THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN…. AND MINE

Last week, the Gulf News announced that Jeffrey Archer would inaugurate Borders, a new bookshop in Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. Immediately, a fierce longing to meet one of my favourite authors started surging through me. I started thinking of ways to be in the mall the whole day, as it was nowhere mentioned when the bookshop would be inaugurated. I should tell RP to leave me at the Mall before he goes to his office. No, that wasn’t very practical, I would reach around 7.30 and the Mall would open only by 9 or 10. I would have to wait in RP’s office till that time. No way, he said, I have a training scheduled for the day and won’t be able to drive you anywhere. Ok, I ventured…I’ll drop you in your office and take the car myself to the Mall. His expression said it all. No way will I touch his precious mechanical sweetheart!

Left to my own devices, I decided to plan my trip to the Mall all by myself. Okay, I am definitely taking the digital camera, an autograph book….no…I’ll take a copy of one of his books to be autographed. Which one? I loved Honour Among Thieves and As the Crow Flies. Why not take Kane and Abel or The Prodigal Daughter? Or, Shall We Tell the President? Or First Among Equals….that was an awesome book! They were all part of my cherished collection….. Maybe, I should take The prison Diary part III, and prove that I am a diehard fan of his and forgave him his transgressions….. ! No, that would be unnecessary. One look at my soapy expression, he’d know I am a fan. No, I decided. I’ll take his collection of short stories. He is brilliant in all his short stories. I can never forget the magic of his Endgame or Grass is Greener on the Other Side or every other short story he has written so far.
I have often used his stories in my literature classes as examples of volte- face that is the hallmark of good short stories. One thing, about his short stories…. They have been as useful to me as the Unexpected Tales of Roald Dahl and the short stories of O. Henry to create in my girls an urge to read and discover for themselves, the mastery of this great genre. I simply love short stories. It is comparatively easier to write a novel, where you have the freedom of length to deal with your characterization, plot and denouement. In a short story, you are expected to do all that and yet, sustain the suspense of the plot and the interest of the reader in a limited length. Ahhh!! How I have digressed!
Like I was saying, I planned what to ask Lord Archer, when I got face to face with him, got photographed with him…. Oh it would be well worth the one C note I’d spend on cab to reach the Mall of the Emirates all the way from Sharjah. And I kept my well- thumbed copy of The Collected Short Stories, ready for his signature….This was one opportunity I should not miss!
Everything happened as they do to the well- laid plans of mice and men. The next morning, the paper published an interview with the writer ( more about his political life than his writings) at the end of which it reported that he had gone back as the inauguration of Borders was postponed! I still look forward to going to the Mall of the Emirates, but definitely, am not going to spend money on cab for that. I shall wait for my better half to generously drive me down.