The Orphanage Page #2

• Short story

								

“Why are you not coming? I'm reluctant to leave you alone to a horrible death. Do come with me! The world is wide and both of us are young. I'm confident that we can conquer great things if you are by my side,” implored the stranger. 
“This old shack is the only straw I can cling on to. With this hut gone, there's no point in saving my life,”  she said adamantly.
“I’m not eager to die. Please show me the way. I'm gonna go, if you accompany me or not. Before leaving the cottage, I must bury this suitcase.”
“What is inside it?”
“I can't tell you that. The secret is not mine. Where can I bury it?”
“You know there isn't any dry ground around.”
“Let's bury it in one of your rooms!”
“How dare you propose that? To dig the floor is unthinkable!”
“If the road breaches or not, your cottage is going to collapse.  Please let me bury this burden inside and escape in peace!”
Gem felt pity for the man. Any more argument against digging the floor will only delay his escape. Let the fine young man escape death!
So, she entered a lean to  from the kitchen and approached the young man with a pickaxe and a shovel and said, “dig a pit in this lean to without any delay. It'll be easy to dig a hole here because the floor isn’t concreted. If you escape and if this cottage survives, you should repair the damage yourself.”
The young man put down the suitcase and started digging. It was easy to dig into the earthen floor and soon dark soil started accumulating in a corner. 
Suddenly, the pickaxe hit something metallic. 
“What’s it,?” àsked the young man. 
“I don't know. Take it out whatever it is,” she said cautiously. 
In another minute, a trunk, rusted and padlocked, came out with loose soil on it. The young man somewhat cleaned the rusted trunk with the shovel.
In another two minutes the man completed digging a two-foot pit spacious enough to bury the suitcase. The young man lowered the suitcase into the pit and hurriedly filled the pit and consolidated the loose earth with his feet. 
“Now you walk ahead with your trunk and show me the way,” said the young man.

                  ***

Gem was certain that the trunk contained valuables like bundles of currency notes and hordes of gold.
Uncle Suku had told  her that her late mother must have had a hidden fortune saved from her income intended to marry her daughter to a respectable household. Gem was beautiful, and with a good dowry to offer, her mother Kali hoped to ensure a bright future for her daughter. Many of the customers coveted Kaly’s teenaged daughter, but she would turn down the overtures quite sternly; she hoped that Gem would be a respectable wife and mother when she grew up. Her profession was stigmatic  not only for her daughter but also for any female. 
When her mother learned that her daughter was in love with a youth called Domni, a teenager like Gem, staying with his maternal grandparents during his vacation, Kali’s reaction was nothing short of anger bordering   insanity. She threatened to kill her daughter and commit suicide. Soon she learned that her daughter’s lover had left the place at his relatives’ intervention; they weren’t ready to mutely witness their boy’s affair with the daughter of the village prostitute.
In India, every bride is expected to be a virgin. Even if she is known to have had a close friendship with a man, her prospects of getting married to respectable family becomes bleak. An unwed mother had no chance to find a husband, how beautiful she is.
However, when Gem’s mother discovered her daughter’s four- month-old pregnancy, she didn't make much fuss; she simply took her daughter to a gynecologist. The doctor told her that the pregnancy was too late to be aborted, and advised her to wait till she gave birth. 
Thereafter, Gem wasn't allowed to go out to keep the pregnancy a secret. 

The labor pain was so intense and, as soon as the baby was born, she fell into a coma. On coming to herself after an hour, Gem felt the bed for her baby. Gem asked Kaly, who was keeping vigil over her daughter, where the baby was.
“It was stillborn and I  buried it in the bamboo jungle,” said Kaly. “Don't fret over the child. It so happened because you are too young to be a mother,” she added.
It was, after all, Domni’s baby and she would have loved to rear it in the place of Domni who would never return.
All along, the pregnant girl cherished the days spent with him, roaming the desolate slopes, filled with rocks and bamboo jungles. He’d say that he had never seen any female as beautiful as Gem. He'd praise her large beautiful eyes and the cascading hair as thick and black as a cloud about to rain, that reached her backside. 
“My parents and uncles are sure to object to our union, but I'm sure, our life together will be a heaven on earth.”
                  *** 
It took quite a few months before Gem returned to her former self. To her great surprise, the loss of the baby greatly affected Kali’s health. Aphasia had set in and she ate little and spoke nothing. She mercilessly drove away her customers. The once beautiful young woman suddenly grew old with her cheeks sunken and hair prematurely gray.
Her regular customers ceased to come, and destitution started to reign over the house in the place of their once comfortable life.
Uncle Suku went regularly to work in the nearby farms. His income was barely sufficient to manage the affairs of the small family.
Kali’s health was fast deteriorating and she was taken to a physician. After examining Kali, the doctor said, “There's apparently nothing wrong with her body. There must be a wound on her mind. So, please consult a psychiatrist.”
One night in the following week, Gem woke up hearing a sob from Kali’s cot. Gem rushed to her mother.  Kali pointed to the floor and began to weep. She put both her hands around her neck and pressed so hard that her eyes bulged out. Gem forcibly removed her mother’s hands from her neck. Kali pointed to the floor and began to shed tears amid occasional sobs. Gem called Uncle Suku and both of them kept vigil over the ailing woman. 
Early in the morning, Kali passed away leaving Gem alone to look after herself.

Uncle Suku said,  “Your mother's fondest dream was to marry you to a respectable household. So she started to save every penny she could set aside. So, you must examine her records including the bank pass book. With such a huge amount of cash, you needn't lead an impoverished life.” During the following days, Gem rummaged through her mother's almirahs and chest of drawers. What she could find was a huge plastic jar full of coins and a pass book with a credit balance of nearly Rs. 10000. Either Uncle Suku’s guess about the treasure was wrong or the treasure remained hidden even after the search.
                    ***
“Hold my shoulders with one hand and the trunk with the other,” she said, wading through waste-deep water in the yard. 

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