“How was your trip?” Vimal extended his hand and Akash shook it.
Akash offered him a seat and said, “It was good. As usual, I’d say. But on one occasion I was kind of regretting my decision to be an Astronaut.”
“What was that?” Vimal asked enthusiastically.
“I’ll tell you all the details but first let me get you some tea,” Akash got up from the chair wincing.
Vimal noticed that. He asked, “What happened to your leg?”
“Oh, nothing serious,” Akash replied and turned on the stove. He was sitting in the garden with all of the essentials.
“It looks like your space mission hasn’t been over yet,” Vimal jested.
“Yeah,” Akash snickered. Then added, “It looks like that, isn’t it. Actually, the house was in a need of some pest control.” Akash said and poured the tea into two cups. He handed one to Vimal and took his seat.
“Mosquitoes or Cockroaches?” Vimal asked sipping his tea.
“None. Frogs.” Akash responded uninterestedly.
“Frogs?”
“Yes, yellow frogs and it turns out that they bite.” Akash showed him the wound on his leg.
“Oh my god! It’s a mess,” Vimal flinched from the oozing sore in Akash’ leg. “Are you sure it’s the frogs?”
“My doctor says so,” Akash winced and placed his leg on the table. “You don’t mind if I…?”
“Oh, no. Not at all. Be comfortable. Besides, it’s your house,” Vimal said and laughed.
Akash too joined him. However, the pain in the leg couldn’t let him do it. He said, “The doctor said that I should hold it up. So…”
“Yeah, well tell me about that incident you were going to tell.”
“Ah, yes. Thanks for reminding me. I was saying that it was day 20 of our expedition when our spacecraft was about to hit space rubble. We had already calculated about all the possibilities of an accidental clash but this rubble came…just…out of empty space.” Akash paused for a chuckle and then continued. “We tried to divert our craft but there was no time. And then it hit us…”
Vimal was wide agape.
Akash flinched again and continued, “But fortunately, the space rubble too was moving away. So, at the time of the clash it had as little as possible impact. I have collected some of it..” just then an exterminator called him.
He said, “Sir, you have to see this.”
“Okay.” Akash tried to get up but his leg had been swollen. As he put his foot on the ground, he lost his balance. In an effort to get a hold on to something, the cup filled with tea fell on his leg. A sharp pain made him sit on the ground.
The pain was intense yet throbbing.
“Are you alright? Is it burning? The tea is not hot anymore.” Vimal tried to help him but was taken aback. The exterminator was also horrified. The rubble from his hands fell on the ground. Akash looked at the wound and screamed as a tiny yellow frog jumped out of it.