When Rover was nearing Nandana Menike, her legs started trembling with fear. She screamed with her eyes closed.
"Oh! Child…!" you're now not a stranger to Rover… He is friendly with you… He is so playful… That's why… don't get scared…" Sandra consoled her.
Rover, when untied, was running here and there enjoying freedom to the maximum
"Please… take it away…!"
"Periyavar, put this into the kennel…" Nandana Menike felt cool when the dog was taken away by Periyavar.
"Don't get scared like that… it does not harm you… it is now friendly with you"
"Oh my god… what… friendly…? I would have been thrown away if it had jumped at me…!"
"Its eyes look very dangerous…"
"That's their nature…!"
Sandra listened to the angry expression of Rover when it was put into the kennel.
"Do you know… it is his language? It is scolding Periyavar for putting it back…"
Nandana Menike was waiting an appropriate moment to get to know Sandra's stance on black magic. Nandana Menike was surprised to learn that Sandra had no idea or understanding of black magic.
"That means there isn't any truth in black magic…?"
"I don't know about that… but I don't believe in those…"
Nandana Menike felt relieved after the chat she had with Sandra, which dispelled her fears about black magic to a great extent.
"I'll call you when I go there… ok…? I suppose you are coming here every day with Koinamma…"
Nandana Menike thought as to why she should come to the bungalow when there was none. Yet, in case Sandra phoned, she knew she had to come there.
"Grandma told that she had no idea of coming here until you come back…"
"Aha, that's true… why…. Is she to cook for Periyavar…? Ok… ok… I'll call you once Bernard comes back after the wedding…"
Nandana Menike shook her head in agreement.
"The time difference between here and there, I think, about five hours…"
Nandana Menike remembered the Social Studies subject, from which she studied about Green-which Mean Time and the differences of time among countries.
"The sun… dose it rise there earlier than here…?"
"Yes… if I call you from there by eight o'clock in the morning, the time here is about one o'clock…"
Nandana Menike understood her calculations were correct. The interest shown by Sandra towards the foreign tour was not visible on Bernard's face. He had to meet the Project officers and Valuation officers almost every day, since the valuations done for his properties were not sufficient. The Project office intervened in allocating compensations for the acquired lands and properties, which had been gazettes. Yet, to get the properties, which had not been gazette, assessed turned out to be creating endless problems. Bernard had to undergo a rigorous process in producing the deeds, street line reports, and other relevant documents to the Land Registry getting them compared and corrected along with the provisions given in the Gazette Notification. Bernard conceived that even at that crucial period, going abroad was a stumbling block. He was accustomed to spend his time light-heartedly. Yet, those matters made his mind rather restless and very often he lost his temper even for trivial matters. On some occasions, Nandana Menike observed that Sandra spent her time resentfully because of Bernard's hot-tempered behavior.
As planned, Bernard and Sandra left the bungalow to attend the wedding in Australia. The moment the vehicle went out of sight of Nandana Menike, her stay at the bungalow seemed to be a world of stress.
Koinmenika, entering the house, decided not to join the Ulhitiya journey and made necessary arrangements and asked Kapilasena to represent her. Some trucks had been arranged by the Project office to provide transport facility for the villagers to get to the Ulhitiya scheme next morning. Since the trucks were to leave by 6.00 am, Koinmenika expected her niece to help her to keep all the documents ready.
"Menike… prepare a letter getting details from Bappa…"
The ownership of the blocks of lands was given only to the names of the chief occupants of each family. In the recipient list, Koinmenika's name was there and her presence was mandatory to accept the deed of the new block of land. But, since she had decided to send Kapilasena for that, she had been instructed by the Project officers to submit a letter entrusting the responsibility to the representative.
"If I write that you can't go there because of your illness… Is it alright…?"
"Yes… yes… I also told the same…" Kapilasena too agreed with her suggestion.
"Anyway take the identity card along with you…"
"That's not necessary… if you write the reference number in it, that would be enough…"
Kapilasena was rather reluctant to take Koinmenika's identity card thinking of the difficulty of protecting it, if he happened to stay there a couple of days.
"I suppose… the village officer is also going there…" Koinemenika knew that his presence was necessary and he had a responsibility to be a part of that demarcation process representing his division.
"The Village officer told that he would be going there the day after with the other group of the division…"
"Gunadasa has been given the responsibility to be in charge of our group…"
Gunadasa, the postman was Samantha's father.
"Those also going means… we have to live close by even in Ulhitiya…?" Yasawathi hinted out that Gunadasa becoming a neighbor in the new territory could be problematic.
"Why, Yasawathi… can't you remember…? Once the Village officer mentioned at a meeting that our re-settlements would be done in the same order as we find here…" Koinmenika related a past incident.
Yasawathi couldn't resist peeking at her daughter. Nandana Menike had turned her eyes to the letter while her mind was engrossed with the urgency of getting some information about Samantha. She was wondering of a possibility of conveying at least a message through someone. Yet, everything seemed beyond realization. Suddenly, an idea struck her mind. There was a possibility of Samantha joining his father going to Ulhitiya with the villagers. She thought it would be a great opportunity to convey her decision of giving up the idea of doing the O/L exam again. She planned to get her message across through Kapilasena as he was supposed to go to Ulhitiya.
"Is it alright if I write like this Bappe…? Showing the letter, she asked for any further clarifications.
Nandana Menike's attempt to tell something about Samantha to Kapilasena, avoiding Koinmenika and Yasawathi, was unsuccessful.
She finally decided howsoever to send a message to Samantha through Kapilasena by following morning. Getting up early in the morning, Nandana Menike was attentively listening to the voice that came from outside.
She heard Kapilasena clearing his throat. She slowly got down from the bed and went to the kitchen with the idea of going out through the kitchen door. Since it had not been locked, she turned her eyes towards her mother's room. The door of that room was closed. Previous day, grandma came to her room late in the evening. Nandana Menike thought that she had forgotten to shut the kitchen door. In the meantime Kapilasena switching off the lights of the old house came out lighting the torch, to go to the water spout. Expecting his return after his wash, Nandana Menike decided to wait for him. She sat down on the knee-high ledge of the old house.
With a fresh mind, she enjoyed the serenity and calmness of the surrounding. She thought of informing Samantha of her idea of attending an English class shortly. Nandana Menike turned her head as she heard a soft groaning from the direction of Kapilasena's room. She was deep in thought for a moment as she could not make it out properly. She again suspected that the dog could have crept under the bed. To clear her mind, she opened the half-closed door and turned on the switch of the light. She was shocked to find her mother lying on the bed in supine position sleeping deeply. Only the blouse was there on her body; that too remained unhooked exposing the breasts, which had inclined to either side. She couldn't compose her mind on anything as she got lost in the world of bewilderment. She couldn't believe her eyes and felt whether it was a dream. In desperation she closed the door and left the room.
Yasawathi was awaken by the sound of closing the door and looked around wiping out her eyes. The light of the lamp greatly disturbed her sleep. She got up and put on the blouse and cloth properly which was on the edge of the bed. She wore her disarranged hair in a bun. In the meantime Kapilasena entered the room pushing the door.
"Why did you keep the light on…?" Yasawathi questioned him as soon as he came inside.
He stood motionlessly thinking for a while. He could remember switching off the light before he went out. Yet, he couldn't exactly tell her whether he did so or not and remained silent. He took the sarong, which had been kept aside to wear for the journey, and got ready as he didn't have much time left behind.
"Shall I prepare some tea…?"
He shook his head in agreement.
Nandana Menike opened the door of her mother's room and switched on the light. There were no signs to be traced to show that she had been sleeping on the bed. Nandana Menike felt like losing her balance as she trembled with anger. She went back to her room and found grandma in deep sleep. She couldn't breathe and found her entire body was on fire when the supine position of her mother on the bed haunted her mind. Though Nandana Menike had not heard of her illegitimate birth was due to her mother's misconduct, it was a well-known secret, which was frequently passed from mouth to mouth at school as well as in the society. Kapilasena, who was the son of Koinmenika's eldest sister, was a brother in terms of kinship. Nandana Menike thought that such physical relationships could never be approved and were considered to be sinful acts. That type of thing should never happen and the culprit was none other than her mother. Nandana Menike could recall many occasions how her school mates cracked jokes referring to Kapilasena's stay at her place at the beginning. She thought they were neither lies nor baseless stuff. She realized how unethical her mother was when she mercilessly interfered with the cordial relationship she had with Samantha. She behaved like a maiden or a paragon putting the blame on them. Yet, she proved herself how exemplary she had been as a mother. Nandana Menike asked questions herself breathing heavily.
Kapilasena left for Ulhitiya early morning. Yasawathi entered the house through the kitchen door. She walked up to her room and found the door was open. She was perturbed and looked around. She was quite sure that she had finished all the household work and after everybody had retired to bed, she switched off the light and went to Kapilasena's room. She noticed that even though the lights were not on in Koinmenika's room in which Nandana Menike also slept, there was some light coming in from the sunrays through the window panes. Yasawathi saw her daughter lying on the bed in supine position stroking her forehead thoughtfully. Yasawathi felt that her mind was on fire as she realized that her relationship with Kapilasena was no longer a secret.
* * *
Going to the slope behind the house, Koinmenika called out Yasawathi many a time looking at the water spout direction. Since there was no response, she herself went to the water spout and learnt that Yasawathi was not there. Koinmenika was wondering as to why Yasawathi went out without telling anybody. Next Koinmenika went to her niece to learn whether she had been informed of her mother's sudden change. Yet, she found that Nandana Menike was still asleep.
"Menike… Menike…"
Nandana Menike was awakening by grandma's unusual call.
"Did your mother tell you something…?"
Her question was a puzzle for the niece. Nandana Menike looked at her grandma's restless nature and at that moment the morning scene flashed through her mind.
"Where's mother…?"
"That's what I'm also asking…! Can't see anywhere…"said Koinmenika looking around.
"May be at the water spout…"
"I went there too…! No clue…"
Koinmenika, thinking for a moment, went out of the room and entered Yasawathi's room. Nandana Menike, being unable to comprehend anything followed her grandma. The cloth Yasawathi had been wearing last night was seen lying on the bed.
"It seems she too has dressed up and gone…! Why did she go like that without telling…?"
Nandana Menike guessed that her mother had dressed up and left home. Puzzling over the unresolved matter, Koinmenika took a quick peep under the bed. She found that her suitcase of clothes was also missing. Grandma turned her eyes towards her niece with a mark of utter confusion.
"Not even the suitcase..!"
Nandana Menike also took a quick peep and admitted what grandma said.
"All of a sudden, why did she go…?"
"I wonder whether she went with Bappa to Ulhitiya…" Nandana Menike guessed that being unable to face her; she might have gone with Kapilasena.
"With the suitcase…?" Koinmenika could not believe Yasawathi's disappearance with the suitcase.
Nandana Menike without responding headed towards the old house. As she guessed, she could find the suitcase lying on Kapilasena's bed. Koinmenika opened it and held a quizzical look at it.
"She has taken away two three pieces… You see daughter… What sort of a woman she is…? Without telling anybody… do women go like this…?" A feeling blended with utter disappointment was etched on her tired face. Nandana Menike had a glance at Kapilasena's bed, which had been arranged neatly.
"Did she talk about the new land with you…?" To answer grandma's question, the niece needed no words. Koinmenika went out of the room murmuring something, which nobody could understand.
Nandana Menike was more astonished to learn about the non-availability of any clue to trace their intimate relationship. Nandana Menike finally came to a conclusion that the unlimited freedom they had during day time, when both grandma and she were at the bungalow, may have given rise to establish a relationship of that nature.
A seed of guilty feeling was planted in Nandana Menike's heart as she thought whether grandma and she created a background for them to make love disregarding the fraternal bonds. Despite mother's deformity on her face, her hands and legs still looked flawless with an eye-catching hue. Though Bappa was one year younger to her, he had a matured look beyond his age. Nandana Menike failed to understand her mother's blindness to have an intimacy with such a skinny person with sunken eyes.
Yasawathi may have realized that her daughter was well aware of her conduct and as the last resort, to avoid the people at home; she should have gone with Bappa. It was quite understandable that she had taken that move as she had no other alternative other than going to Ulhitiya. Nandana Menike thought that her mother should have taken that decision with much difficulty. Yet, that decision itself was an invitation for the creation of more troubles. Going that way with the villagers would provide more incentives for more gossips. Besides, knowing the fact that Samantha's father also going on that journey with his father filled her heart with more pain.
Nandana Menike's trance was disturbed by the sound of Bernard's vehicle. She had a puzzled look at it. The people who were supposed to leave the country last evening and their abrupt return before twenty four hours passed sank Nandana Menike's mind in the sea of perplexity. She went out to clear her mind and noticed that he was having a conversation with grandma.
"Grandmother… Why…?"
Another problem crept into her mind with the sight of Bernard. By the time she neared the stile; Bernard had finished his chat with grandma and got into the vehicle.
"Why… why Grandma…? (Grandmother) Any problem…?" Nandana Menike repeated the question being unable to understand grandma's silence.
"Only Sandra Hamu has gone abroad with Loku Hamu… (Sandra's mother) Yesterday while going to the airport, the valuation officers had informed that they would be coming to the three tiered bungalow today to meet him… Now keeping everything aside we have to go there…"