Dumb Blonde

She climbed into the bus and all eyes looked at her. The beautiful dress, the cascading hair, and the faultless face contributed to her painting like appearance. The word “Perfect” seemed to resonate throughout the bus.

She seated her majestic self in the first few rows to the left of the air-conditioned bus – the ones normally reserved for ladies. Her Smartphone quickly came into business and connected her to someone (not really important in context). The rare beauty’s hair was a stand-out feature. It’s not often that you would get to see blonde hair color in India.

Seated just behind her was a smartly dressed man. He seemed to be an absolute gentleman, atleast by the look of it.

Diagonally opposite to the centre of attraction sat a person of African origin who seemed to be listening to songs on his mobile while also typing something.  

Suddenly, the gentleman started talking to her. Flattery was definitely one of his virtues. His smooth talk and easy charm saw him easily floor the blonde. His compliments seemed to have an effect on her and she also opened up to him. And small talk soon made way for laughter and some light flirting.

Though the bus was moving, it maintained a serene status quo inside. The rest of the passengers were listening to songs, reading, or sleeping.

The couple had struck a chord and seemed to be oblivious to the happenings in the bus. The African gentleman though, seemed to be intently looking at the couple, overhearing the conversation. It was tough to understand how he could understand the local language that the familiar strangers were using abundantly to spice up their rendezvous.  

The scene continued for another ten minutes while the bus gathered good speed. “I have to get down at the next stop. It was a pleasure meeting you”, said the gentleman to the lady. They seemed to exchange numbers and he promised to call her sometime soon.

“Is the African gentleman taking my pictures?” she asked the gentlemen just minutes before he was to alight. The easy charm gave way to a difficult-to-comprehend expression. However, he quickly regained composure and said that as soon as he gets down and the bus stops, the lady should call the co-passengers and raise this concern. He said that if her observation was true, she should give him a call and he would intimate the cops who can catch hold of him at the next bus stop.  He went to the extent of saying not to confront the African gentleman as he may retaliate and also might have a gun with him.

The blonde followed his advice and as soon as the gentleman disembarked, she called upon the fellow passengers and told that the African gentleman was capturing her pictures. She said she was scared as she thought he would morph her pictures and use it for personal gain.

The passengers gathered around the African gentleman and demanded he show his mobile. They asked him why he was taking her pictures. He did not answer inspite of a volley of questions being fired in his direction. The situation was getting out of control and one of the co-passengers who fantasized playing the knight-in-shining-armour caught hold of the collar of his shirt. At this moment, the African gentleman opened his mouth and started uttering something. It was at that moment that the passengers realized that the man was dumb. (as in a person who is unable to speak).

At this, one of the passengers wanted to snatch his mobile but the African gentleman started frantically nodding his head. The cumulative strength of the passengers was no match for the strong African man. They snatched his mobile and as two people held him captive, one of the passengers (the knight-in-shining-armour) caught hold of the mobile and began to browse through the image gallery.

He could not find a single image of the majestic beauty. He checked the videos and his expression suggested that he had found a related video.  In a display of machismo (uncalled for), the knight-in-shining-armour caught hold of the African man’s collar again as he played the video with his other hand.

As the video played, his grip on the collar loosened and slowly he withdrew his hand. The knight-in-shining-armour understood his mistake and profusely apologized to the African gentleman. The sudden twist of events had the passengers also confused.

The video was replayed and the blonde also saw it this time. No sooner did the video end than she looked for her branded and very expensive handbag. She started crying loudly and tears started rolling down her pretty cheeks. She had been conned… conned by the smooth talking charmer who has opened her bag and stolen her purse which, according to her, contained not only lots of money but 3 of her credit cards.

The African man received a lot of sympathy with some passengers offering him water and the mini mob apologizing to him for the unwarranted manhandling. The obvious question was why he did not alert his fellow passengers when the act took place?  He couldn’t answer it as he was dumb. Or was he really? For his act gathered enough evidence to nail a crook. On the other hand, the blonde who thought she was smart (atleast appeared to be) proved otherwise. Dumb blonde, shall we say?