Following my cousin Sarah’s pen kaanal (viewing of a prospective bride, FC80), I was buttonholed by my cousin sisters who felt I had some inside information.
Of
course, I couldn’t tell… because I hadn’t had an inkling of what had been going
on or what was going to happen.
But
thereafter the vibes in my grandfather’s house turned positive. Everyone seemed
excited and happy. Only there was a fly in the ointment. In a manner of
speaking.
It seemed Sarah’s parents, my father’s
oldest brother Georgiechyan and his wife Anniemama, had dragged their feet in
telling their younger daughter about Sarah’s betrothal. My uncles and aunts
hinted at it, and finally it took a sarcastic joke from Sarayumama for my uncle
to make that call.
Only someone beat him to it.
For a few days, I wasn’t able to pin
down Sarah chechi. And somehow I felt she didn’t want me to. I tried to stick
as closely to her as possible, leaving home to go to church with her on Sunday
morning. At church I saw a cute boy and sat in a spot where I could watch him
without getting noticed – I stared straight at the Achen (priest) but could see
the boy without turning my face.
Of course, I stopped thinking he was
cute the instant his right index finger pushed into his right nostril and then
rooted around his left. I concentrated on the Achan. After the blessing, I saw
not-so-cute-boy-now stick the fingers of his right hand into the lamp of holy
oil and smear it on his forehead. It took a hard shove from one of my cousins for
me to go near the lamp. I dipped my fingers in the opposite side of the lamp. I
glared at the boy’s back, but lost interest when Sarah and one of Johnny’s
cousins bobbed into view. They seemed to be sharing pleasantries near one of
the church’s side entrances. Sarah turned her head to look into the church and
started when our eyes met. She immediately began walking towards the church’s
main gate.
I ran after her, “Wait, Sarah chechi,” I
said after I thought my cousin was going to attempt a sprint.
“Got to get home.”
“To cook?”
My cousin stopped at my sarcasm. “Hmm.
You’re right. Why hurry.”
“You took the crossword!”
“So I did.”
Was I hearing right? “Why did you tear
it out of the newspaper?”
“I don’t tear crosswords. I do them and
return them to the pile.”
I looked at her in disbelief. “So why
should the crossword you worked on with Johnnychyan just disappear… whe-when it
hasn’t disappeared ever.”
“I find it strange too.”
I felt frustrated. “Do you think
Pilipochyan read it?”
“Why would he tear it out?”
“It may have been incriminating… if
someone were to read it.”
“What’s incriminating in crossword
clues.”
“Yes. I’m wondering that too.”
“Keep wondering. But don’t waste too
much time on it.”
I stopped following Sarah. Clearly she
was going to stonewall me. So, I dragged my feet and walked behind Sarah, who
turned around and grinned at me every now and then.
At home, I was changing out of my Sunday
clothes and saw my mother’s bible on the dressing table. A sliver of a
newspaper was sticking out. My mother’s Bible sometimes held letters she wanted
to read several times, before they were either stored or destroyed, and her
grandfather’s obituary. She took it out occasionally while reading the Bible in
the mornings, stared at his face and quickly slipped it into the back.
No one would think of touching or
looking through Sarah’s Bible. But would she keep the crossword there?
I peeped through her doorway. My cousin
was shutting the door in my face, getting ready to change into her home clothes.
I couldn’t see her Bible.
I couldn’t go sneaking into my Uncle’s
room or open cupboards. This time I had to kill my curiosity.
******
That day I got to stay up all night –
legitimately. My grandfather, in a mellow mood, allowed me to watch a movie.
Everyone had gone to bed and I had begged him. He waved his hand at me, smiled
and said, “Keep the volume low, don’t let Ammachi… or Sarayumama… hear.” I had
smiled eagerly and nodded.
The movie was in a language I couldn’t
understand – Korean or Japanese – but it had subtitles. So I switched off the
lights and stretched out on the red sofa to watch. Only when the movie ended,
my mind wandered and I dreamed of cute boys and mean girls. I slipped off the
sofa and lay on the cool floor, basking in a pool of moonlight, dozing, feeling
too lazy to get up and go to bed.
Until I heard one of the doors open.
I hesitated, wondering if I needed to
hide – after all I had taken Appachan’s permission to linger past my bedtime.
But what if it was Mobby… going to meet Sonimol chechi (FC74).
I crawled quickly behind the curtain
nearest the bookcase – which was mercifully free of dust now because everything
in the sitting room had been washed before Johnny’s family had turned up to
meet Sarah. I let out a breath. It was Sarah creeping forward. I had to stop
this midnight meandering – it was not good for my nerves.
Sarah sat on the red sofa and picked up
the telephone. She unlocked the phone with the number code and began to dial.
She dialled a couple of times and then the voice came through. Sarah and her
sister Rebecca spoke. In the silence of the night, I could hear the
conversation clearly from where I stood.
“Who is he?” Rebecca asked.
“Johnny, a guy from church. Works in Mumbai.”
“You’re okay with it?”
“Yes. He’s nice. Different. Cool. Plus,
he kind of proposed, only there was no privacy with Miss Slingshot about. She
almost, almost figured out what was going on.”
Rebecca laughed and said something rude
about being more intelligent than necessary. I was beginning to get worked up
at the name calling and the insults, when Sarah said, “We have too many stupid
cousins. A sensible girl is a welcome change.”
“Hmph. Too smart for her own good.”
“You mean too dumb not to hide it,” both
girls laughed. What did that even mean?
Suddenly, Sarah was slamming the phone
down and charging towards me. She bumped into my body and gave a short scream.
It took a couple of seconds for her eyes to make out it was me and then she was
behind the curtain with me, whispering furiously, “You idiot! What are you
doing here!”
“Shhh!”
We held our breaths. Through the
curtain, we could see Mobby enter the sitting room and look about slowly. He
looked like a shady lothario in the moonlight. Tonight he had taken the trouble to dress – he was in a light blue torso-hugging
t-shirt and a pair of trousers – not his usual nightclothes. Maybe he was going
to flirt today.
When he moved into the store room, two
hands gripped my upper arms, making me gasp with pain. “What is he up to?”
Sarah demanded.
“No idea, Chechi.”
“Bullshit.”
“Aiyyo, Chechi, don’t swear.”
I thought she would hit me, but then I
heard a chuckle. “Tell me the truth.”
“I don’t know, Chechi.”
“Liar. You know everything. Where is he
going?”
“You should check.”
“He's going out?”
“Maybe he’s going to take a leak.”
“There’s a toilet next to his room.
“Oh.”
“Is he going out to smoke?”
“Maybe. Sure. Probably.”
My cousin was glaring at me, behind the curtain.
Good. Tit for tat.
But maybe a dose of Sarah was what Mobby
needed. “Let’s follow him,” I said in a hoarse whisper.
“Why?”
“He shouldn’t be creeping about at
night.”
“Just like you shouldn’t.”
“Nor you.”
Another chuckle. And silence. This was a Sarah thing -- her silence made people blurt out stuff they wouldn't ordinarily. I focused on a spot over her shoulder and let my mind empty its thoughts -- now I understood what my yoga teacher meant. Some moonlight squeezed through the curtain's weaves and I waited for Sarah to blink. She snorted and threw the curtain off herself. She reached out and twisted my ear hard.
“OUCH!” I held my ear tightly. She could
inflict more pain than Ammachi!
“That’s for lying,” Sarah said coolly.
“Pot calling kettle black!”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean,” I mimicked. “Miss
Slingshot almost figured it out. So you and Johnnycha were writing messages
to each other on the crossword. How convenient that I didn’t know how to read
Malayalam.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t know how to read Malayalam. Three days on you still don’t know the language.”
I took deep breaths, while my cousin
held her stomach and laughed silently. I started walking away. Sarah grabbed my
wrist. “We’ll wait and see what Mobby is up to.”
“Strange you would want to spy on him
when you don’t like anyone knowing anything about you,” I grumbled, trying to
break Sarah’s hold. Finally I gave up and stood still.
“You’re right, mol. Ordinarily I would
have called someone a hypocrite for such behaviour.”
“And?”
“And I think it is fishy for Mobby to
lurk about at this time of the night. Also, I did not hear the kitchen door or
store room door open, or the back door. The keys are usually with Ammachi.”
“She keeps them under her pillow.”
“Did she give them to Mobby?
“No. She doesn’t trust anyone with them.
Not even Sarayumama or Sarojmama.”
“No spares?”
“Yes. With Appachan.”
“The fortress we can’t conquer.”
I stayed silent. Appachan and I had been
having a rapprochement of sorts and he did let me watch a late-night
foreign-language movie. I could not diss him so easily.
Sarah put her arm around me and pulled
me into a quick surprise hug. “Shall we go and see what Mobby Prick is up to?”
I started, wondering if Sarah had
figured my rude pet name for Mobby and was toying with me. Or maybe we thought
the same way about our cousin.
I knew what Mobby was up to. But I was
curious about Sarah’s reaction.
We started
moving to the middle storeroom’s doorway. I told her to remove her slippers so
that we didn’t make noise. She grinned, “You’ve got experience, mol.”
“I’m
sleepy. I’m going to bed.”
Sarah
grabbed me and held me still. I tried to stay pokerfaced. She needed me. And
she didn’t want to do this alone. She let go of me and put her slippers in the
pile near the doorway.
We
heard the faint sounds of the latch on Sonimol chechi’s door tapping twice and
Sarah stiffened and her eyes bulged in shock. We could see because of the weak
light in the work room leading to the kitchen and to Sonimol chechi’s room. The
room had large windows, which were closed at night, and a long bench at the
side. At one end was a toilet and the servant’s room next to it.
Sarah
was racing through the storeroom towards the light. I heard the door to
Sonimol’s room open, low murmurs and sudden kissing noises, the door creaking open
wider and then shutting. I felt dread. Things seemed to have progressed since I
last intercepted Mobby (FC74). We heard giggles and a shushing noise. I reached
the door. Sarah was outside it, standing still. Then she put her ear about a
centimetre from the door, listening. As I approached, she straightened, her body stiff, her hands stuck to her sides and her fists
curled tightly. When I looked at her, I felt frightened.
I
caught her arm and shook my head. I pulled her away. She shook my arm off when
we were in the storeroom. “What!”
“If
you tell or make a noise, they’ll only blame Sonimol chechi.”
“They’re
both in the room. That means both will have to face the consequences.”
“No
one will punish Mobby. But Sonimol chechi will be sent home… and her family is very
poor.” I had done some thinking. I had talked to Sonimol chechi and knew that
she was the only person in her family working, her mother was ill, her father was dead and
she had a little sister in school.
Sarah
shook me off and marched to Sonimol chechi’s door. I grabbed her waist and
tried to pull her back, she turned around and we began to wrestle. We lost our
balance and fell on the bench and it, and we, started falling forward. The
bench pushed backwards and slammed into the wall. Sarah pushed her body into
it, her knees pressing into the ground and her body leaning backwards to hold the
bench still. We untangled slowly, awkwardly, and set the bench back upright as
quietly as we could. We held our breaths. The noises inside Sonimol chechi’s room
had stopped and the light had been switched off.
We
straightened and waited. Sarah pushed me backwards, but I resisted. So we went
back into the storeroom.
“I’m
going to stay there a bit. You go back to your room, mol.”
“No,
Chechi, I beg of you! Ammachi will send Sonimol chechi back. They might beat her.
Mobby is a bastard and will have just had his fun. No one will punish him.”
“Shhh!
Appachan will wake up,” she pointed at his door, which we could see from where
we stood in the storeroom.
“I’m
not going.”
She
tried pushing me out of the storeroom, but I resisted. She lifted me and tried
to carry me out into the corridor, but I jammed my feet against either side of the
doorway and we struggled, not making any headway.
“You
junglee,” Sarah muttered. “How did you become such a boy!”
I
didn’t respond. When I continued to disobey, my body suspended in mid air, she
eased her hold on me.
“We
need a plan,” Sarah said.
“What?”
“We
get him out and end it.”
Duh.
“How?”
“You
let me handle it.”
I
laughed.
“Shhh!
You nutcase. Do you have a better idea?”
“I
do. But it involves violence. Can’t you think of anything?”
“I
don’t know. But I don’t want anything to happen in there,” her thumb pointed
behind her.
“What
might happen?”
She
opened her mouth to say something, but shut it. I knew Mobby was in there for
sex. But maybe Sarah thought a romance was still in the process.
“Let’s
listen through the door,” I suggested.
“You
shouldn’t.”
“Why
not?”
“It’s
not for little kids.”
Yeah,
right. I ran past her and back to Sonimol’s door. Now I could hear whispers. I
waited and felt Sarah next to me.
We
stood on either side of Sonimol chechi’s door, staring at each other and keenly
listening to the silence in the closed room. I wasn’t going to leave until
Sarah did.
It was a long wait.
******
This series is fictional and follows the narrator who is remembering events related to a family vacation in Kerala during her childhood.
Her cousin Sarah refuses to divulge the secret behind the missing newspaper crossword. But things get out of hand with the narrator's night-time rambling.
Read the entire The Webs We Weave series here
******
#fiction #keralasyrianchristians #lifeinakeralavillage #arrangedmarriage #penkanaal #FishyChronicles #mumbaimalayalis #crossword #malayalam #koreanfilm #japanesefilm #foreignlanguagefilm
Nice one, sensitively written.
ReplyDeleteI'd have done the same thing with the oil or just pretended to touch it.
Amazing how you keep the suspense going every time..... Love it
ReplyDelete