I waited till Genie left the flat and then changed hurriedly.
I was at the door, looking through my purse to see if I had my keys, when I heard Penaaz, “Where are you going?”
I turned to see Fish treading water and watching me. Did I want to answer them? For sure they knew where I was going. “Out.”
“What do we tell Genie when he returns?” Gregory asked, innocently.
“He won't notice,” I said.
“Unlikely. That's the first thing he asks us when he returns home,” Portas said, folding his fins against his chest.
“Tell him I've gone grocery shopping.”
“He bought groceries yesterday... including the ingredients for Saturday's appams,” Pervez said, copying Portas's posture. Our appam and stew plan with the Lonavala group was back on (https://viewfromthetopofthetank.blogspot.com/2019/07/fishy-chronicles-27-mutiny-at-pretty.html).
I drew in a deep breath. Sometimes this felt like an inquisition. I had forgotten to feed Fish this morning – I'd cleaned the tank but been preoccupied. Perhaps that’s why they were cranky now and grilling me. Their beef cake would take ages to thaw, so I dropped some processed fish food into the tank.
There was immediate uproar.
“Slow-releasing food again!” Portas shouted, zipping around the tank in a rage. I looked at the fish food canister. I had indeed poured in the wrong fish food. I only stored food Fish liked, but they hated the slow-releasing variety that I used when I was travelling and couldn't find someone to feed them.
“Are you running away?” my darling Dimitri said, panic in his voice. Suddenly Fish were still and silent.
“Don’t be silly, guys. This is my home. Besides, where else could I go?”
“Are things so bad...”
“... do you have debt...”
“... do you owe money...”
“... Genie will take care of everything... don't worry...”
“... running away from home isn't going to solve anything...”
I felt tense listening to Fish. The chatter stressed me unreasonably, reminding me of the mess I was in and the gaping crevasse of hopelessness I was staring at. I opened the door and left.
******
This is a fictional series about Fish, Genie and the narrator. She does the rounds of her bank, which collapsed swallowing her savings, and meets Arief there. He takes her for a drive and contemplates jumping off the Worli Sea Link Bridge. She convinces him to have tea with her, but...******
Several minutes later my phone began to ring. It was Genie. Fish had a lot of time on their hands. When the phone wouldn't stop ringing after 30 minutes, I messaged Genie that I had errands to do and would be back by 4pm.
“What errands?” he texted back.
I stared at the masses standing before the shuttered bank. It was going to be another long day. I messaged back, “Bank work". I waited for another message, but there was none.
I walked about slowly, trying to smile at people who looked familiar. I could only see Kuriakose Uncle from church, who, at this moment, looked pale and ill. He was sitting on the ground and was being fanned with a newspaper by his wife. Other worried church members hovered around them. I hesitated and then slowly started moving towards them.
I felt a hand grip my arm and pull gently. I looked back.
“What are you doing here, Arief!”
“I could ask you the same question.”
A group shoved me out of the way and Arief steadied me and pulled me towards him. We stood and watched people banging the shutters of the bank angrily. There had been a rumour that RBI* officials were going to visit, but none had turned up. It felt hopeless.
Arief cleared his throat. He looked stressed, his face was tight and he ran his hand through his hair.
“How much did you lose?” I asked, instantly regretting the question.
“I'd rather not say.”
I nodded. Suddenly I didn’t feel alone, but I didn’t feel better.
“Want to get a coffee?” Arief asked. He pushed through the crowd, pulling me along by the hand. We walked silently into a small side street and he opened the driver's side door of the large SUV. I got in through the other side.
We sat quietly not talking and then he began to drive. After 15 minutes I asked where we were going, because Arief had had a fixed look on his face and had rubbed his stubbly chin often.
“Vashi Bridge or Worli Sea Link. Which do you prefer?”
“For what?”
“Let's throw ourselves off the bridge. End it all.”
“Let me off here.”
“No.” Arief looked angry and his jaw hardened. He came to an abrupt stop on the side of the road and unlocked the doors. “Well?” He asked when I didn’t budge.
“How much petrol do you have?” I dreaded the thought of leaving Arief alone. What if he actually went through with his silly plan.
“What?”
“How about we go to Sanjay Gandhi National Park and jump in front of the lions.”
“Sounds very painful. I might lose my nerve.”
“So, then, if you haven’t decided on the MO, let's get a cutting chai and sit somewhere we don't have to pay for AC or extra petrol.”
“Any suggestions?”
“How about Bandstand. There are bound to be chaiwallas there.”
He started the engine and then had a thought. I raised my eyebrows.
“Would you get mad at me if I asked you a Genie question?”
I tried not to sigh. “Is it personal?” Who was I kidding. Every Genie question was personal.
“How come Genie isn't with you today?”
“What a silly question. Ask me the next one.”
“No. Seriously. How come?” Arief asked curiously.
“... I left home when he wasn’t around.”
Arief gasped in mock shock and I pounded him with my flimsy purse, angry with myself for being conned.
“Seriously, how could Genie bear to let you go out alone. Does he know about your money?”
I hesitated. “Yes. He knows.” Yesterday Genie had ordered all the groceries we would need... for a year, including sanitary napkins, soap and garbage bags. We had had an argument. Rather I had tried to argue and he had carried on cleaning the loft. Finally I told him the foodgrains would rot and gave him a list of the things he had missed and we needed. We had to return provisions because we didn't have place to store them.
The kiranawala came back, grinning knowingly at the two of us. How I hated that look. But just then a mosquito drove his skinny mouth into him and the shopkeeper screamed in pain. I grinned. My Nobby was a star – he had trained his friends to lurk and bite.
The kiranawala almost fell backwards. He had lost his goodwill with Genie too, because he looked daggers at the man. He hurried out and I closed the door.
I looked up and caught Arief watching me carefully. “What?”
“The talk is there's something going on between you.”
I opened the door, streaked across the road and ran into a side street. My phone rang. I could hear running footsteps behind me and panicked. I ducked into a building, ran up the stairs, heard faint footsteps, took the lift down and ran into the restaurant next door. There was a side entrance and I quickly exited through that and jumped into a rickshaw. No bus for me today. I felt my phone vibrate.
“Hey! What was that all about?!” Arief shouted.
“Some ground rules for you! Genie and I are friends and have known each other for years. He was protective then, more so now. If you want to put a different, dirty twist to it you can bugger off!”
“Just telling you what everyone's saying.”
“I KNOW WHAT EVERYONE'S SAYING AND IT’S LAZY CRAP!”
There was silence for a long time and I wanted to rage some more but also wanted to hear how Arief would apologise. Plus, I didn't want to be rude... to a friend.
“You didn't need to shout,” he said softly, sounding annoyed.
“Did you get the picture?”
He cut the line and I laughed.
******
I went back to the bank, not wanting to face Fish or Genie. I groaned. Arief and Genie were sitting on a low wall near a chaiwalla and sipping tea from small, murky glasses. What was it about men. The camaraderie between the two was unmistakable, yet an hour ago the goat was interrogating me about Genie. Bah!
I walked towards them and Genie smiled and ordered a tea for me. He made place on the wall, luckily on his other side. He was grinning from ear to ear.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
“I went to the aquarium.”
“Meet anyone we know?”
“Yes. Moby Dick and Rudy the shark. I watched them do the marine mammal waltz. The other fish cheered. Record turnout at Taraporevala Aquarium.” (Read about Rudy here https://viewfromthetopofthetank.blogspot.com/2019/09/fishy-chronicles-38-in-jaws-of-nightmare.html).
“Is that so?” Genie's dimples grew deeper.
“That is so. The internet is on fire. That is today's taaza khabar**.” I couldn't help it, I smiled.
He handed me my chai and the three of us clinked our glasses and said "cheers".
We took a sip and suddenly there was a loud sound of shattering glass and we ducked involuntarily. There was a crashing sound and I felt Genie's arm around me, pushing me into the ground and keeping me there. All about me I heard people screaming and running and angry shouts. I closed my eyes and kept them shut, feeling absolute terror.
(Continued in https://viewfromthetopofthetank.blogspot.com/2019/11/fishy-chronicles-44-bust-up-at-bank.html )
******
*Reserve Bank of India; ** Breaking news
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