One Foot In The Grave

Chapter 9: The Bun In The Oven

Vasu, Day 11

Vasudev washed his hands in the sink, the quick, jetting flow rinsing the dirt from under his fingernails. He doubted if he could work for the rest of the night. The memory of dragging Ahalya out of the river lingered like a bad tattoo in the head. It might haunt him for a while— the images of her pale skin, the pink ears and the clogged hair had left scratching sensations down his body. The shimmering lights in the kitchen were neon-white, and his body felt like a log that he had to drag everywhere.

Watching someone almost die wasn't a good memory to hang on to. This reminded him of Bhanu, and he rubbed his palms harder. He hoped that his sister was safe somewhere else, far away from this horrible village. He walked into the living room, where Ahalya was sleeping on the large sofa. A brown blanket covered her from top to bottom. She seemed fine, her face normal, hair dry and body still. Somehow, he understood she would be fine. She had to. Vishwa stayed by her side since the evening and only left for a quick bath after an incessant nagging. And Vasu had never seen Yamuna freak out like she did today. Jagadeesh and Vasu drove her home after the accident and carried her inside, just like how they carried her out of the river. She had been upside down in the water, ankles barely floating above by the time they'd found her.

The hands in the wall clock rotated with sharp ticks, slicing the silence. Vasu worried about this new woman who had been very kind to her since the beginning. She'd been closer to death and going back to normal could be tricky. A slippery slope. If history was any indication, she wasn't among the best to deal with ghastly memories.

He was about to sit when he heard a knock. He threw a glance at the clock, guessing it would be the doctor and rushed to the front door.

He yanked open the door and let a slim, tall man inside. The man's height overshadowed Vasu as he strolled along into the living room, adjusting his frail spectacles. The doctor was a big man, walking in heavy steps and carrying a rectangle-shaped bag. Vasu had known him as 'Doctor' since he was the only one in the village and everyone called him the same. The doctor had already visited in the evening after Jagadeesh and Vasu had brought Ahalya here. Yamuna called him personally, so he couldn't refuse.

"How is she?" The Doctor asked.

"She's alright," Vasu replied. "She woke up an hour ago, mumbled her mother's name and passed out again."

The doctor sat in a chair and dragged it toward the Sofa. "That's good. Any changes in her temperature?"

"Nothing drastic."

"Good. Good." The doctor took out a syringe, inserted its needle into the vial and drew in a red medicine. And when he injected it into Ahalya's right hand, she let out a weak moan and twisted, but remained unconscious.

"Ramesh, is she going to be okay?"

Vasu and the doctor looked up, watching Yamuna hustle down the stairs. It wasn't long until Vishwa tailed her, folding his shirt cuffs. He seemed shaken with his shirt's collar open and hair flying in all directions. Vasu noticed that the family was turning like him―muddled, broken and restless, as if they joined a coven together.

"She'll be fine." The doctor zipped his bag. "Mr Jagadeesh did a perfect CPR. She vomited all the water, and it's just a mild fever now. I gave something to keep her stable until the morning."

The image of Jagadeesh fretfully doing compressions and blowing air into Ahalya's mouth resurfaced and Vasu shut his eyes, trying to shake it. She would be fine, he repeated the doctor's words to himself.

"What about her ankle?" Vishwa walked around the sofa and pulled the blanket away, revealing Ahalya's swollen, red ankle resting on a fluffy pillow.

"She sprained her ankle, Mr Vishwa," the doctor said. "It'd take four to five days for the swelling to go down." Then, he pulled out a sheet of tablets from his bag and handed them over to Yamuna. "If she's in pain, give her these. Two tablets a day, if her pain is severe. She suffered no allergic reaction from the water. Her pulse is great. I'm leaving her an inhaler too; it's rare, but just in case is she has difficulty breathing after she wakes up."

The doctor picked his bag and waited.

Noticing him, Yamuna said, "Sorry, for your fee, how much is it?"

The doctor lingered, his eyes going on and off of Vasu, who was now frowning back.

"What happened, doctor?" Vishwa asked.

Ramesh clutched his arms, peering at the floor. He managed a weak smile and said, "Uh, I need to say something. It's about Bhanu."

Everyone dodged their heads forward.

Vasu stepped ahead, his heart thumping. "About my sister?"

"Few days before she went missing, she had visited me. I mean, you know I conduct camps in the villages around since they don't have any hospitals." He paused, took in their jumbled expressions, and carried on. "She came to me when I was camping in the next village and said she wasn't feeling well."

"Not feeling well?"

"Nausea. Fatigue. Missed a period. I ran some tests, and it turned out that her suspicions were right. She was pregnant."

'Was' felt like a punch to Vasu. Talking about his sister in the past tense in this case definitely provoked him. He almost coughed out a loud 'What', but Vishwa held him back and asked, "Are you sure it's our Bhanu, doctor?"

"I know who Bhanu is, Mr Vishwa. I've been in this village for a long time."

"Who's the father?" Yamuna demanded. The tension had left her face, and she grasped her saree.

"That's the problem. She didn't tell me. She even begged me not to tell anyone about this, and I assured her I wouldn't."

Vasu wasn't steady anymore. He glanced at Ahalya sleeping this moment off and wished to be in her place, ignorant and weak, while the question about Bhanu's safety was still unknown. He doubted the person in the bushes could've something to do with this, meeting his sister in secrecy and such.

"I returned from the camp three days ago and found out she's been missing. I was thinking about how to approach you . . . "

"And you wasted three days, Ramesh," Yamuna shouted. "You know how important the information could've been to us." She was no longer seeing him as the person who treated her daughter-in-law.

Vishwa didn't let go of Vasu as if he feared he would jump at the doctor.

"But in a village like this, I feared it might only spoil her character. They would say all these things . . ."

He wasn't in the wrong. Although Vasu's ears had been ringing and his entire system was at the brink of a mini panic attack, he agreed with the doctor. He might not find his sister, but he wouldn't stand if people advertise her as the girl who got knocked out and eloped. Was he sure she eloped? But the doctor could've approached them in private, like he was doing now.

"Vasudev, bring me the phone," Yamuna said. "I'll call that SI."

However, Vasu didn't move. He always believed he and his sister were close enough to share everything. Ever since their parents had killed themselves, it was only the both of them. They had fought for and against each other, had gossiped like old ladies and had been to the movies. Now, someone came along, saying she had a secret and Vasu realized there was a chance she'd left him for this mysterious boyfriend. Tears denied staying inside his eyes. They were stubborn like his sister.

Vishwa handed her mother his phone. Meanwhile, the doctor left the scene after he apologized twice and received no response. The family had been through enough with one person out cold on the sofa and another, missing and pregnant.

Lost in their heads, three of them dispersed with a ripple of silence, still drowning in the same waters. Back in his room beside the shed, Vasu collapsed on the floor, embracing himself, and as the saliva drooped down his lips, he bawled like a little kid. Except for the hiccups, he made no sound, as if his pain deserved this stillness. 

And inside the house, Ahalya had laid frozen on the sofa and cried in her sleep. All her fears that piled like a glacier had melted, crashed and flooded out.

It was just another long, quiet night, but this time Dwaraka woke up.