CHAPTER 6

On that day, when his mom had sensed his arrival at home without seeing him physically, Larry had been to his friend\'s house.

Whatever had been the vices of Rakesh, he was always like a well wisher to Larry. Larry too liked him and sought his advices on important matters. It was Rakesh, who advised him that it is more important to earn than to learn something which will never have any use in real life.

And it was the only house where Larry went now and then.

Rakesh was not at home.

â€œWhere is Rakesh?â€ He asked Lilly.

â€œI don\'t know.â€

She was obviously upset and he did not know how to continue. In fact, he was so perplexed that he could not decide whether to stay or leave. He thought for a while.

â€œCould I get some water?â€ He asked.

He had not shown such politeness in the past while speaking to her. Always, he treated her as a friend.

A friend\'s friend is also a friend.

A wife is supposed to be a good friend of her husband, along with being his life partner.

But to day, she did not act as a friend of Rakesh and so Larry had to be formal.

She looked at him curiously. He turned away his face from her scrutiny. Then a tired bud blossomed on her face.

Fetching water, she said smiling: Please have it.â€

He looked up at her face. While taking the glass from her, spontaneity blessed him with a warm smile and adorned her with a sweet blush.

The warmth of the smile and brightness of her sweet blush made the ice melt in the two adjacent, yet distant oceans. They were restive already, one with a sense of dejection and the other with a feeling of ignorance, but now, they suddenly felt that they are closer than ever.

â€œI have to know and console her.â€ He thought.

â€œI have to tell him.â€ She thought.

â€œWhat is the problem?â€ He asked.

For the last few weeks, he had a feeling that something was wrong there.

She took a deep breath.

â€œOh Nothing.â€ The typical way to say that there is something serious following.

Then she began it. Speaking about her married life. Their present day life. Her expectations in the past and disappointment of the present.

It was like the flow of a river. Starting itself as a small, shy rivulet it passed through various emotional layers of her mind, taking in all the hot and cold streams into it and finally becoming a multi-coloured, flooded river, roaring with anger and at the same time pulsating with an echo of a hidden rumble, which was nothing else, but her deep fear about the irretrievability of their marriage, which she wanted to hide from Larry.

Once her lamentation acquired the painful rhythm, it became more like her speaking to herself than to him.

A renowned actress rehearsing her roll of distressed heroine, while the deputy of the director was there to assess it without any right to interfere.

Suddenly she woke up to the surroundings. She saw Larry listening to her attentively and felt embarrassed in exposing her emotions in front of him. The dim shadow of a smile shone on her lips for a second and then faded away, substituting in its place a deep sadness.

A bubble of the original sympathy burst inside him and spread all over him.

The sympathy of a gentleman towards a lady.

The spontaneous unmasking of the inherent feelings of a male towards a weeping female mind and body.

He wanted to touch her, console her, and take her in his arms to console her mind and body together.

But before his foot took the first step, he checked himself.

A logical paradox.

A friend\'s friend is a friend.

A friend\'s mother is a mother.

But a friend\'s wife is not a wife.

Then what is she to him now?

How to handle the situation?

He could not leave her there alone. It will be cruelty.

He could also not handle the situation as every cell of his young body commanded.

How she will react?

And suppose Rakesh comes?

â€œDon\'t worry.â€ He said. There was a strange vibration attached to his voice, like the long tail of a kite. He tried to control the strings.

No way. It was there, not to subside. It had stuck to his throat like a boiled leaf from an ill-cooked soup.

She simply looked up at him.

But he believed that he saw a ray of expectation in her eyes. Encouraged by his own fantasy, he continued:

â€œIt may be all lies, simply lies. Whatever obscene stories you might have heard of him.â€

He enjoyed using the word â€œobsceneâ€, while speaking to her.

It was a twin -edged pleasure.

The pleasure of giving vent to his blooming libido.

To make her understand that he is a grown up man.

Ready to act in an emergency.

Yet, she seemed blind to his vibrations and to the feelers released by them.

But, in fact, she had understood him correctly. His eyes disclosed everything to her.

And the revelation made her happy.

After all, to be desired by somebody has a cooling effect on a mind boiling in the high temperature of loathing someone for stark betrayal.

But she did not show it up. Simply stood there waiting for him to proceed.

To proceed.

Like his being the advocate to plead her case in the proper forum.

Her female instinct warned her.

â€œBe alert. It is your life and honour, which is at stake.â€

He felt a sort of shyness now. Why she does not say anything? Did she not like it?

After all, I am the male.

â€œWhy you are not talking?â€ He asked

â€œIt is I who had done the talking so far. No? Now you talk.â€

The speck of vitality in her voice made him happy.

â€œWhat I said is that you need not worry too much about the so called stories about him. After all, people are jealous.â€

â€œJealous to whom? For what?â€

â€œHaving such a nice, beautiful wife.â€

He said it. He said it to her while he wanted to say:

â€œYou are nice. You are beautiful.â€

The two small sentences blended together to form two different sentences in their thoughts:

â€œYou are so sweet.â€ Her mind heard.

â€œI love you.â€ His mind seemed to have spoken out.

â€œAre you too jealous?â€ She asked him, with a twinkle in her eyes.

He was perplexed: â€œMe? Why?â€

â€œSame reason. Nice and beautiful reason.â€

He was silent. Silence means consent. He knew it.

â€œDo you think I am nice and beautiful?â€ She asked.

At lease for the time being, there was not even a trace of sadness in her voice or in her mood. And he congratulated himself for her recovery.

Happily, he said:

â€œOf course you are.â€ The force of assertion made his voice clink.

The over-enthusiasm in him was making her more and more curious.

â€œSo you too are jealous?â€

He smiled.

There was some movement on the small path leading to the house. He turned and she lifted her face.

Rakesh was coming.

A cloud appeared from nowhere and settled over her face like a grim mask.

A hesitant smile appeared from nowhere, washing off the remnants of his ecstasy.

Rakesh entered. A broad deep smile of satisfaction played on his smoke infested lips.

\'Hello Larry.â€ He roared, squeezing the shoulder of Larry and then took him in his arm. â€œWhen did you come?â€

â€œJust now.â€ Larry said, taking a shy, sidelong glance towards Lilly. He felt as having transformed himself from a Colossus to a Pygmy.

A huge star converted to a tiny satellite.

No more light of its own.

Embarrassed about his own nervousness in the presence of Rakesh, which was not a matter of importance to him till today, he separated himself from Rakesh.

â€œSo what is happening?â€ Rakesh asked.

â€œNothing.â€ Hurried Larry.

Rakesh looked at him squarely. Into his eyes. He had no reason to look like that, but after all, he was a mini-leader of a head load workers\' association where the maxim was that those who can threaten and control others can only become top leaders. And he wanted to be a top leader by toppling the present tops and so was practicing the art of threatening the non-leader category.

â€œLook into the eyes squarely and get the followers\' number cubed.â€

Larry winced under his square look. He was feeling guilty of going beyond limit with Lilly. Suppose she tells him and he sees through?

Rakesh suddenly turned to Lilly.

â€œWhy you are so serious?â€

She did not answer. Neither did her facial expression change a bit.

Rakesh, of course, knew the reason. After all, they quarreled over the subject daily.

â€œSo serious.â€ He taunted her looking at Larry. He was thinking that Larry will approve it. But Larry did not like it.

â€œI am going.â€ He said

â€œWait. I am also coming up to the market.â€

He went in and returned in a minute.

\'\'Let\'s go.â€ He said and walked towards the small path.

Larry looked at Lilly. And instantly became the happiest man.

Because she smiled at him. A secret smile, like the rays from a hidden treasure.

A smile, reserved for him.

It was like an â€œI love youâ€ hidden in a long letter.

Larry thanked her inwardly for the priceless smile, turned and reached near Rakesh. All these took hardly half-a minute.

When they were on the road, Rakesh said to him â€œI met Cathy today.â€

What is up? Larry wondered.

It was only to Rakesh that Larry had said his life story. The beg-innings. The abuses. The co-beggars. The old hag and the beggar-with-a-difference. The promotion from gutter to a lovely, loving lap.

The school.

Nobody had asked him to say it all. But he had to say to someone.

So he said it all to the person who treated him as an equal.

As a friend.

His wife gave him tea. Even during the absence of her husband.

It was the only home, other than his own, where he used to go.

And it was Rakesh, who was the only friend who had visited his home.

He trusted Rakesh and had said everything.

From egg to larva to pupa to butterfly.

From \'Boyee\' to \'He\' to \'Shiva\' to \'Lawrence alias Larry\'.

The story of transformations.

The story of a small boy with one mother and a number of fathers, as the old hag had explained.

Butâ€¦â€¦..

Why did he mention Cathy? After all, she is also a woman and he is a womanizer.

As Lilly was saying.

His premonition was substantiated by next sentence of Rakesh.

â€œShe is still a lovely dish.â€ He said and turned to Larry. â€œWhat is her age?â€

\'I don\'t know.â€ Larry said.

His irritation was clear in his words, but Rakesh had no time to notice such trivial matters.

â€œWhy did she not marry?â€ Rakesh asked. â€œAny misfired affair?â€

â€œI don\'t know.â€ Larry repeated. The first time, he wanted to run away from Rakesh.

Rakesh turned to him angrily. He realized that Larry did not like the talk.

But he was the leader. A leader should be capable to take his follower with him. By hook or crook. By intimidation or by admiration. By abetting or by abusing.

And Larry was the ladder to Cathy.

â€œThen what do you know?â€ Rakesh asked. His tone was a perfect mixture of curiosity (about her secrets), admonition (don\'t forget that you are a nobody) and amusement (Oh. Look, I was just joking.)

Select anything. And answer.

The first option will be better to me. To you too.

My mouth is watering.

But Larry was not in a mood to accept any option.

â€œI have to hurry.â€ He said.

â€œIs it all that you know?â€ He asked believing that it will be accepted by Larry as a joke, permitting him to proceed further to unravel his (and her) secrets.

â€œI don\'t want to discuss about her this way.â€ Larry said at last.

â€œWhy? What is wrong in it?â€

â€œAfter all, she is my mom.â€

â€œMom? Your mother? Rakesh laughed aloud. â€ How can it be? Mothers give birth to sons, not lift them from roadside.â€

Unintentionally, he had roused the most hated memory in Larry. Before he realized it, the words were out.

Larry hoped that he would not have told all the past history to this fellow. He is not as straightforward as I had believed. He repented.

His mind took a sudden leap to Lilly.

Poor Lilly.

â€œO.K. O.K.â€ Rakesh said in a patching -up tone. â€œI agree that you call her mom. But she is not your real mother. Is not that correct?â€

\'Yes.â€ Larry had to say.

â€œThere is nothing wrong or sinful in this. It is only a custom of convenience that you should not think such things about her. And then, she is not even your relative. Am I right?â€

â€œYes.â€ Larry was now thinking about Cathy. She is really beautiful. Why not Rakesh think of her? Why I don\'t like it?

He was afraid to think further.

â€œI had thought a lot about relations.â€ Rakesh was saying â€œNow, have you heard about Adam and Eve?â€

â€œYes.â€

â€œThey were the first humans. They had children too. No?â€

â€œYes.â€ Larry could not understand the drift of the conversation.

â€œTheir sons had also children. No?â€

â€œYes.â€

â€œIn whom?â€ Rakesh asked with such a broad smile, as if he was the winner of a jackpot.

Now Larry understood. He kept silent.

â€œTell me.â€ forced Rakesh.

â€œHis mother.â€

â€œYes, Mother or sisters or even daughters. It had to be that way. And they were our great grandparents.â€

â€œBut they had no choice.â€

â€œSo what? A sin is always a sin, if it is a sin. It does not matter whether there was a choice or not. Agree?â€

Larry agreed.

He felt that a burden is being taken away from his heart.

Lilly was not even his relative.

Cathy was also not his relative.

Our great grandparents did not see anything wrong or sinful in so-called incest.

â€œSo there is nothing wrong in what I asked. Do not worry. You have the freedom. And then think of her too. She too needs it all. In fact, women are more prone to such desires. But they cannot tell it to others. That is their curse. And we have to relieve them from that curse.â€ Said Rakesh. He was pleased with himself. Let Larry too think about her without any inhibition and act. After all, she too has desires. Let him fulfil them. He will not be able to hide anything from me. And thenâ€¦thenâ€¦.I will tell her to surrender. And she will have to, lest I may disclose her incestuous affair to someone.

Honey flooded his thoughts.

â€œI go.â€ Larry walked away.

â€œHurry up and think of what I said.â€ Rakesh said from behind. â€œEnjoy life and don\'t waste opportunities. You will have plenty and thank me after that.â€

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ADAM\'S SONS (English Novel-Chapter â€“ 6) by Krishna