HAUNTED BY THE PAST

Chapter six

Shooca pulls a stool and composes herself near the fireplace. The few coals of fire turn gloom as they flicker some light in the half-lit room. She gazes in the hearth for some time and gives a roguish smile to replenish her thoughts.

"Like this flickering coal of fire, Mauda, your happiness and pride will come to an end soon," She muttered and pouted in anger. Her mind was clouded with treacherous thoughts.

"Let's see if you'll still be pampered by Kaija. By the time I am done with you, you won't be able to spell your name."

She chuckles mysteriously and ground her teeth in anger.

Neelima, Tina's younger sister walks to her mother's side and watches her closely, her forehead wrinkled. She licks her little finger which has become thin and shrunken because it's always soaked in her mouth.

Shooca wriggled her bottom on the stool and let out an awful gas that swam in Neelima's nose.

"That's for you, Mauda, foolish woman! Complement it with your present troubles."

She said and chuckled in mirth, her heart full of malice and envy. She was her arch enemy and was bent on promoting Mauda's downfall.

"Mama, are you Ok? Or has Jumli entered your belly? You are not at ease." Neelima asks, reflecting on the latter's usual joke; that when Juli, the wandering snake enters one's belly, they go crazy. Shooca glares at her indignantly, wrenches her hand and hauls her down.

"Hey, watch your mouth. Why are you standing over me as if you are my bodyguard, hmm? she asked and wrinkled her nose and shifted her gaze to the ceiling and kept pattering her right foot on the ground.

"Ouch!" Neelima groans with a grimace on her face.

"Mama, my arm!" she says and tears glisten in her eyes." With tenderness, she dabs her wrist which Shooca had forcibly gripped and left a mark.

"Mama,"

"Aye," She answered and waited. Neelima was scared to ask the question that had been twitching her lips for some time now. Shooca gave her a hard stare and compelling her in a clipped tone said,

"Have you now become a night dancer?"

"No, mama, why?"Neelima asked with googled eyes as an implication of her ignorance.

"Haven't you heard that they are the mediators of the devil? They roam around the night swinging their dry naked buttocks and wriggling their waists wrapped with dry banana leaves, their tails dangling between their legs as they invite evil and calamity in lives of good men?"

"No, mama," she replied. Her voice shook as she spoke. Her mother's story was beginning to have a profound effect on her. Shooca, however, didn't notice it and she resumed,

"That if they want to torment your life, they will call your name just once and if you answer it, they will throw an arm of a dead body and you die or you become mad."

Neelima peered outside. The day had already ushered in darkness and she caught sight of the grotesque objects in the dark which she imagined to be one of those horrible night dancers in the story. Her heart thumped faster. In a moment she heard the chirping of crickets and mistook it for someone's whistle. Rapidly she jumps onto Shooca's laps.

The small stool where the latter had sat cross-legged lost balance perhaps due to Nelima's additional weight and the two fell with a thump.

"Neelima!" Shooca screamed, her legs flying in the air.

"What has come over you? Ouch, my bottom hurts. This is all your fault."

Neelima quickly leapt off the ground and stood in the corner. "Mama, I was scared.

Shooca broke into a gale of laughter as she flicked off the dust from her legs.

"What scared you, night dancers?"

"Yes, mama."

"Ok, come here. There aren't any night dancers around. Tell me why you had called me earlier." She said closing the door. Neelima trotted towards her and sat close. She peeks at her and lowered her face and started,

"Is mama Tina going to find my sister? Do you think the latter will win the game?"

Hearing this, Shooca's anger returned. She twisted her head and turned to her, "Which game? Shooca asks, looking at her daughter indignantly. Neelima smirked and smiled. With enthusiasm she started, "Mama, don't you know the game of hiding and seek? My friends and I always play it at the village stream. The winner always shows up last."

She said excitedly and blew into the hearth, making the few remaining coals glow with light.

Shooca stares at her daughter measuring her narrowmindedness. "She's so naive and young." She thought and patted her shoulder and then as if to keep in the score of her understanding said,

"This is a different game my dear; a game where there's only one winner, and that's me." Neelima was intrigued and wanted some clarification.

"You, mama?" but you are not playing along with them.

"I am, my child. A winner only has to play with tact, and that's what I'm doing." Neelima flashes a smile and licks her finger, her mind filled with childish thoughts.

Shooca stares fixedly at her naive daughter and shakes her head in wonderment.

" She is too naive to understand the ways of life. How can I explain it to you, my dear?" She muttered and was in meditative contemplation endeavouring to invent a strategy on how to accomplish her devious plan of vengeance.

"If I had known that you were an evil egg, I wouldn't have let you grow inside my womb, Tina."

Mauda mutters disgruntled as she treads the footpath towards Mahuge's compound in search of her daughter. Her heart was heavy. Fear wrenched her entire being. The Knowledge that the rumours of her missing daughter might float around the whole village before she discovered her wrought turbulence in her spirit.

Tina's foolishness was bound to disgrace her family.

"My enemies are at work. They have bewitched my only daughter." She thought and tears of anguish welled up in her eyes.

"Tina…" she yelled. There was no sound. She rummages through the shrubs and the tall grass near Mahuges compound as if searching for a needle.

"Where's she? she couldn't have gone far. I will inquire from Mahuge and his family, perhaps they might have seen her." She thought and led the way to her neighbours compound.

Suddenly she halts." Mauda, you are a fool, digging your own grave. If anyone learns about Tina's disappearance, you will be doomed and so will your entire family." She thought and peered through Mahuge's compound.

At the sight of Mahuge, her hurt thumped fast. She feared him; everyone did. He was the roaring lion who instilled fear in everyone that knew him.

"He won't hesitate to lash at me if he sees me loitering around." A woman is supposed to be preparing supper for her husband. Was it not the role of any traditional woman?to feed her husband and kids? Why would she be wandering outside in neighbours compounds instead of being in her kitchen- her office?

" He'd better not see me or else I'm dead meat." She muttered and cowered in the tall grass crawling in a different direction.

"Tina, who is hiding in the same vicinity, peeks at her mother and chuckles. She is used to hiding around the place every time she sneaks out to meet Rabu and knows all corners around.

"Mama, do you think you are smart? this time you won't attain good results." She mutters and giggles at her mother's amusing sight as she crawls under the grass.

"Go on, spying mama. We shall see how long you will carry on." She talked to herself and followed a different direction lying low on the ground not attempting to be seen.

As the Mahuge's family approached, their chuckles and shouts could be heard in the distance. Mahuge's existence depended on them; his wives, sons and daughters filled him with joy and great satisfaction. Without them, he wouldn't be a complete man. Victor noticed the glimmer on his face. Seeing him beam a smile was unusual.

He clears his throat to attract his attention and tries as much as to engage him in a conversation.

"You are a very great man, my in-law."

"Why do you say that?" Mahuge asked with a puzzled expression on his face, his red eyes bulging. Victor peeks at him and explains.

"A man who has such a beautiful large family must be lucky. With Rabu as a son and an heir, there's no reason why I should say otherwise."

Mahuge makes a slight curve at the corner and stretches his neck gazing in the direction of the voices.

It was evident that he derived all his contentment in his family. He loved and cherished it so much that the thought made him swell with pride.

Tina could now see Mahuge and his company whose face was strange to her.

"Who's this man? I don't like his presence at all."

She murmured and studied Victor's face for some time but she couldn't recognise him. There was a spurt of anger in her heart. Victor's presence was more of a hindrance than a help.

"Damn you! Whoever you are, I loathe you. Now it won't be easy for me to enjoy Rabu's company." She pouted and clenched her fists in anger and resentment.