15 for 15 Contest --- Closed

Jan-20 Bomb

Detonation

It was a cold winter morning, bitter and bone biting, despite warm woolens. Season not withstanding, struggle for existence continued whatever the color and shape of it.

The town was just coming awake. The early morning sun slanted on the pebbled side ways and streets.

Abdullah walked out of his house. His work spot was within walking distance. Three of his friends, who lived nearby, joined him after brief exchange of greetings.

They fell in a row and walked briskly, hastened by the knife of sharp cold breeze. The fog lingered yet.

And then it happened.

The bomb went off with the suddenness of lightning, and the deep rumble of thunder, only more far reaching were its reverberations.

Even before they walked half a mile, they were thrown off the track by a deafening sound and the force of explosion. The bomb was planted in the garbage cart parked on the side walk. Its impact shook the neighborhood. The nearby building collapsed, its roof blown off, and the steel rods showed jutting out in the daylight, like the ugly, shameful deeds of man.

Abdullah and two of his pals were not hurt seriously beyond a few bruises. One was buried neck-deep in the rubble and a passerby appeared injured and hurt badly.

Pandemonium broke loose. People gathered, and watched the gory scene from a distance, for fear of more explosions. A young man gave a helping hand to get the trapped men out of the debris. None knew how many were buried under the broken building.

The sirens of army vans, and ambulance rent the air with their dirge-like sound. Who did it and why; were questions to be taken up at a more leisurely pace. First, the government was to make a statement blaming the neighbors and the usual fruitless monotony to follow.

Human life? A cheap enterprise in these parts!