the emblem sewn on the chest. 

Looking at the board I remembered my last day on the job. Late at evening I was sitting on my chair. Suddenly I felt some warmth on my back. I turned around to see the mill on fire. I immediately ran. 

Tye fire was strong making a roar like sound as it burned down the building. Just then I remembered that the owner of the mill, my boss was still inside. Thankfully the fire was not that strong on the side where his office was. I ran behind the building from where a set of iron stairs went up to the corridor close to his office. 

I went in his office to find him sitting on his chair, having a drink. On his office desk was an empty can of petrol. He was clearly drunk, but I somehow had managed to drag him out into safety. 

"Hey. Hey" - someone shook me out of my thoughts, the security guard. "What are you doing here?", he asked. 

" Nothing, just looking", I said. 

"At what?"

"No, I actually used to work here. I was also a security guard."

"Oh. So they kicked you out, huh."

I shook my head as I stood up. "The owner of the mill was going through a bad time then. So bad that  he set the mill on fire and tried to commit suicide. He hoped the insurance money would help his family out of the debts. 

" But I saved him. If the insurance company knew that he set the fire himself they would not pass his claim. So he put all the blame on me, making me the culprit and sending me to prison."

I let it all out in one breath. The guard looked at me, confused if I was telling the truth or just making it all up. I didn't stop to clear his confusion.Walking ahead, away from the iron gate I started thinking again. 

When in jail my father used to visit me. Angry, he used to tell me that I should have left the man to die. I also thought about it, a lot, but came to the conclusion that what I did was my duty. The betrayal that happened to me had nothing to do with me. It was all about that desperate old man. Him being a bad person doesn't mean what I did was wrong. 

I would go ahead, try to make a new life for myself, living by the principles I once held on my chest - 'loyalty and courage'.