A BETTER CHOICE

Part I
Once upon a time there was a boy named Fufoonoo. Fufoonoo along with Tozo the dog, Mimi the cat, Malli the butterfly and Hoho the elephant used to live in Timbuktoo. Timbuktoo was the best city on the face of earth but the inhabitants of the city had to follow one strange law - Every inhabitant can have only one friend at a time. Fufoonoo had just moved into this city and had no friends. One night he was sitting near the river , feeling very lonesome and depressed. Tozo saw Fufoonoo and went ahead to befriend him. "Hi Fufoonoo"
"Hi" Fufoonoo replied.
"Why are you so sad ?"
"I have no friends"
"That's not a problem. I will be your friend. Friends???"
"Hmmm. Ok"
Fufoonoo and Tozo shook hands and that handshake gave Fufoonoo a reason to smile for the first time in a long long time. The two buddies used to hang out in Timbuktoo together each day. They played ping-pong in Tozo's kennel during the day and video-games in Fufoonoo's room in the evenings. Tozo had a world which was so different from Fufonoo's and yet so similar. He could make him see things he never knew existed. They could just have so much fun together that life for both of them seemed like a never ending roller-coaster ride . Tozo would tell him about how his modelling job with the company he had been endorsing was going and Fufoonoo would tell him his own stories about school , sports, teachers, his ambitions , etc. Fufoonoo felt he had finally found the friend he had been looking for.

One evening when the two were hanging out near the river , Fufoonoo saw Mimi. Mimi, the Cat. She was the most famous personality in the town. After her famous cameo in a blockbuster Hollywood movie, she had become the talk of the entire town.
Fufoonoo could see Mimi staring at him. Envy was palpable in her lovely green eyes. That night fufoonoo lay in his bed, thinking about Mimi. He remembered how she was looking at him with those eyes of hers. His mind had already started comparing what he had and what he could have had. Mimi was like an exotic creature who could teach him so much about the world everyone wanted to be a part of. His mind was already basking in the attention the entire Timbuktoo would give him if he befriends Mimi. Everything was fine with Tozo , he thought, he is just a little dull, mundane, uncool !!! huh !!! Probably a smart , coveted guy like him deserved a better friend , someone more complete, someone like Mimi.

Anyways, next day very usually Tozo called Fufoono for a game of ping-pong. Fufonoo refused and insisted that he would like to go for a stroll near the levy again as yesterday. Tozo obviously preferred the game but since his dear friend was insisting, he agreed. Mimi as expected was there again. She fluttered her eyes and said
"Hi Fufoonoo.. Can I be your friend ?"

Fufoonoo knew if he befriends Mimi, he has to let go of Tozo but then the temptation was too hard to resist.

It was too hard for Tozo to let go of his dear friend but since Fufoonoo had made up his mind he wasn't left with much choice.

Part II

Life had changed for Fufoonoo. Mimi and Fufoonoo were the talk of entire Timbuktoo. Fufoonoo could not do much be glad that he had found so much happiness in Mimi. Every evening they would meet up at the town's best coffee shop and hang out at all the best places in the town. Fufoonoo couldn't help but enjoy the fast, glamorous life Mimi was sharing with him. Till few days back all he would do is loiter around on the deserted banks of the river and now suddenly he was meeting mayor of the city on Monday with Mimi, going to the premiere of a Tom Hanks starring film on Wednesday with Mimi, visiting the best places in town with Mimi... so much because of Mimi... he couldn't thank enough for her... She was adding so much to who he was. He was learning so much from her and from being with her.
Days were passing, months were slipping by, excitement was fading, pace was decreasing, hollowness was setting in. Something was missing, he didn't know what.
And then there were times Fufoonoo before going to bed in the night would think of that deserted bank of the river. Next evening Fufoonoo went to that same old place.
He could see someone sitting on the rocks and on paying a little more attention he realized its no one else but Timbuktoo's own Beauty queen, Malli. Malli was known to be the prettiest thing in the entire town.

"Hi Malli" Fufoonoo said as he looked at that beautiful , bright creature.
"Hi. If I remember you are Mimi's friend. Right ???"
"That I am, but there is more to me than just being Mimi's friend. I am Fufoonoo. I moved to Timbuktoo about a year back. what about you ?" It was getting hard for him to take his eyes off her as she talked.
" I was born and brought up in Timbktoo. But all these years I have been very lonely. I have no friends right now. I am known to be very beautiful. I am aware that people get lost in my beauty so much so that they forget to know who I am, what I think and how I feel."

Fufoonoo sat there and wondered isn't her story just the same as mine.
The pretty colors, the fluttering wings and that moment were becoming too inviting for him. The world seemed to have stopped for him.
"You and Mimi seem quite happy together. Its nice to see you two."
" Not really. There is more than meets the eye, Malli"
"Hmmm. Anyways, its getting late for me. Catch you later some time. Bye"

She went away but befuddled Fufoono's mind like never before. As he walked down the street to meet Mimi at the coffee shop, he realized he was still thinking about the beautiful butterfly. So engrossed was he in what he was thinking that he didn't quite notice that he was already in front of Mimi. The evening was going as it always did with Mimi and Fufoonoo was increasingly feeling the ecstasy that he could have had had it been Malli not Mimi and also feeling the burden of what he shared with Mimi.
The thoughts in his mind soon garbed his words that soon followed.
"Mimi. I need to talk to you about something. I think I need to be friends with someone else not you"
"What??? Why fufoonoo? We are so happy together"
"Mimi nothing is wrong , I just feel I can be more happy with someone else. I feel we are too different, incapable of fulfilling each others voids"
"Fufoonoo but that's how I have always been, your voids were perfectly filled when we started off but what makes me insufficient for you now?...... If you wanna go, its too much against my pride and my well wishing for you to stop you. GO "
"Thanks Mimi. God bless you."

Part III

Fufoonoo went to the same place as yesterday and found Malli sitting at the same place once again. He saw her bright colors and could hardly hold back.
"Hi Malli. I am so glad I found you, I wanna talk to you"
"Hi Fufoonoo. C'Mon sit. Why do you sound so restless"
And so fufoonoo started with his story.
"Malli. I came to Timbuktoo. First few months were really lonely. I had no friend. And then I met Tozo. Tozo was the first real friend I have ever had. We were doing perfectly fine and then I met Mimi. Meeting Mimi made me realize that there is so much more I need to learn in this world which being with Tozo I was missing out. She made me see the things , meet people I never knew existed. I felt it was not fair for me to be with Tozo when deep down I was not really satisfied being with him. So both of us parted our ways and I became friends with Mimi. With Mimi it was going the way I had always expected it to. But after the shine went away I realized it was so hollow. I was so hollow. She was just what she has always been but probably I wanted more than that. The final blow was caused when I ..."
"When you what ????"
"When I met you. When I sat here on this very place talking to you yesterday, I felt I have finally found what I really wanted. You fulfill me Malli. Your beauty arrests me. Your words interest me. Your thoughts motivate me . I have denied Mimi my friendship for you. Can we be friends?"

Malli looked at him through her piercing eyes. There was a moment of silence, nobody said anything for a while. Malli took a deep breath and started saying
"Fufoonoo. I think I should share with you my part of the story. Hmmm... you must be knowing Hoho."
"Oh yes! Hoho, the elephant. I do know him"
"Hoho and me had been friends since... since forever ... Hoho loved to play ping-pong. He was chosen to play ping-pong in the world cup few years back. Since then Hoho became so engrossed in ping-pong that he almost forgot taking time out for me. It was like ping-pong was the friend for him now. He didn't need me anymore. Our differences grew so much that we stopped talking. Its not that he made other friends but its just that our dimensions started varying too much. Since those days I am sitting here , waiting for him. Its not that I think it would be wrong for me to look out for other friends, the friends which are probably capable of being even better friends to me than Hoho. But its just that I want to pursue it more. I want to wait. I choose to wait.
Fufoonoo, your mistake number one.. you were being so presumptuous that you took it for granted that the entire world is waiting here to be friends with you. You presumed Mimi will never quit you as you quit Tozo. You presumed I would be more than willing to befriend u while you left Mimi. You should have ensured your back-ups...
Second, Remember each one of the friends u had, as much had the right to abandon you as you did over them. Its just that you chose to abandon them and not otherwise.
Fufoonoo, there is always a better option... there always is another life that you could have had than this. There is no end to the happiness one can have and no end to the sorrow. We always want more than what we have. Our demands would always be more than our means to satisfy them. Its not that you can settle for what you have and never aim higher, but weigh your possible options and settle for what suits you the best.
Grass is always, will always be greener on the other side.
But life is all about the choices that you make. You choose certain things , just like those things choose you and then the course that follows is the tandem of the mutual choices. For example, Tozo chose you and you chose Tozo and you both grew up in tandem to be two friends who respected each other and the time you spent with each other. You chose Mimi and she chose you. Your tandem was you learning new things from her and hers was the amount of fun she had with you.
But when one of the choices is unchosen the tandem stops. So when you chose to unchoose your friends you should have been prepared to face the cession of tandem in your life. You were lucky to have been able to restart the tandem in your life at times before. But I guess not any more.
I am sorry Fufoonoo. I have yet not chosen to leave the tandem I had with Hoho just like he has not done that with me. We had our differences but I need to wait for him to realize they are not irreconcilable or for me to realize they are irreconcilable"

She stood up and walked away. Fufoonoo sat there all alone just as he was when he came to Timbuktoo.