CHAPTER 3

On that fateful day, Catherine was returning from her job. She had her wage on that day.

And she was in deep thoughts. She thought of her loneliness. Why should I go inside the room after all? How can I call it my home?

A house has to be a home to be called a home.

How long I have to live this way? Or why should I live at all? It is meaningless. I have every reason to die. I am a nobody. I have nobody and I am living for nobody. I can also do what my father did. But isn\'t it painful?

How to do it without pain?

The thoughts wandered in her brain like orphans. Coming and vanishing as and when they preferred.

And then she noticed the orphan of the street.

The full time beggar kid.

She did not know then of his newly acquired wealth.

The name. Shiva.

The old hag was going on abusing him. Ostensibly for having more than one father, but really for hiding a part of his begged wealth.

She was moving so fast that she slipped from his fathers to mother.

\'I lied that she died. She did not. She ran away with her thousandth customer. Throwing you away like shit. And now you stick to me like a wretched stink.\'

Cathy was aghast. What a foul language to a small boy!

\'Stop you, you devil\'s little sister.\' someone shouted at the hag.

It was the beggar -with a difference.

\'I am David\'s little daughter.\' The hag seemed a little afraid of him. She confused devil with her father.

\'Yes I agree.\' said the man laughingly.

The hag commenced her song again that Cathy interfered.

\'Why do you say like this to a child?\'

\'Child? He is no child. He is a bloody, stinking rascal.\' She turned to the boy. \'Isn\'t you?\'

The boy moved his head in assent.

Cathy felt ptiy surging within her for the boy. She touched his head and asked.

\'What is your name?\'

\'No name.\' Said the hag. \'If you want a name, call him bastard. That\'ll suit him.\'

When she stopped to breathe, the boy said softly.

\'Shiva.\'

But nobody heard him.

\'Are you his grandmother?\' Cathy asked the woman.

\'Oh. Noo. God save me from being his mother or grandmother.\'

\'Where is his mother?\'

Before anyone could answer, the boy pointed his finger towards the sky.

\'And your father?\'

\'They are everywhere.\' The hag said as if she has to hurry to pee just after finishing the sentence.

\'Who is everywhere?\' Asked Cathy.

\'His fathers. He has so many fathers.\'

\'Do you like to come with me?\' Cathy asked.

It was an impromptu question. The boy looked at her hopefully and then at the hag with big, terror -infested eyes.

\'Why? You want him? Are you any relative of him?\'

The old thing enquired. She looked at Catherine, as if she is a suspected criminal. A leer showed in her eyes.

The beggar with a difference got up and came near them.

\'Who else are there at your home?\' He asked Cathy. There was at rail of certain emotion in his voice, which normally found no place among the colony people.

\'I am alone.\' She said with downcast eyes.

\'Where do you stay?\'

She said it .She also said about her job. Said that her parents are no more.

By this time, the fading sun, the mild wind and the comparative calmness around had played theirt ricks upon her that she felt a deep desire to possess him.

Like a long-lost ornament of a dear, dead grandmother appearing unexpectedly.

\'Are you married?\'

\'No\'

\'Will he not be a burden, when you will get married?\'

No. She will marry him.\' the hag said \'ha, ha, ha, hag\' she pointed a finger towards the boy. \'A fine match it will be.\'

The man turned to her. He caught hold of her hair, pulled her up, and with his fist aimed at her nose, said in a cold, threatening tone: -

\'The next time you poke your ugly nose, I will so crush it that you will be breathing through your filthy mouth.\' He pushed her down. \'So sit quiet.\'

The hag was obviously frightened. She got up and walked away, cursing him under regained breathe.

Cathy looked at the man. Hiding behind the garb of a beggar, he looked a wise, respectable man. His gleeful eyes looked at her benevolently.

She opened herself up. Of her loneliness, of her house not being a home, of starving nights as she sometime felt it unnecessary to cook for her alone, of her filling eyes when she happen to hear the melody of loneliness, of the melancholy which creep into her soul during starlit nights, of the sense of loss she feels while seeing small children.

By the end of it, she became so emotional that tears filled in her eyes.

The boy looked at her in wonderment.

The old man moved near her and patted her shoulder.

\'Come on child. Don\'t cry. You will get the kid.\'

She lifted her face to look at him. Then turned her eyes towards the boy.

\'But will he not be a burden after your marriage?\' He asked again.

\'No. First of all, I don\'t intend to marry. And if it happens, well, I will see that the man will be acceptable to my child.\'

She lifted him up.

\'What is your name?

\'Shiva\' He said.

\'Oh. Is it your name?\' The man laughed.

\'Good name. Now, would you come with me?\' She asked.

He did not say anything. Simply looked at her.

And she waited anxiously, like a child waiting for her exam result.

Like she waited in the factory after her interview for getting appointed.

After scrutinizing her thoroughly like a newly found doll, the boy said:

\'Yes.\'

Then only she kissed him.

\'My sweet child.\' She said in his ear.

\'Now shall I â€¦.\' She hesitated to complete the question.

\'Yes. And good luck. He is a nice child.\' The man lifted the chin of the boy with his finger. \'Hear Shiva, from today, this is your mother. You will stay with her as a good boy. Will you not?\'

The boy nodded.

\'Will she come after us?\' Cathy asked.

\'Who?\'

\'That â€¦.. that old girl?\'

\'No, I will see to that. No one will come after you.\'

She walked. Her eyes filled again.

\'But now it was tears of joy.

Then she turned back and asked the man:

\'I forgot to ask. What is his age?\'

\'That I don\'t know. May be six. Anyway, now it does not matter. You decide it.\'

\'Thanks.\' She turned

\'And one thing.\' He said as an afterthought. \'Never bring him this way again\'

\'Why so?\' She was perplexed.

\'Oh. Nothing to worry. Just think and you will understand.\'

They walked ahead. She was happy for once. Now there is someone to be called as hers.

And Shiva was also happy yet confused.

Who is this? My mother?

As if sensing his thought, she said to him.

\'From to-day, I am your mom, who?\'

\'Mom?\' He enquired: \'What is mom?\'

\'Mom means mother. You call me mom. O.K\'

He moved his head in assent. But she could not see the movement.

She turned and bent over him

\'Will you not call me mom?\'

Now she noticed the positive movement of his head.

\'Then call me mom, Call me?\'

He called and she lifted him, turned around and then laid him upon her shoulder.

\'Call once more.\'

\'Mom\'

\'Again\'

\'Mom\'

\'O.K. Now come with me.\'

He walked beside her, holding her hand.

\'Are you my mother?\' He asked

\'I told you. No? From today, I am your mother. Your Mom.\'

\'My mother is dead.\' He said softly

\'So what? Now you have new mother.\'

\'And can I have a new father also?\'

It was an innocent enquiry, but she did not know what to say. She remained silent.

Anyway, he was happy. Having got the second thing in life. First the name and then a new mother. And that too a good mother. Mom.

But there were more surprises in store for him.

En route, she bought two pairs of dresses for him.

She bought them after asking his opinion.

In his short span of life, nobody had bought clothes for him. And that too, after asking his taste!

They reached her house. To her, it seemed different today.

It was a real home!

She changed her dress and made tea for them.

Tasteful, sweet, delicious tea for him.

While they were relaxing, she said:

\'Shiva is a good name. But let us change it.\'

\'Why?\' His silent look was more eloquent than a hundred words.

\'Because, we are Christians. No?

She used the word \'WE\', as if they were together from the beginning of the Universe.

\'What is Christian?\' He dared to ask.

\'It is our religion.\'

He simply looked at her.

Then she remembered that he probably do not have any idea about religion.

\'O.K. you will know all these later. When you will become a big man.

The boy smiled at his mom.

\'So from to-day onwards you are Lawrence,\' She said to him. \'And I will be calling you simply Larry.\' She touched his shoulders affectionately and looked into his eyes.

\'My dear, dear, little son, Larry.\'

\'Lorry\' He asked bewildered. \'I your Lorry?\'

\'No, No. It is not Lorry. It is Larry. It is a pet name. Short for Lawrence\'.

\'Oh.\'

\'Say it. Larry, La-rry, Larry.

He said it, cleverly, precisely

\'Good.\'

They both sat silent for quite a long time. In their worlds. But they were not alone there, since the other was very much present in each other\'s world.

\'Be happy with me\' The other \'she\' said to him.

\'I shall make you happy.\' The other \'he\' said to her.

She fed him. And he got the first real homely food in his life.

Later, when they were lying down awaiting sleep and their joyfulness was an insurmountable barrier blocking sleep to enter, she turned, touched him and asked softly:

\'Are you asleep?\'

He turned and lay on his back.

\'Have you ever gone to school?\'

\'No.\' He said.

\'Tomorrow I will take you to the nearby school and get you enlisted\'

\'Why?\'

\'To study. You will begin from first standard. You will be happy there with a lot of small Children like you. All of them will be your friends.\'

\'Now you sleep.\' She said after a while.

He turned and lay on his right side.

And she went on caressing him till she heard his peaceful, even breathing.

And she too slept. Calmly.

The next day after bathing and dressing him and after giving him food, she said.

\'Sit here for some time. I will return soon. And do not go out. O.K.?\'

\'Where you are going?\' He looked afraid. Thinking about sitting in the house alone was something to be afraid of for him.

\'Don\'t worry. I will come back soon. I have to tell the manager that I will not come for a week.\'

She walked fast and returned after an hour.

\'Were you afraid in any absence?\' As soon as entered, she asked him.

He moved his head to deny.

She felt disappointed. She wanted him to be afraid in her absence so that he won\'t run away from her.

\'No? Really?\'

The deep concern in her voice moved him. He blurted out, embracing her:

\'\'I was afraid.\'

\'Now I have returned. So don\'t be afraid. And remember. It is our home and nothing to be afraid of.\' She fondled his curly hair. \'And now get up. Let us go to school.\'

The school was prepared to take him in.

But there was a little problem.

His name was Lawrence all right.

And she was his mother.

Thankfully, they did not ask much about his father.

When she was silent on that subject, the teacher looked at her and consoled her.

\'Do not worry. These things happen now-a-days. Husbands desert poor women, without even bothering about the kids. To them, they will be as good as dead. O.K. We will record him as not alive.\'

It was an added advantage to them that the teacher was a spinster, who abhorred men for some irremovable stain in her life and was now a confirmed women\'s lib-ist.

But she needed a date of birth for him.

Catherine was not prepared for it.

But she was bent upon getting him admitted in that school, where there was such a nice teacher as headmistress.

She used all her smartness to count backwards and came forward with a plausible date of birth for him.

Just completed five years.

The teacher looked at him from top to bottom. He felt a mild shiver pass through him. It was the first time in his life that he was subjected to such a close scrutiny.

The teacher realized that is it an imaginary date of birth. The conjurer had peeled off one or more years from his life, just by faking his date of birth.

But the lib-ist did not mind.

\'Thank God, that no documentary evidence is being sought in this area.\'

She recorded it.

\'O.K. Now let us take him to the class. Come.\'

The teacher extended her hand towards him.

He hid behind his mom.

\'Are you afraid?\' Cathy asked him.

\'Yes.\' He said.

The teacher extended her hand again, but he moved away, stuck to his mom, embracing her with both hands.

Catherine felt dews of joy flow from his fingertips and sweep through her body. She felt refreshed and holy-fied. He loves me. As his own mother. He does not want to be with anyone else.

\'Shall I take him back today? She asked \'I promise to bring him tomorrow without any problem. I shall convince him. Please.\'

\'O.K., O.K., take him back and tell him not to fear.\' The Lib-ist got up.

Cathy came out with him. She walked slowly, with him beside. His clothes were darkish, but inside were all smiles. So grand. He is mine. Only mine.

\'Tomorrow you will have to sit in the class. Agree?\'

\'Yes.\' He said.

\'Then only you will become the big man I like you to be.\'

\'\'But they are all big.\' He said as if to himself.

\'Who?

\'There.\' He said pointing his finger.

She understood. A part of his mind is still in his old world.

\'Forget all that. I did not say about that bigness. You have to become big like great big people.\'

He did not know any great big man.

\'And listen. Now you are five years old. How much?\'

\'Five\'

\'And you have your date of birth\'

She told him the date.

\'Do not forget. Ever.\'

\'What?\'

\'Your date of birth.\'

\'Where is it?\'

She laughed. \'It is something you cannot see. It is there.\'

He was wonderstruck. He has something as his own, yet he cannot see it!

Like his names.

First it was Shiva and now it is Larry.

Not Lorry.\' He reminded himself and smiled spontaneously.

And mom said some other name too.

She said it to the teacher also.

\'What is my name, Mom?\' She was closer to him when he added \'mom\', he realized.

\'Lawrence, law -ren-ss. Tell it.\'

He said it correctly.

\'Now tell it a few more times, so that you won\'t forget it. Tell.\'

He said it repeatedly. First slowly.

Then fast, fast, fast, fast

Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence.

\'What is your name?\' She asked.

\'Lawrence\'

\'Good\'\'

\'And Larry?\'

\'That only I will call. Your mom. Mom calls me Larry. You will have to say. And what is your Mom\'s name?\'

He was ignorant of it. Never thought that she too has a name.

\'Mom.\' He said.

\'No. It is not my name. It is our relation. Mom and son. Son and Mom. You son, I Mom.\'

\'Then what is your name?\'

\'Catherine. Tell it.\'

He said it.

\'Repeat it. My mom is Catharine.\'

\'My mom is Catherine, Catherine, Catherine.\'

\'Will you forget it?\'

In reply, he said: \'Catherine, Lawrence\'s mom.\'

\'Very nice\'

He went on reciting it. Upwards and downwards.

\'\'Lawrence, Catherine, Catherine, Lawrence.\'

\'I am also called Cathy,\' She said, \'Like my calling you Larry\'

\'Cathy, Larry, Larry, Cathy\' He sang.

Now he had many things as his own.

Instead of losing one name, he had two names.

And two Mom\'s names.

And a date of birth.

It seemed like an invincible magic wand to him.

Like the one he had seen once in the hands of a street Magician.

And he had clothes too.

Names, date of birth and clothes.

His possessions.

Which his blessed mom gifted to him.

The next day, they went to school.

He remained there and she waited at home. . At noon, he ate his food with other children.

And in the evening his mom came to receive him back. To take him to their home.

THEIR HOME.

The divine nest of two orphan souls, who came together by a stretch of imagination of destiny.

Within the week, he became accustomed to the life-tSyle. And was happy.

After one week, she sent him to school alone and went to the factory.

\'Why? What happened? You were absent the whole week. It never happened earlier.\' The proprietor enquired when he happened to be alone with her.

He was the new \'flattery orner\', the only son of his father, who was the \'flattery orner\' during her mother\'s time. He too was a fat and broad man like his dead father, but unlike the father, the son knew how to smile.

Whenever he happened to be alone with Cathy, lust poured from his eyes, which rolled all over her. At such times, his tongue touched his lips, so often, which otherwise was not his wont. However he never dared to think about her lustfully when he was alone, since his information about her fatherhood was smeared with specks of original sin of his father. So at such times, to be on the safer side, he placed her upon the pedestal for a half-sister. But in front of her, his resolve melted and due to some bio-chemical process,t ransformed itself as \'unfulfilled\' lust.

\'I was not well.\' She said

\'Oh. Are you all right now?\'

\'Yes.\'

\'I can see that. You are prettier now.\'

She went away.

But for his pseudos-ympathies, the work in the factory was peaceful and pleasant. And now at home also, it was just joyful.

Larry was also happy, even while at school. He was not very smart, yet smart to a positive degree.

He had twot ypes of people who taught him various subjects.

An elder group namely teachers.

The lads\' brigade called students.

The teachers taught him more in the lower classes and students taught him lesser. But in the higher classes, the students taught him more and on diverse subjects than the teachers.

The teachers taught him Language, Mathematics and a little bit of Science and History only.

The students taught him new words and new meanings of old words.

They guided him through new roads.

They explained to him about the vide scope of the art of spoonerism and ran practical classes for his benefit.

They advised him liberally on matters of spending pocket- money, which Catherine gave him liberally whenever she had to attend overtime works in the morning.

They taught him parodies of famous songs, often with a touch of vulgartiy.

And above all, they taught him physiology. Human Physiology in general and female body as the special subject.

Only in theory but so vividly they taught him the subject that he could visualize it all perfectly.

And that made him desirous of practical lessons.

Because he was a grown- up boy by now.

Fifteen years old as per school records.

And near seventeen years old as per God\'s book.

The Spinster madam had left the school long ago. She lived alone in a house near the school. Larry saw her now and then. She had lost all her teeth and almost all her hair. She was very thin and weak. He was almost sure that she never walked herself, but was driven by an invisible drift of air. A perfect grandmother without grandchildren. She always looked straight into his eyes, whenever he faced her. She seemed to be searching within him for the once upon a time Shiva. Thereupon he used to feel a void within himself, which she inevitably filled then and there with an all-gum smile. She never spoke anything to him and he believed that she has lost the art of speaking, along-with her last tooth.

He was sure that she lived only to remind him as to who he really was.

A beggar son of one mother and a number of fathers.

The thought made him gloomy and it lasted as long as he was away from his mom.

He was not a violent boy. But somehow, the juniors seemed to be afraid of him. He never quarreled with them or shouted at them.

Except once.

It was a small boy. Small in age and height, but big in body. Somehow or other, he always found excuses to beat the smaller kids.

A monster.

And one of his prey, in a helpless moment, ran towards Larry. The child hugged him, while pointing his finger towards the monster. He was very much afraid.

The monster, who was running after him, stopped seeing Larry, but spoke to the child tempting him to come and accept his beatings, like an affectionate fondling, which was his due. Larry looked at both of them alternatively and a jerk in some remote corner of his brain created a wild flash in front of his eyes, through which he saw the old hag and the child Shiva for a split second.

What happened next was beyond his cotnrol.

He lifted up the child, put him aside and moved menacingly towards the monster. His eyes seemed ready to jump out of their sockets. He caught the hands of the boy and jerked him towards himself.

Then he realized what he was going to do. He cotnrolled his hands, but the anger had found a place upon his tongue. And he shouted at the boy who was no longer a monster, but a terrified boy.

\'Next time you attack anyone and I will throw you upon this wall, where you will stick like red chewing gum. Understand?\'

And he released the boy, who escaped into the building.

The episode made a lasting impression upon the students that they started looking at him with a touch of fear. And overnight, the monster-boy became as timid as a lamb.

And Larry wondered about the changed attitude of the students. Probably, I have become a young man now, ahead of other students, he thought.

And he was right. The about-two years snatched from him by his mom had escaped from her grip and metamorphosed into a blackish, line above his upper lip.

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ADAM\'S SONS(English Novel- Chapter â€“ 3) BY KRISHNA