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=========================================UDDALAK BANERJEE

"I asked u to make it a bit larger and look what u did!",the annoyed general scolded the cobbler.

"Sir i just put the leather deeper for greater comfort of your toes,besides this is a really old shoe sir and

stitching an extra bit of leather would only make it look fatter and uglier, besides the stitch can comeoff

anytime",the cobbler stitched out a neat reply.

"Fool..this is no ordinary shoe!!this is the shoe i had been wearing for the past 20 years since i had been

posted here in vietnam on November 1, 1955.My father wore this very shoe to the Viet Minh ouster in

1946.Whenever i put this shoe on i feel a strange nostralgia and a physical touch of my father and his

regal war history.",the general continued.

"Anyways me toe nail has grown aweful lot and had been hurt last sunday when i was ambushed by a

pool of school going vietnamese when i left the shoe back at home!.It is not just any old shoe !It is the

shoe which fuels my self belief..everytime i wear it ..",the general boasted .

The second in command Mr Alfred prince was waiting all this while at a distance from the shop which

stood amidst ruins in the heart of Viet Minh city.Amidst bloodbathed claustophobic streets hidden bysea of roubles created by heavy bombing from US forces this small shop bordered by two big walls

which once ornamentally boosted the solidarity of the formerly "NORTH CENTRAL COMMITTE"s central

office just about 10 kms from the little market.

Just as the cobbler hurriedly opened up the leather from the shoe and started to make arrangements for

using some extra leather to increase the longitudenal size .Mr alfred came dashing towards the general

and said ,"sir the vin ciru district has been taken by a school of resident vietnamese armed with the M1

Carbines captured from us in yesterdays ambush .THere are a few chinese snipers too .They are

marching straight towards us at great pace and will be here within an hour."

"ask the SAF TO saddle up ..and commission the redbird to keep eye over the developments and enemy

position",General replied in haste.

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Almost immediately a spooky whizzed past in the sky making a motoring sound of its ungreased

propellar.

The cobbler , a man in his mid fourties was a practised hand but he could not help but to gaze blankly at

the general.

"what happened u filthy lout ?what are u looking at? get the job done now !!!!or else u would be the

first vietnamese casualty from my SKS (Simonov 7.62 mm semi-automatic carbine)",the anxious general

yelled out to the torpid mendicant.

"sir it would take time..(with a shadow of fear engulfing his face at the prospect of the words being his

last)",came the pussilanimous reply.

The general immediately kicked the cobbler in the face and shouted,"you moron surreptitious

treacherous scoundrel ...u dont know what importance this shoe is to me!!"

Just as he was about to holster his SKS to further intimidate the cobbler something from behind hit him

.Even before he could turn around he sensed a hole in his forehead.His lifeless body dumped on the

floor exactly over the shoe which the cobbler was mending.A gory sanguinary battle followed.Theregiment of South vietnam was ambushed with 132 US soldiers maimed."

The bodies of the dead were burned and their possessions looted.All that remained in the shoe shop the

following evening was the torn shoe of the general.

As time went by finally the war ended. Slowly the streets and cities came back to life.The torn regal

shoe was lost.A few rodents made its house in it and gave birth to the offsprings too.Soon after the end

of the war, the north and south vietnam were united again.The cities started to find its life back .And

one day the regal shoe along with other old tornout leftovers were burned out all together by the

vietnamese municipality .Now the offsprings of the rodents were too small and had just been born and

did not have enough time to jump out like its parent and stayed incarcerated in the shoe as it burned in

the mass fire amidst other trash.

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The next day when the lady sweeper was sweeping the street after the fire she found something

moving in the ash.On moving the left overs, the offsprings jumped out of the shoe and ran away.In

disbelief when the sweeper moved closer and lifted the ragged shoe she found PERSEUS's name

inscribed below.

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