One of my foremen used to wear a premium, jet black baseball cap with silvery bold letters ‘xoxo’ printed right on its front. The first time he wore it to my office, i studied his face for any sign of humor but all I could find was his usual, blissfully ignorant, childlike morning smile. From that day on, everytime he visited me, which was a lot of times in a day since he is my direct subordinate, I would find myself smiling. Our conversations would go something like:

Foreman: Salam Sir

I: Wassalam come sadaqat noticing the silvery xoxo and beaming ear to ear

Foreman: Sir you seem to be quite happy these days. You’re getting married, I suppose?

I: Not really. It’s just your cap. I like it.

Foreman: Sir the moment I saw it yesterday in a jumble sale in Attock, I knew I had to buy it. Looks good on me, sir. Doesn’t it?

I: Yes it does. It does still smiling like crazy

Foreman: But sir you don’t smile like that, I smell something fishy.

I: It’s just that I haven’t seen you wearing anything fancy like that before. You got taste.

The man has just proceeded for retirement a couple of weeks before and the office is not the same anymore. As I go in to work each day and look at the sea of dull, weary faces around, I miss that refreshing child-like grin under the silvery xoxo front of a black baseball cap. I hope that smile, wherever it is, keeps shining through all the dullness around.