This will be my entry into the BC(LF) short fiction story contest.
Bakir was a student at university. He comes from humble beginnings. To earn extra money to support his education he works at the university's lost and found shop. University students are always losing stuff. Smartphones, id cards, wallets, shoes and even a bag of mangoes. What would you do if you found a bag of mangoes? Perfectly ripened starch mangoes. I mean somebody has to eventually eat them before they go bad. And how do you prove that that is your bag of starch mangoes? That is just an example of the unique things that turn up at lost and found. Speaking of mangoes, there is a saying that man goes where God goes and that is really where this story is going. Interesting things show up at lost and found but even more interesting are the things that people come looking for.
One day, a drunk man came by the shop and asked in a dazed and broken tone of voice, "This is lost and found? Right? You think you could help me find God? An old lady up the road told me I need to find God after I told her she looked good." Bakir was stumped. Never before had someone come looking for God. Bakir himself was not religious. His mother was Muslim and his father was Christian but he never chose a religion or prayed or thought much about God. The golden rule at lost and found given to persons to help them find their lost item is to retrace their steps. Go backwards. At the same time the stray dog that calls the university prayer center home passed by and God spelt backwards is dog and that is what entered Bakir's mind. While at this point in the story it is worth mentioning that Bakir's name was similar to the word bark and he sometimes jokes that he has the seeking nature of a dog, a hound to be specific. He can find anything.
Given all of this, he then instructed the old man to follow the dog to the prayer center and he should find what he was looking for there. The old man did as he said. There he met the cleaner of the center. He explained to him that he was looking for God and Bakir sent him here. The cleaner then told him that he had come to a good place and that there was literature from various religions on the shelf. Later that week Bakir got a visit from the cleaner. He brought a sign he wanted to place outside the lost and found shop. The sign said, "Looking for God? Come to the prayer center. Find faith in your life." It was a sign for the shop but it was also a sign from God for Bakir. From that day onwards he visited the prayer center regularly and thus began his journey towards God. L and F now has two meanings, Lost and Found and Life and Faith. The f in life stands for faith. They say that dogs can find anything. Maybe after this story the shop can also be called lost and hound.
*LF also stands for Literary Festival
*Story varies slightly from what was submitted after making a revision
Comments