The Orphanage Page #3

• Short story

								

She moved to the edge of the yard  and finally located the bund. She cautiously stepped on to the bund, her guest following her.
Water was neck deep on the bund, but she carefully moved on feeling the bund with the bamboo pole,  the stranger following her holding her shoulder.
“When we stepped on to the bund, the water was chest deep. Now it is touching my neck,” he said.
“At this rate you will have to carry me on your shoulder along the remaining distance,” said the girl.
By this time, they had reached the bund that ran across the marsh and they occasionally saw the silhotes of the coconut trees on the bund across the paddy field.
Gem clambered over to the bund ahead and water on it was only waist deep. The young stranger followed and, as soon as he was on the bund, he said, “I'm sorry. I dropped the trunk into the water!”
“How could a girl entrust her life to one who is incapable of keeping a small trunk?” she blurted out angrily. “The trunk you have dropped probably contained enough for a whole lifetime.” 
She felt the corner of the metal box pressing on her belly and,  saw that her companion had been pulling her leg.
“There's a naughty brat!” she said excitedly and clung to his neck and kissed his bearded face. 
The rain had stopped but the roar of many streams draining into the marsh was louder than before. 
“We can reach the eastern slopes if we walk north, and the road if we travel south along this bund,” said Gem.
All of a sudden a deafening sound hit their ears.
“The road has breached!” cried Gem.
“In the powerful current we’ll be washed away! So hold onto one of these coconut trees,” said the young man. 
Gem clung on to the nearest of the coconut trees growing on the bund, and a mighty flow started. 
The current lasted for half an hour and it gradually stopped. The bund which had helped them come up to the shallow water emerged.
“Let's cross the marsh to the north. There is an uninhabited shack on the hillslope. We can spend the remaining hours of the night on its verandah,” said Gem.
She walked briskly ahead and the young man followed her. She confidently stepped on to a fading pathway that went uphill, accompanied by the young man. 
The sky had become absolutely clear without even a tiny piece of cloud, like a murderer after he bathed clean, following a bloodshed.
They sat on the verandah. Both were thinking about the same thing - about the treasure in the trunk. 
“Let's break the padlock and see what's in it,” she said eagerly. 
The narrow yard of the shack was bright with moonlight. The man stepped onto the yard, took a cobble from its edge  and came back. 
He hit the padlock and it came off easily. He eagerly opened the trunk and both were paralyzed when they saw the treasure inside. It was the nearly rotten skeleton of a baby!

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