The wicked old man lived in the seedy veranda that overlooked the alley. He was haggard and his eyes were opaque green. He watched us play cricket in the somnolent afternoons, like a gargoyle, sipping from his lukewarm ceramic cup. He never moved. And busy we, with our late cuts and off breaks..
As the afternoons made way for sleepier evenings, we packed up and went back to our respective home works. He did not move, the wicked old man. His green eyes shone like fireflies under decrepit lampposts. No one knows when we left his cosy armchair, or if he ever did. No one knows if those green eyes ever blinked.
He saw the colourful schoolbags with natty water bottles go to school. He didn’t smile at them, he didn’t wave them goodbye. He sat there on his veranda, with a muffler around his neck. And those opaque green eyes.
Days passed like water from the public tap. Beginning and ends tied up in fulsome bows. Teacups measured his life out in saucerful of nondescript etude. He played on his invisible flute, his overture to a sunny morn that never came.
And then one evening the fireflies blinked. The veranda was empty the next dawn. But no one knew…
The empty vessel 
eh bitch!
you flicked my idea![:P]plagiarism i say![:P]
good one, btw!
huh? i say this is a devious ploy to redirect traffic to your blog!! 😛 😛
thanks man! keep reading!
Great!!!!!
But name Quasimodo?
I think it is from Hunchback of Notre Dame, am I right?
yes yes!!
nice way to put the last vacation of life to use. I am too pissed these days to write my own blog 😦
Where’d he go? lol
I like the tea cups part, that really stood out to me!
@saikatda: thanks a lot for stopping by! do keep reading.
@jenifer: well, he was wicked you know. he had the power to vanish into thin air!
Very very engaging and mysterious piece of writing… sad, even a bit disturbing — but well written! 😉
The whole post was like a party !
And the ending …’But no one knew’ … was like the dessert ! 😉
Too good !
@rob: thanks a lot sir!
@tapas: thanks man! keep coming back!
Don’t we know him!!
Excellent piece of writing, mysterious, sinister and full of wonderful detail.
@goutami: 🙂
@crafty green poet: thanks! totally sinister, total monster!
Fabulous description of that person, the one we all fear.
Very evocative!
@patios: thanks for stopping by!
@boliyou: an essay! thanks!