Of Another Time

Chapter 3

Chapter – 2.

Ghosts

Chapter – 2.

GhostsChapter – 2.

Ghosts

ONE afternoon, it was raining hard. Emon was sitting on a sofa in the veranda of Rajesh Sharma’s house. Rajesh was also sitting beside him. They were looking into the rain.

“Look at the hills. They always turn blue when it rains. Aren’t they beautiful?” Rajesh said pointing through the rain at the misty hills in the distance.

“They are beautiful. Have you ever been to those hills?” Emon said looking at the hills.

“No.”

“Why don’t we go and climb them when the rain stops?”

“But Emon, those hills are far away. It’ll take a long time to reach them. Besides, I don’t think the rain’s going to stop now.”

Emon sighed.

“Oh Rajesh, what shall we do if it goes on raining the whole day?” Emon said with another sigh.

“We can play carrom or ludo. And do you know, Jai told me yesterday that there are even indoor cricket and football now-a-days.”

“How can you play cricket and football indoors?”

“I don’t know. Jai was telling me that you can play them just as you play carrom or ludo.”

“Does Jai have the games?”

“No, he played them at his cousin’s.”

“But what shall we do now?” “We can play something. I’ve ludo and carrom. What’ll you play?”

“Carrom.”

“Let’s go to my room,” Rajesh said.

Rajesh and Emon went into the house. Inside, Rajesh left Emon in his room. Then he brought into the room a tall wooden table. He placed it in the middle of the room and took out a carrom board from behind an almira and placed it on the table. He poured out on the carrom board the counters and the striker from a little tin. Then they began to play.

After they had played for about an hour, Emon suddenly threw down the striker in the middle of a game and pointed out through the open window and shouted: “Aoi, let’s go out, the rain has stopped!”

Emon and Rajesh ran out to the lane.

Outside, the rain had stopped. Emon looked down into the great drain, which flowed by the lane, and said: “Look Rajesh, the drain is full. Let’s play boat race.”

“Look, Amlan is also coming,” Rajesh said pointing at Amlan Kalita, who was running towards them down the lane.

Amlan was out of breath by the time he was beside Emon and Rajesh. When his breath came back, he asked: “What are you doing?”

“We are about to play boat racing in the drain,” Rajesh said.

“I’ll also play,” Amlan said.

“Let’s go to my room and make the boats,” Emon said.

Emon, Rajesh and Amlan walked to Emon’s house. There, Emon left Rajesh and Amlan in his room and went out to fetch paper. He came back with a piece of newspaper, a sheet of plain white paper and a piece of red paper.

“Who’ll take which colour?” he asked putting down the sheets of paper on the floor.

“I’ll take the red,” Amlan said.

“I’ll take the white,” Emon said.

“That leaves me the newspaper,”

Rajesh said. Rajesh sat on the floor and tore the sheets of paper uniformly into equal sizes. Then he gave the red paper to Amlan, the white to Emon and kept the newspaper for himself.

After that the boys sat on the floor and started making the boats.

Soon, the boats were ready and the boys went out to the great drain again. Emon pointed to the bridge over it and said: “Let’s start from the bridge.”

“Aatchaa,” Rajesh said.

The boys went to the bridge.

“We must all throw down together,” Amlan said when they got to the bridge.

“Hoo,” Rajesh said.

The boys stood side by side on the edge of the bridge with their boats.

“Throw!” Rajesh shouted.

The boys threw their respective boats into the drain.

Emon threw his boat as far into the drain as possible and it landed upside down on the drain and was almost drowned. Rajesh’s boat landed on one of its sides. Only Amlan’s boat landed upright. However, all the boats somehow remained afloat.

The drain was swollen and there was a lot of current. The boats floated along with the current. The boys ran along the side of the drain and followed the boats. Rajesh’s boat turned upright after going a little distance. Amlan had picked up a bamboo stick that he found lying on the lane. Further on, Rajesh’s boat got stuck on a creeper hanging from the side of the drain. Then Rajesh took the bamboo stick from Amlan and with it freed his boat from the creeper. In this way, when any of the boats got stuck from time to time on some creeper, w**d or garbage floating about on the drain, one of the boys would free the boat with Amlan’s stick.

The great drain ends when it falls into the main road drain. Rajesh’s boat was the first to fall into the main road drain followed closely by Amlan’s. Emon’s boat came in last and was drowned as soon as it fell into the main road drain.

“I won,” Rajesh said as he watched Emon’s boat disappear into the water.

“My boat fell upside down that’s why I lost.” Emon said with a frown.

The boys went back to Emon’s room and made fresh boats. With the fresh boats they again came back to the great drain and played another race. They went on playing race after race until the sun began to sink in the west and they could no longer see the boats.

Later, after Amlan and Rajesh had gone home, Emon was opening the gate of his house to go in when he heard a voice he knew calling his name. He looked around in the darkness but could not see anybody. He waited.

“Emon!” the voice called again.

“Is it you, Zamoon?” Emon asked aloud.

“Hoo!” said the voice.

Then, Emon saw through the darkness the little figure of Zamoon, the pahari boy, coming towards him down the lane. When Zamoon was beside him, Emon asked: “Did you get any fish today?”

“Hoo,” Zamoon said.

“How many?”

“Five.”

“Let me see?” Emon asked.

Zamoon gave Emon the little earthen pot in his hand. Emon took it and looked inside, but he did not see anything in the darkness. He shook the pot and heard the fishes jumping in the water inside the pot. Then he gave back the earthen pot to Zamoon and asked: “What are they?”

“Three cat fish and two eels.”

“Where did you fish today?”

“Thee bheel.”

“Where will you fish tomorrow?”

“Thee bheel.”

“Won’t you go to the river?”

“Naa.”

“Why?”

“River not get fish everyday – bheel get fish everyday.”

“Where are you going now?”

“Bazar.”

“To sell the fishes?”

“Hoo. I go now, it late. The bazar get bandh,” Zamoon said adjusting the fishing-rod on his shoulder and beginning to walk away. Then, he paused for a moment and asked: “You not come to bheel this days?”

“I’ll come tomorrow!” Emon shouted after Zamoon and then entered the gate of his house.

The next morning, Emon was at his study-table pasting some new stamps into his stamp book when the door opened and his mother came in and said: “Emon, an aunty and her daughter have come to invite you for birthday.”

“Where are they?” Emon asked.

“In the drawing-room,” Mrs Barua said.

Emon went out to the drawing-room with his mother and saw seated on a sofa a lady and a little girl of about his age. Puja was sitting beside them and talking with the girl.

“You are Emon?” the lady smiled.

“Yes,” Emon said and grinned.

Emon sat on a chair near the sofa.

“You and Puja must come to our house tomorrow evening for Rupa’s birthday,” the lady said.

“Aatchaa Aunty,” Emon said awkwardly.

“Do you know our house?”

“No Aunty.”

“We are new to this neighbourhood. We’ve come here about a month back. It’s easy to find our house. It’s the next house to lawyer Phukan’s. If you have difficulty in finding the house ask for Commissioner Choudhuri’s house, that’s Rupa’s father. And lawyer Phukan’s son, Pankaj, is your friend, isn’t he?”

“Pankaj is my friend.”

“Pankaj told us about you when we went to invite him today. Rupa, we must go now,” the lady said turning to her daughter.

After that, the lady turned to Mrs Barua and said: “We are going now.”

“You must come again,” Mrs Barua smiled.

“You must come with Emon and Puja tomorrow,” the lady said and got up from the sofa.

“Let me see,” Mrs Barua said.

After the lady and her daughter were gone, Emon looked out over the gate and saw Kansan coming down the lane. When Kansan got to the gate, Emon asked: “Where are you going?”

“I was coming to you,” Kansan said.

“Did you see Zamoon today?”

“No.”

“Let’s go to the bheel and see if he’s there,” Emon said and went out to the lane.

Emon and Kansan walked to the bheel. There after looking for sometime, they found Zamoon. He was fishing.

“Let me hold the rod,” Emon said sitting beside Zamoon.

“Take, don’t shake,” Zamoon said and gave the fishing-rod to Emon. “I go river in afternoon. Want come with me?”

“I’ll come,” Emon said.

“I’ll also come,” Kansan said.

“At what time will you go?” Emon asked.

“In two,” Zamoon said.

“Zamoon –” Kansan was saying.

“The float! The float!” Zamoon shouted and pointed at the float.

Emon looked at the float and saw it disappearing into the bheel then it reappeared and then again disappeared.

“What’s it?” Emon asked.

“Fish stuck,” Zamoon said. “Pull! Pull!”

Emon pulled the fishing-rod up. When the line of the rod came out of the bheel, the boys saw a fish sticking to its end.

“It cat fish,” Zamoon said.

Zamoon got hold of the line and unhooked the fish. After that, he put the fish into his earthen pot. Then he picked up a brick and put it over the mouth of the pot.

“Why are you putting that brick over the pot?” Emon asked.

“Otherwise fish jump out. And cat fish jump out you won’t catch it again,” Zamoon said.

Zamoon took the fishing-rod from Emon and lowered the line into the bheel again.

“I’m going to Deb’s,” Kansan said after a while.

“I’m also going home,” Emon said.

Emon and Kansan walked back to the lane.

“Why don’t you also come with me to Deb’s?” Kansan asked as they walked down the lane.

“No. I’m going home, Rajesh may come” Emon said.

“When?”

“Now,” Emon said.

On getting to the bridge, Kansan turned towards Deb’s while Emon walked back home.

That afternoon, sometime after two, Emon and Kansan were on their way to the river along with Zamoon. Emon carried Zamoon’s fishing-rod, Kansan carried some worms packed with a banana leaf and the spare hooks. Zamoon carried a brick and his earthen pot. Zamoon had now tied the mouth of the pot with a cloth so that the fishes could not jump out.

Later, when they reached the river, Zamoon took them to a secluded place of the river bank. In this place, Zamoon lowered the line of his fishing-rod into the river and settled down to fish. Emon and Kansan sat beside him.

Sometime later, Emon and Kansan began wandering around the river bank. After strolling around for sometime they wandered to the ghat. They walked down steps of the ghat and watched the steamers that were waiting at the ghat.

“Let’s get on a steamer,” Emon said.

“Aatchaa,” Kansan said.

Emon and Kansan walked further down the steps of the ghat to a gangplank of a waiting steamer. Then they went up the gangplank and got into the steamer. They wandered about the steamer and watched the passengers.

After sometime, Emon and Kansan got down from the steamer and got up on another steamer. They passed the afternoon in this way getting up on one steamer after another.

Later, when Emon and Kansan came back to Zamoon, they found he had caught a big hilsa. The hilsa was laid out on the bank beside the earthen pot. Emon and Kansan examined the hilsa and then sat beside Zamoon.

Later at dusk, Emon and Kansan walked with Zamoon to the bazar. After leaving Zamoon at the bazar, they began walking towards home.

By this time, it was evening and the moon was up. After walking for some time, Emon and Kansan came to a dark lonely patch of the road. Pariah dogs were baying at the moon and there were strange shadows everywhere. Then they came to an old deserted gabled house beside the dark road. Kansan clutched Emon’s hand and whispered: “Do you know Emon, there are gho … ghosts in this house.”

“Who told you?” Emon asked.

“Many people told me.”

“Have you seen the ghost?”

“No. But other people have.”

“When?”

“At night after twelve,” Kansan said as they passed the deserted house.

After that, they did not talk but walked on silently. Later, when they got to their lane, Emon said: “Kansan, I’ve got an idea.”

“What?”

“We’ll go to that haunted house one night to see the ghost.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow night or the night after.”

“Emon, Memsahib call you,” a voice said.

Emon and Kansan looked around and saw Zibon.

Zibon was passing them on his way to the evening bazar.

“Have you ever seen a ghost?” Emon asked after Zibon had passed them.

“No. But one of my cousins has,” Kansan said.

“Where?”

“In a highway.”

“How?”

“One night, my cousin was driving alone through a highway,” Kansan began. “The highway ran through a great forest. When he was about to enter the forest, he saw a man standing in the middle of the highway and waving at him to stop. When my cousin stopped his car, the man asked him for a lift across the forest. The man also said that he would get down a little way after crossing the forest. My cousin asked the man to get into the car. The man sat in the front seat beside the driver’s seat,” Kansan paused.

“Then what happened?”

“Then … then my cousin drove off. He drove right through the forest. After crossing the forest, my cousin asked the man to tell where he would get down. But my cousin got no answer, so he turned his head to look at the man. But the man wasn’t there beside him in the front seat. My cousin stopped the car and looked for the man in the back seat. But didn’t find him. The man had disappeared completely. And since then my cousin never saw the man again.”

“What did your cousin do after the man disappeared?”

“He drove away.”

“Do you think we’ll see ghosts in the haunted house?”

“I don’t know, I’m going now. It’s getting late,” Kansan said and walked away.

The next morning, Emon slipped out of his house as soon as Mr Barua left for office. He walked to Kansan’s. At Kansan’s, he found Kansan sitting on a chair in the veranda and reading a book.

“What are you reading?” Emon asked.

“Ghost stories,” Kansan said.

“Let me see,” Emon said and pulled away the book from Kansan.

“Do you know all the stories in this book are true,” Kansan said.

Emon turned the pages of the book for sometime. Then he asked: “Will you lend this book to me after you finish reading? After reading, I’ll give it back to you.”

“Aatchaa.”

“Why don’t we go to the ghost house tonight?” Emon asked giving the book back to Kansan.

“Let’s go.”

“At what time will we go?”

“At about twelve.”

“I’ll be ready at twelve. You know the window in my room – knock on it three times. Then wait near the gate till I come.”

“I’ll not knock. I’ll whistle three times.”

“Aatchaa.”

“Let’s go to the field and see if anybody is out,” Kansan said getting up from the chair and putting down the book.

Emon and Kansan went out to the lane.

“Will you go to Rupa’s birthday in the evening?” Emon asked as they walked to the field.

“What birthday? Who’s Rupa?” Kansan asked.

“She’s the new girl here. She lives near Pankaj’s house. She came along with her Maa yesterday morning to invite us for her birthday today evening.”

“I don’t know her. How did you know?”

“I don’t know her. Pankaj told her Maa about me.”

“So you won’t come to play in the afternoon?”

“I don’t know. I may come,” Emon said.

When they got to the field, they saw some boys of the neighbourhood playing there.

“What are you playing?” Emon asked when they were among the boys.

“Chor-police,” Jai said.

“We’ll also play,” Kansan said.

“Aatchaa come,” Deb said.

Then Emon and Kansan began playing chor-police along with the other boys. They played chor-police for the rest of the morning.

Later that day, late in the afternoon, Emon was giving Gypsy a bath under the backyard tap of his house when his mother shouted and asked: “Emon, will you go to Rupa’s birthday?”

“Hoo!” Emon shouted back.

“Then get ready after sometime! It’ll soon be evening!” Mrs Barua said and went into the house.

A few minutes later, Emon finished bathing Gypsy. Then he tried to rub her dry with a cloth. But Gypsy was already tired of Emon. She did not like water being poured about her body. And a bath always gave her the fright. After wriggling about for sometime, Gypsy slipped out of Emon’s hand and shook herself dry.

Emon went out to the front veranda. In the front veranda sofa his mother was sitting with her afternoon tea.

“Maa, what present will we give Rupa?” Emon asked.

“Puja bought a pencil-box in the morning,” Mrs Barua said.

Emon went into the house. Inside, Puja was watching television in the drawing-room. Emon went up to Puja and said: “Show me the pencil-box we’ll give Rupa.”

“I’ve already packed it,” Puja said.

“Why didn’t you show me?”

“You weren’t at home.”

“Show me now.”

“I told you I’ve packed it.”

“You can pack it again.”

“I can’t.”

“Then you can’t watch T.V.!” Emon shouted and switched off the television.

“Oh Maa, look at Emon!” Puja shouted.

“Emon!” came Mrs Barua’s voice.

Puja switched on the television. Emon switched it off again.

“Oh Maa!” Puja shouted again.

“Emon, aren’t you ashamed to fight with your sister all the time,” Mrs Barua said coming into the drawing-room.

Puja again switched on the television. Emon switched it off again.

“See Maa!” Puja shouted.

“Emon go from here,” Mrs Barua said switching on the television and remaining near it until Emon scowled and left the room.

“Emon, you must wash and get ready to go!” Mrs Barua shouted after Emon.

Emon went away to his room.

Later in the evening, Emon and Puja on their way to Rupa’s birthday stopped at lawyer Phukan’s. There, they found Pankaj and his younger sister, Disha, had not gone to Rupa’s birthday yet and were still at home. Emon and Puja waited until Pankaj and Disha came out dressed and ready to go to the birthday. After that, they went to Commissioner Choudhuri’s house next door.

At Commissioner Choudhuri’s, the front door was wide open. Through the open door voices were coming from the drawing-room. They went in without knocking. Inside they saw Deb, Jai, Pranab and Nakul. There were also other boys and girls, some of them they did not know.

Rupa Choudhuri was standing in a corner of the drawing-room amidst a circle of girls. Puja and Disha went up to Rupa and gave her the presents they had brought. Emon and Pankaj went and joined the other boys.

After sometime, Mrs Choudhuri came into the drawing-room with a cake and placed it on the dining-table in the centre of the room. Then she pushed in some little candles on top of the cake and lighted them with matches. After everybody in the room had gathered around the dining-table, Mrs Choudhuri picked up a sparkling silver knife from the table and gave it to Rupa. Rupa blew out the candles and cut the cake with the knife. Everybody clapped. Mrs Choudhuri smiled and took the knife from Rupa’s hand and cut out a piece of cake. Then she picked up the cut piece of cake and put it into Rupa’s mouth. After that Mrs Choudhuri and Rupa went out of the drawing-room.

A few minutes later, Mrs Choudhuri and a maid started bringing from inside empty plates and various food items on trays. Rupa also came out with spoons and glasses. Mrs Choudhuri, the maid and Rupa put all the things on the dining-table in the drawing-room. Then Mrs Choudhuri and the maid started putting the food items on the empty plates.Then they began to distribute the filled plates among the boys and girls in the room.

Later, after Emon finished eating, he said: “Do you know, yesterday evening while I and Kansan were coming back from the riverside we saw a haunted house.”

“Where?” Jai asked.

“Beside the road.”

“My uncle once saw a ghost.”

“Where?”

“In a guest house in Shillong.”

“When did he see? How did the ghost look?” Pranab asked.

“Uncle saw it many years ago,” Jai began. “Uncle was staying in the guest house at Shillong. Every night after he went to bed, he would hear strange sounds. Then one night, he heard the sound of water falling from a tap in the bath-room. When the sound didn’t stop, Uncle thought he must have forgotten to close a tap in the bath-room. So he got up from the bed and went to the bath-room,” Jai paused.

“Then what happened?” Emon asked.

“Uncle put on the bath-room light and went into the bath-room. Then … then he saw a very ugly woman washing her hair under an open tap in the bath-room. When uncle asked her, who she was, the woman looked up at him. She had a frightful face. Then … then she suddenly vanished. Uncle looked around the bath-room but the woman was nowhere. She had vanished completely. But … but the tap was still open,” Jai paused again.

“Did your uncle see the woman again?” Pranab asked.

“No. But he continued hearing the strange sounds every night,” Jai said.

“A cousin of mine also saw a ghost in his college hostel one night,” Deb said. “That night, my cousin was studying in his hostel room on the third floor. Then once when he turned his head towards the window, which was open, he saw a bearded man floating in the air outside the window. The bearded man was looking at my cousin with bloodshot eyes. My cousin went to the window, but the bearded man vanished before my cousin got to the window.”

“One of my cousins who lives in the village also saw a ghost once,” Nakul said. “One night, he along with a few friends were walking through the open fields of their village when suddenly they saw huge clouds of fire floating in the sky in the distance. My cousin and his friends stopped and watched the fire clouds. After sometime, the fire clouds disappeared by itself.”

“Did the fire burn anybody?” Jai asked.

“I don’t know,” Nakul said.

“Why didn’t Rajesh and Kansan come?” Pankaj asked.

“Kansan told me in the morning that he wasn’t invited. I don’t know about Rajesh,” Emon said.

Later in the evening when Emon and Puja got home Mr Barua opened the front door to let them in. When Mr Barua saw them he said in a sharp voice: “Where have you two been all this time? Don’t you see it’s almost nine now.”

“There was a birthday, Dewta,” Puja said.

“Oh birthday! Birthday! I don’t know what’s there in these birthdays!”

“Oh Dewta,” Puja said as she and Emon entered the house.

Inside, Emon went to grandfather’s room. There, he found grandfather seated on a chair beside the bed and reading the evening papers.

“Koka,” Emon said after a while. “Have you seen ghosts?”

“Hoo,” grandfather said taking off his glasses.

“Tell me about the ghost, Koka.”

“I’ll tell you. First, get me a glass of water.”

“From the freezer?”

“No – no, I never drink fridge water. You must also not drink. It gives you the cold and sore throat.”

“Aatchaa, Koka. I’ll bring from the filter,” Emon said and went out of the room.

A few minutes later, Emon came back with a glass of water. Grandfather drank the glass of water.

“You want more?” Emon asked taking the glass back.

“No – no, take back the glass, it may break here.Your Maa may need it also,” grandfather said.

“Aatchaa Koka,” Emon said impatiently and then went out of the room.

After a few minutes, Emon came back and said: “Now tell me about the ghost, Koka.”

“First sit.”

Emon sat on the bed.

“As I told you, it was a long long time ago. I must have been of your age,” grandfather began. “At that time, I was living in my village with Maa and Dewta. One cold night, it must have been in December or January, I along with two other boys from my village, were coming back home from another village. It was late and the moon was up. There was no one on the road. On the way, we had to pass through a dark lane, which went through a bamboo grove. A little after we entered this lane, we heard a loud sound of something heavy falling. The ground shook and we stopped. After a moment, I began to walk again. But, one of the boys held me back and told me to wait until the moon, which had disappeared behind a cloud, appeared again. So we waited and listened. But everything was quiet. The moon came out from behind the cloud after sometime. Then, the boy, who had held me back, asked the other two of us to follow him,” grandfather paused.

“What was the name of the boy, who held you back?” Emon asked.

“Let me see, I forget. I remember, his name was Gopal.”

“After that what happened, Koka?”

“We walked forward slowly. After taking a few steps, Gopal stopped. When I asked him what happened, he pointed ahead. I looked ahead and saw something huge and dark up ahead on the lane and blocking our path. I asked Gopal what was it. Gopal said that they were bamboos. When we went nearer we found that Gopal was right, the huge dark things were bamboos. Gopal asked us not to go near the bamboos, as it was the work of ghosts. The other boy, who was with us, said, he didn’t believe in ghosts and the bamboos must have broken or got uprooted and had fallen on the lane from the grove. He also said that we can easily walk over the bamboos and cross them. Gopal said, we can’t and it’ll be dangerous. The other boy went on arguing and said, he’ll show us by crossing over the bamboos himself,” grandfather paused again.

“What’s the name of the other boy, Koka?”

“Dinesh.”

“Did Dinesh cross the bamboos?”

“I’m coming to it. When Dinesh went forward to cross the bamboos, Gopal tried to stop him. But Dinesh didn’t listen. After Dinesh started climbing over the bamboos there was a terrible sound. Then suddenly, the bamboos began to rise by themselves and straightened back into their original erect position in the grove beside the lane, and Dinesh was thrown away and he landed some distance away on the lane,” grandfather stopped.

“What happened to Dinesh?”

“It was only Bhagwan’s grace that he didn’t die but was only seriously injured. Anyway, after the bamboos went back to the grove, the path cleared and we could safely walk through the lane. Dinesh couldn’t manage more than a limp. I and Gopal almost carried him to his home. He recovered completely in about a month. But he never went near that bamboo grove again.”

“Koka, did you see the ghost among the bamboos?”

“No, it was dark and we were too terrified to notice much.”

“Did you go to the bamboo grove again?”

“I and Gopal along with a few other village boys went to the grove the next morning.”

“Did you see anything?”

“No, there was nothing. The bamboos were all erect and dancing in the breeze in the grove as usual. Nor were there anything on the lane to suggest the happenings of the previous night,” grandfather said putting on his glasses and going back to the evening papers.

Emon sat on in silence.

That night after night meal, Emon asked Mrs Barua after everyone else except Puja had left the dining-table: “Maa, have you seen ghosts?”

“Hoo, once before my marriage a ghost almost killed my Dewta,” Mrs Barua said.

“Where?”

“Emon, it’s getting late. Wash your hands and go to bed.”

“Oh Maa, please tell.”

“In my Dewta’s house at Dibrugarh. Now go,” Mrs Barua said.

“When?” Emon asked.

“At night,” Mrs Barua said.

“Why don’t you tell properly?”

“Aatchaa listen, it happened long ago. I was only a girl then. Have you seen the pond in the backyard of our house at Dibrugarh?” Mrs Barua said.

“Hoo,” Puja said.

“That night, my Dewta went to the pond to fetch a bucket of water. He didn’t come back for sometime. Then we heard Dewta screaming. Immediately I and my uncle, who was staying with us at that time, went to the pond. On getting to the pond, we found Dewta buried upside down beside the pond. The bucket was lying beside Dewta and – ”

“Buried upside down!” Emon and Puja said.

“Dewta’s head was buried into the ground and his legs were struggling in the air. I and uncle quickly pulled Dewta’s head out of the ground,” Mrs Barua stopped.

“Then what happened?” Emon asked.

“Because we found Dewta immediately after he was buried, he lived. Otherwise, he would have suffocated to death. As it happened, though it took sometime for his normal breath to come back, he was on his feet within an hour. We didn’t even call a doctor. Later, when we asked Dewta what happened, he said that a very tall man with long nails and a frightful face suddenly appeared just as Dewta was bending down into the pond to fill the bucket with water. The tall man had immense strength, he lifted Dewta and buried his head into the ground. After that the tall man vanished.”

“Did you see the tall man?”

“No, we didn’t.”

“Then what happened?” Emon asked.

“The next morning, Dewta and uncle searched the backyard. But they didn’t find anything,” Mrs Barua said finishing her meal.

Later, after Emon came back to his room for the night, he opened a drawer in his study-table and rummaged it until he found a small rusted pocket knife. He pocketed the knife. Then he took out an old rusted dog chain from the almira of his room and put it on the study-table. After this, he laid down on his bed and listened.

Sometime later, the silence of the night was broken by the sound of the gate opening and then by three shrill whistles. Emon jumped up, picked up the dog chain and switched off the light of his room. Then he went out of the house by the back door. He locked the self-locking lock before shutting the back door. Then he walked to the gate. Kansan was waiting at the gate.

Emon and Kansan walked down the lane to the main road. Kansan asked: “Did you bring anything with you?”

“A pocket knife and this chain,” Emon said showing the dog chain to Kansan even as they walked down the main road towards the riverside.

“I brought this iron rod and a box of matches. Ghosts are afraid of fire,” Kansan said showing an iron rod in his hand to Emon.

“Who told you?”

“No one told me, I know.”

“Let me see the rod.”

Kansan gave the iron rod to Emon and said: “Let me see the knife.”

Emon took the rod and gave his rusted pocket knife to Kansan and said: “It’s very old.”

Emon looked at the rod in the moonlight and asked: “This rod is also very old, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. I found it today morning in the garage,” Kansan said looking up at the moon.

It was a full moon night. The moon was up over the hills in its full majesty, lighting up the world. So, though the road was lonely, it was not dark.

“Kansan, do you know why the moon changes everyday?” Emon asked looking at the moon.

“No. But I think the sun has something to do with it.”

“How can that be, the sun disappears at night? Do you know what happens to the sun at night?”

“I don’t know what happens to the sun at night. Only I know that the sun does something to the moon. That’s why the moon changes everyday.”

“Who told you?”

“Rajesh told me the other day. He said it’s written in our Science and Geography books.”

“In which chapters?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t read.”

“I like Geography because it’s about places. I like reading about places. But Science bores me. You have to memorize a lot especially the formulas and experiments and then there are the names of the chemicals. I don’t seem to remember anything. I always fall asleep whenever I study Science and Maths.”

“But Rajesh says Science and Maths are very important.”

“Maybe, I don’t care,” Emon said.

Kansan did not say anything more. He and Emon walked on in silence

“We are nearing the house, be quiet.” Kansan said after sometime.

As the boys walked, the lonely road became lonelier. Strange shadows began to appear everywhere. Here and there pariah dogs howled at the moon. Then suddenly the old gabled house appeared before them and Kansan whispered, “There’s the house.”

“Shall we go in?” Emon asked.

“Listen, if ghosts attack us we must light a match,” Kansan whispered bringing out the match-box from his pocket.

“Let’s go in now,” Emon whispered pulling the rusted iron gate of the house.

The gate opened with a loud clang and Emon and Kansan entered. Inside, they went up the frontyard of the house. They walked slowly through the thick growth of grass and shrubs, which at times reached their shoulders. When they got to the veranda of the house they saw in the moonlight a broken wooden chair in one end of the veranda. In the other end was a broken door. The door was wide open.

“There are cob-webs,” Emon said, coming back after trying to enter the door.

“Wait, let me clean them,” Kansan said going to the door and beginning to clear the cob-webs with the iron rod.

A moment later, the moonlight suddenly disappeared.

“What happened!” Kansan said.

“It must be the ghosts,” Emon whispered suddenly becoming very alert. “Quick – quick, light a match.”

Kansan lit a match, but the moonlight did not reappear and it remained dark. A few minutes later, the moonlight reappeared and lit up the night again.

“The ghost’s gone. We didn’t even see it,” Emon whispered.

“I don’t think it was a ghost,” Kansan whispered.

“It was a ghost, what else can it be?”

“No, it was not a ghost, it was the moon.”

“How can that be? Look, the moon’s still there as before.”

“See, this is what happened. The moon went under a cloud and so it became so dark. Now the moon has come out again so the moonlight has also come back.”

“No, it was a ghost. I’ve read in ghost books that ghosts make everything dark when they come,” Emon whispered.

Emon and Kansan entered the house by the door. Inside, they tried to enter the inside rooms of the house from the front room. But the house was full of cobwebs so they gave up and came back to the front room.

Once when Emon and Kansan were passing an open window through which the wind was blowing in with a humming sound, Emon whispered, “Aoi, what’s that sound?”

“It’s the sound of the wind,” Kansan whispered.

The house was dark, Kansan lit a match to see the way and said: “We should have brought a torchlight, it’s so dark.”

“It’s alright. If we had brought a torchlight, it wouldn’t have been as adventurous as it is now. In the ghost books when ghosts appear, it’s always very dark,” Emon whispered.

“Let’s go, Emon. I don’t think there are ghosts here. It’s so dirty here and the cobwebs are getting into my eyes. And what’s this smell?”

“In the ghost books haunted houses are always full of cobwebs, spiders, rats and bats. They are also dirty. And this smell, I’m sure it’s the smell of ghosts. Kansan, don’t you see it’s really getting adventurous. We are in a real haunted house. A ghost has already appeared once. I’m sure it’ll appear again and this time we’ll see it.”

“Emon, I told you it wasn’t a ghost. It was the moon.”

“Kansan, you don’t believe when you see a real ghost. Instead, you keep imagining it’s the moon. Actually you don’t have …. Aoi, what’s that sound?”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“There it is again,” Emon whispered as they heard the sound of the gate opening.

“Somebody’s opening the gate.”

“I told you. Come – come, let’s hide,” Emon whispered and pulled Kansan away to a corner even as they heard footsteps coming up the frontyard.

After a few moments, the footsteps stopped and they heard muffled voices of men. Then they saw in the moonlight through the open door, the silhouette of three men standing in a circle in the veranda and talking. They listened and heard:

“Now what shall we do?” said the first man in a broken voice.

“You shouldn’t have killed him, Munna,” said the second man in a sharp voice.

“What else could I do, he was making such a noise. He would have roused the whole neighbourhood. And we would have been caught,” said the third man in an angry voice.

“After all it was only for fifty thousand rupees,” said the second man.

“Let’s not fight Guru. What has happened has happened. Now what shall we do?” said the first man.

“Let’s burn the body,” said the third man.

“No – no, we can’t do that, Munna. The fire will attract attention,” said the first man.

“Why don’t we bury the body here now? Then get out of the state by the first train that we can catch,” said the second man.

“But we haven’t got spades,” said the first man.

“I’ve got one at home. My home isn’t far. I and Khan can go and get it. Guru, you can keep watch here,” said the third man.

“Let’s go!” said the first man.

“How long will you be?” said the second man.

“We’ll be back within an hour,” said the third man. Emon and Kansan saw the silhouette of two men going down the veranda steps to the frontyard. The frontyard was out of the boys’ sight. But the boys heard footsteps going down the frontyard and the gate opening.

Meanwhile, the man who had remained back walked up and down the veranda for sometime. Then he also disappeared from the boys’ sight into the frontyard. After that the boys heard him walking up and down the frontyard. The man was still walking in the frontyard when Emon whispered: “Did you see the body?”

“No,” Kansan whispered back.

“It may be in the frontyard among the grass.”

“Maybe, we can’t see anything from here.”

“Can’t we go a bit nearer?”

“The man will see us. Keep quiet now. He’ll hear us.”

“Oh these mosquitoes!” Emon said slapping his leg.

“Shhh. Keep quiet, Emon. Keep quiet – listen,” Kansan whispered pulling Emon’s hand even as the footsteps of the man in the frontyard became louder.

Emon and Kansan saw through the door the man coming back to the veranda. Then the broken wooden chair in the veranda creaked as the man sat on it. After that there was a long silence.

Later, after almost an hour, Emon and Kansan heard the gate open again. Then they heard footsteps coming up the frontyard. A moment later, they heard a man’s voice calling sharply: “Guru, are you there?”

“Hoo,” the man who had remained back answered and the broken chair creaked.

Presently, the boys saw through the door the man who had remained back going down the veranda steps to the frontyard. Just then, Emon slapped on his leg again and said: “Oh these mosquitoes!”

“Shhh, keep quiet,” Kansan whispered.

“Can’t you see these mosquitoes,” Emon said slapping his leg once more.

“Keep quiet, they’ll hear us,” Kansan whispered pulling Emon’s hand.

“Listen,” Emon whispered suddenly becoming quiet.

The boys heard the sound of digging coming from the frontyard. For a long time after that the digging continued. The only other sound the boys heard through the darkness was the howling of pariah dogs.

Later, the digging stopped and the boys heard the men walking about in the frontyard. Then the digging started again.

Afterwards, the digging stopped completely and there was a few minutes of silence. Then the boys heard the gate open and the sound of something striking against it. After that, there was silence.

“The men must have gone away,” Emon said sometime later.

“Don’t make sound, they may still be around,” Kansan whispered pulling Emon’s hand.

Emon and Kansan listened and waited in silence. A few minutes later, the eastern sky gradually began to light up and the rim of the sun appeared over a hill.

“It’s morning – let’s go,” Emon said.

Emon and Kansan emerged out of the corner. They went out to the veranda. Outside, it was quiet and there was no one. The boys walked down the frontyard and went out to the road by the gate. Then they quietly began to walk homeward.

On the way when the boys were passing the ghat they heard a familiar voice calling: “Aoi Emon! Aoi Kansan!”

The boys stopped and looked around. They saw Zamoon coming up the steps of the ghat towards them.

“When you coming, so early morning,” Zamoon asked when he got to the boys.

“We went to see ghosts in a haunted house,” Emon said.

“Where?”

“A little ahead.”

“See anything?”

Emon reddened but did not say anything.

“What wrong? You become red,” Zamoon said.

“No – no, we didn’t see anything,” Emon said in a shaky voice.

Just then, they heard the whistle of a steamer.

“I go now. I not go home last night. I miss last steamer on night.”

“Where did you stay last night?”

“Bazar,” Zamoon said and hurried away to the ghat.

Emon and Kansan watched Zamoon going down the steps of the ghat and then resumed walking homeward.

Later, on getting home, Emon entered by the gate. Inside, grandfather was sitting on the front veranda sofa.

“Where did you go so early in the morning?” grandfather asked as Emon went up the veranda steps.

“For morning walk, Koka,” Emon said hiding the dog chain behind his back.

“Which side did you go?”

“The riverside.”

“Good. You must walk every morning. It’s good for health,” grandfather said.

Emon entered the house. Everyone else in the house was still asleep.