Wonder, Flash Fiction by Salek Uddin

Wonder
Flash Fiction by Salek Uddin

On a crowded bus in Dhaka, a young woman gave up her seat to an elderly man leaning on a walking stick.
The old man lowered himself into the seat with care. It seemed that more than his tired body, his faith in people had found a moment of rest. He looked at the young woman with gratitude. She reminded him of his own daughter.
The young woman remained standing.
The bus rolled on. More people squeezed in; the road outside seemed to shrink. Shoulder against shoulder, breath against breath, strangers were pushed into unavoidable intimacy. A man standing beside the young woman began using every jolt of the bus to his advantage.
She tried to move away once.
But where could she move?
Her eyes drifted toward the seat she had given up. The old man was gazing out the window. There was peace on his face—as if that small act of kindness had convinced him that the world was not entirely broken yet.
Then the man's hand came to rest where no touch, without permission, remains merely a touch.
The young woman looked at him.
There was no guilt in his face. Only a faint smile beneath his mustache.
The bus sped on.
The old man thought the world still survived because of good people.
The young woman thought that the world survived at all—that was the wonder.


Author Biography :
Salek Uddin, Date of birthday 26May 1960 is a Bangladeshi writer, playwright, poet, and columnist. His literary works explore human emotion, solitude, social reality, and moral consciousness. Alongside fiction and poetry, he writes on contemporary politics, governance, and ethical statecraft for national newspapers in Bangladesh.
He is a Life Member of the Bangla Academy and the author of several widely appreciated books in Bengali literature and socio-political thought.