Swimming in the Monsoon Sea (17 page)

Niresh winked at Amrith. The joke was on the girls.

Niresh and Amrith already had their swimsuits on and they went to the men’s room to take off their clothes and hang them up.

When they came back to the pool, the girls were still changing. Niresh gestured towards a pillar not far from the pool. They hid behind it and grinned at each other.

Selvi and her friends came out in their bathing suits. They stood at the edge of the pool. Niresh gave Amrith a signal and, yelling at the top of their lungs, they rushed at the girls, who spun around shrieking. They cried out as
they were pushed in, then wailed, coughed up water, and berated the boys. Amrith and Niresh leapt in after them, making them shriek all over again.

Soon a water fight was in progress, Amrith and Niresh trying to swim underwater and grab their legs, the girls kicking out and splashing them as they tried to escape. All of them were reveling in a game they knew they were too old to be playing.

They got raucous and Nandasena and Mrs. Kuruvilla, the attendants at the men’s and women’s change rooms, came down to tell them to be quiet or they would complain to their parents. The generosity of their tips and New Year gifts depended on their making sure decorum was maintained when the parents were absent.

Niresh broke away from the girls. He signaled to Amrith and they swam to the deep end. They clung to the side rail. Niresh shook the hair out of his eyes. “Man, I really need a smoke.”

He and Amrith went off to the change room. They wiped down their bodies, grabbed their T-shirts, and Niresh put a packet of cigarettes into his pocket.

There was a shed in one corner, where the pool cleaning equipment was kept. They slipped into the narrow space between it and the parapet wall. Niresh lit a cigarette, drew on it hungrily, and breathed out a long stuttering breath.

“Boo!”
Selvi and her friends stood staring at them.

“Shit.” Niresh hid his cigarette behind his back.

“Give us a puff,” Selvi said, holding out her hand.

“No way.”

“Yes way. Otherwise I’m telling my parents you made Amrith smoke.”

After a moment, Niresh grinned, knowing he was defeated. He held the cigarette out. Selvi drew on it and immediately began to cough, bending over and clutching her chest.

“You girls and boys, what are you doing here?” They spun around to find Mrs. Kuruvilla standing with her hands on her hips.

Selvi and the SNOTs turned and fled, followed by Mrs. Kuruvilla. Niresh signaled to Amrith and they leapt over the short boundary wall. They hurried away, laughing and shaking their heads.

They walked along the railway line, while Niresh finished his cigarette. Amrith was glad to have his cousin to himself.

Niresh put his arm around his shoulder. “So, are you a tits-man or an arse-man?”

Amrith thought desperately — tits, arse, tits, arse — this could be important, like which sports team you supported.
“Um
, arse.”

“Yeah! Alright! Me, too.” Niresh gave him a mighty whack on the shoulders.

Despite the sting spreading through his shoulders, Amrith felt a great relief to have given the right answer.

They sat on some rocks that bordered the beach. The shore below had been eaten up by the monsoon waves, which came right up to the boulders. Niresh took a last drag of his
cigarette and threw the butt into the sea. His face became grave. “So, I have bad news. Tomorrow, I’m going with my dad to stay, for a few weeks, at some place outside Colombo. He says he has some business to do there.”

His uncle was going to try and sell Sanasuma. Yet Amrith, at the moment, did not care about this.
“Ah
, do you have to go?”

“Yeah.” His cousin frowned, gazing out at the sea, his face gloomy. “What else would I do?”

“Niresh … perhaps … perhaps you could come and stay with us!”

“You think?”

“Would you like to?”

“Yeah, of course. That’d be great.”

“I’m sure Uncle Lucky and Aunty Bundle will say yes.”

Niresh laughed and clapped Amrith on the back, nearly knocking him off the rock. “And here I thought I was going to have to leave, just when we were getting to be friends, you know what I mean?”

Amrith nodded. He did know.

Amrith was certain Uncle Lucky and Aunty Bundle would agree to Niresh staying with them, as they maintained an easy hospitality at their house. He was more worried about Niresh’s father. Though Amrith felt sure that his uncle would be glad to leave Niresh behind, he wondered if he might refuse to let his son stay with the Manuel-Pillais, out of spite.

When they got back from the club, he went looking for Aunty Bundle. Her face became very serious as he made his
request. “You know, son, that
I
would love to have your cousin to stay, but your uncle …” She sighed. “Let’s you and I take Niresh back this evening.”

He saw that she, too, suspected his uncle might refuse, just to be nasty.

When they entered the Mount Lavinia Hotel, Niresh led the way up the stairs and along the corridor towards the terrace. Amrith could tell that he was worried about what state his father would be in. As they approached the terrace, they could hear the mirthless crack of his uncle’s laugh, the guffaws of the other men.

Aunty Bundle came to a stop when she saw his uncle. Her face turned to stone. He sat with his legs sprawled out, the empty bottle of arrack before him. The men with him were thuggish-looking and peppered their English with vulgar Sinhalese idioms, referring to each other as “oo” and “oomba,” using derogatory verbs like “vareng” and “palayang.” Aunty Bundle would not approach men who were in such a state of intoxication. She sent Niresh to fetch his father.

“Ah
, you bloody bugger, returned, have you?” his uncle cried, as Niresh came up to him.

Niresh leaned close to his father and spoke to him softly.

His uncle peered in their direction. He tried to rise out of his chair, nearly did not make it, but finally tottered to his feet. He straightened his shirt, flattened his hair, and came towards them. He stopped a little distance away, regarding them with hostility.

“Hello, Mervin.”

“Yes, Bundle, what can I do for you?” Alcohol had removed the thin veneer of civility that his uncle had been able to maintain on their last visit.

Niresh was looking anxiously at his father.

“I understand, Mervin, that you are going to be traveling outstation for a while,” Aunty Bundle said.

He nodded, but looked guarded. Amrith could tell that he was wondering if they knew about Sanasuma.

“The boys, well, they’ve been getting on like a house on fire and they seem keen to continue seeing each other and so —”

“Dad,” Niresh broke in, “can I stay with Amrith while you’re away? Please.”

His uncle’s expression was unreadable.

“The boys seem really keen, Mervin, they really do,” Aunty Bundle said.

They all looked at him, beseechingly.

His uncle’s chest expanded; he stood up straighter. “Niresh, I expect you to come with me and I am very angry that you would rather pass time with strangers than with your own father.”

Niresh’s face flushed.

“You are coming with me, and that is that.” His uncle gave them the briefest nod, then walked away.

They went back through the hotel in silence. When they were at the front doors, Aunty Bundle touched Amrith’s arm. “Son, I’ll give you a few minutes to say good-bye.”

Amrith saw what she meant. It was good-bye forever. His uncle, out of spitefulness, was unlikely to permit them to meet again.

The moment Aunty Bundle was gone, Niresh grabbed his arm tightly. “I’m not done with that jerk, I’m not.”

Amrith’s eyes filled with tears. He did not believe Niresh could make his father change his mind.

“Don’t worry, Amrith, I’ll fix things, I will.”

A tear ran down Amrith’s cheek.

“Hey, buddy.” Niresh hugged him tight. “I can make my dad change his mind, I can,” he whispered in his ear.

Amrith broke away and ran through the hotel doors.

As they drove home, it began to rain. Aunty Bundle looked out of the car window, a melancholy expression on her face. As for Amrith, he knew now what he felt towards his uncle. Hatred.

It was still raining when they got home and, as Amrith and Aunty Bundle hurried inside, they heard the phone ringing. They entered the living room just as Jane-Nona was picking up the receiver. She turned to them. “Amrithbabba, it’s for you.”

He rushed to get it.

“See, I told you!” Niresh cried. “I’m coming to stay.”

Amrith could not speak for the surge of joy that rose in him. “You are?” he finally blurted. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, sure I’m sure. So, what do you have to say?”

“I … I’m so happy.”

“Yeah, me too, Amrith, me too.” There was a tenderness in his voice that Amrith had not heard before.

Amrith went to tell Aunty Bundle the good news. She was helping Jane-Nona move a tin tub under the hole in the roof, the barrel having already filled up with rain. She paused in the middle of her task to express her delight.

Afterwards, he longed to be by himself, to savor this wonderful turn of events. Just a few minutes ago, he had been sure he would never see his cousin again and that his life would settle back into its lonely routine, with only typing and the upcoming
Othello
rehearsals offering any relief. Now the future seemed bright again.

When it stopped raining, he went up to the terrace and let himself into the aviary. As he fed his birds, he thought of how, in just five days, such a strong bond had formed between him and Niresh. It felt like he had known his cousin for much longer. Nearly losing Niresh like this had made him realize he loved his cousin. And he knew that his cousin loved him, too.

L
ater, when the girls found out from Amrith that Niresh was coming to stay, they were overjoyed. Yet, their jubilation made him wary. They had monopolized Niresh for large parts of the day and he did not want that happening during his cousin’s stay.

His fears were confirmed that very evening. He was in the aviary, cleaning up and preparing things for the night, when Mala and Selvi came up to the terrace and let themselves into the cage. Their faces were bright with excitement.

“Amrith,” Selvi said, as they joined him in the hexagonal flight area, “guess what? I told my friend Tanuja about Niresh coming to stay and she has invited him — and you, too, of course — to spend the day with us girls, at her father’s hotel in Bentota. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Yes-yes, Amrith,” Mala added, “now Niresh will get to see a little bit of the countryside,
nah
. He was telling us that he has not yet been out of Colombo.”

Amrith glanced briefly at the sisters and went back to sweeping the floor.

“So? Don’t you think it’s a wonderful plan?” Selvi asked, a slight pucker appearing on her forehead.

Amrith stooped down to collect the dirt, then put it into a bin. He took his time, keeping her standing there without an answer. Finally he turned to them. “No, I don’t think it’s a wonderful plan at all.”

“But why, Amrith?” Mala asked, in surprise. “It’s such a jolly day trip. And the hotel is famous for its massive pool and delicious lunch buffet and —”

“Look,” he said fiercely, “Niresh is my cousin and he is only here for three weeks. I want to spend that time with
just
him. Not with a bunch of stupid girls who are constantly giggling and carrying on and acting like fast-pieces.”

Selvi flushed at his calling her and the SNOTs fast-pieces. “Don’t be so jealous,” she said, looking him up and down with disdain. “You don’t own Niresh. And how rude of you. Here Tanuja kindly offers to have your cousin, a stranger, to her hotel and you —”

“Kindness? Rubbish! Tanuja just wants a foreign boyfriend.”

“That’s not true, she was being nice. She has a very generous nature and is —”

“If she is so generous, why didn’t she invite me before Niresh arrived,
ah?
You and your friends had already planned
this trip, weeks ago, and you never thought to invite me. Now that I have a foreign cousin, you want me to come. No, I won’t, and I won’t ask Niresh, either.”