Through the Peephole (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1

She unknowingly wiped a tear off her cheek, as she  fondly remembered Ramu Chacha. The only one who had ever cared for her, understood her heart and helped her when the time came...

"Tenho saudades tuas", she whispered, surprising even herself that she remembered the little Portugese that Martha had taught her. Her palms lifted to touch Ramu Chacha's bearded cheeks as if he was right in fromt of her...but only the memories remained now...memories of his toothless smile, his kind eyes, his bald head smelling of coconut oil and his last embrace...his cold bony hand tightly gripping hers, in that bitter winter night, when he had helped her run away with Amir.

She was just seventeen then, but more mature than her years. She had understood long ago that this aristrocatic life wasn't for her, that she would not succumb to her father's pressures of marrying some Man, just because he was more powerful than her father (and older too!). She had to escape! It was actually in her first attempt to run away from home that she had crossed paths with Amir.

"A Muslim!! A mere merchant!!" Ramu Chacha had shrieked, horrified at her confession. And then he had slumped in his charpoy sighing, "Baby ji, what have you gotten yourself into?". And a year later, in that bitter winter night, tightly clutching her hand, he had led her to Amir, to that train compartment. "I wish you all the love and happiness in the world Baby ji...May God be with you", he had said touching her forehead. His last words, to which she could not respond...the loud horn of the train had filled the space between them. Chug-chug-chug slowly they had started moving to a new life but she had kept on gazing, gazing till her neck strained, till he was nothing but a tiny dot...

Chug-chug-chug, the melancholy noise enveloped her....Chug-chug-chug, she suddenly began to shake violently, splashes of red smeared in front of her eyes and then a crash! She woke up with a jolt, the big black rotary dial telephone on the floor, her face burning and her eyes moist. She must have dozed off thinking about Ramu Chacha and had had a terrible nightmare! 

She shrugged off the shivers and picked up the telephone. "It's so dusty", she winced, vigorously cleaning the speaker with her pallu. "Hadn't I just mopped and dusted the entire house yesterday", she thought but gasped when she looked above to find cobwebs everywhere. She cursed her fading memory and went to get the broom. Lately she was having more and more episodes of such forgetfulness. The unpaid bills piled up on the dining table, a proof of this. She was busy brushing off the spider webs when she heard the jingling of the keys. "Back already", she grunted and her ears perked up instantly, trying to catch the neighbours' conversation.

"Okay-okay, I'm scared of dogs", she heard Rhea admit to her husband while he was laughing abashedly. "Now that you've had a good laugh, can we get back to the topic?? And don't make this into another of your you-don't-understand crap. Make me understand", she said, her tone a little irritated yet curious. "Honey, for the last time...I'm saying this for the last time...We are not buying this house." He cleared his throat as if to speak out aloud, but instead he mumbled something under his breath, "She died seven years ago and there have been stories...call me faint-hearted but at times I do feel her presence". Now it was Rhea's turn to laugh but looking at her husband's face she resisted the urge and elbowed him to go on. "Well, this old couple were going back to their village when their train met a terrible accident. The husband died on the spot. After recovering for a few days in the hospital, when she came back, she refused to acknowledge that her husband was dead. She met no one, there were no relatives who came to look them up, I'm not even sure if the poor husband's body was ever claimed or not. It was clear that she was nearing insanity. And one day, it all ended. She must have died of loneliness or her instability..." 

Dumbfounded, Rhea slowly moved her gaze to the house....

At the other side of the door something cracked....She turned her neck a full 180 degrees to look at Rhea through the peephole, just as she had in the morning...

I'm taking part in the Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st – 7th September 2013.

A special mention to Preetilata who is the author at the blog My White Window. I'm so glad to connect with her through this Write Tribe festival. She puts her soul into her writings and reading her posts leave you with a song in your heart...at times happy, at times nostalgic and at times overflowing with emotions! She has a superb theme going on for this 'Seven' challenge. In fact, if not for her Day 2 post, I wouldn't have been able to figure out the start of my part 2 story!!