BALI 100 KM (Book 1) ✔

Chapter 4

Bandu looked up and recognized the stranger, the one who had come before like this one night out of nowhere. He picked up the object out of the stranger's hand, wondering in his mind whether this man had made it a habit of startling everyone.

"Thank you, sir. I had just reached and will be preparing tea if you don't mind waiting for a few minutes," Bandu said, returning the lighter to its owner.

"Sure, take your time," the stranger drawled while making himself comfortable on the milestone.

Bandu got down to work and in between threw glances at the stranger puffing out smoke. He took out snacks and biscuits from his grocery bag and filled them in the two glass cookie jar containers. After some time, the stranger initiated the conversation by asking what happened to his shop, and Bandu was too glad to share his misery.

"It was the escaped criminal who was found dead," the stranger stated in an off-handed manner.

"What! Are you asking me or telling me?" Bandu retorted, pausing himself.

"Telling you?"

"And how come I know nothing about this!"

"Maybe you never asked,"

"Yes, you are right, I did not bother to ask," the truth hit him, "I suspected you to be the escaped criminal when you had showed up the other night and was in two minds about reporting you to the police," Bandu revealed.

"Then why did you not report me?" the stranger chuckled

"I thought that maybe you were a policeman from some other department come to investigate in plain clothes. Many officers came here like that after this criminal had escaped"

"Good, you did not report me. You are safe not knowing certain things. I have no intention of harming you in any way." the stranger stated rather grimly.

Bandu kept the tea, along with a plate of snacks, on the table. He then brought out the stool and placed it besides for the stranger to sit.

"I am a poor man earning my living as a tea vendor. I cannot think about getting myself involved in such matters of crime. Look at my shop. What did I do to deserve this? I don't understand." said Bandu, frustrated.

"Do you know the dead man?" the stranger asked suddenly.

"Of course, I didn't know him, and what has that got to do with the state of my shop?" said Bandu, confused.

"But I think he knew you." said the stranger rather bluntly.

"What! How can you say that!" Bandu exclaimed, tensed.

"Just a guess," the stranger chuckled again, seeing Bandu all tense up. Maybe he found pleasure in bothering people, Bandu thought. Bandu let out his tense breath but couldn't understand why the stranger would joke about such a thing, and just so suddenly, he remembered he had not seen the dead man's face.

Their conversation ceased after two customers arrived, and Bandu began to cater to their order. After paying for his tea, the stranger walked away on foot, as Bandu could not see any vehicles parked nearby. Bandu was left pondering about what the stranger said. "Why would the dead man know me?" he repeated to himself.

By mid-day, his friend Partho arrived with his assistant to take over the repairs of the broken stall. Bandu was all too glad to have company at the lonely stretch. The recent incidents were blogging his mind, making him feel restless for no reason and all the more so when he had no one to confide in his fears. Being orphaned at the age of ten had made him a loner always on the run.

In all these unforeseen bad situations, some unexpected good things did happen to him, and one came in the form of the senior inspector who extended monetary help for his shop. Maybe it was his way to express his helplessness at not being able to arrest the culprits who destroyed his shack. After all, the police were responsible for the things in their possession that they were investigating. But Bandu was glad about the little help.

Partho and Maman too helped him, and within a fortnight, his new shop was ready. Now it had brick walls, with asbestos roof and a wooden door at the front. The shop had a window facing the road, with its shutter opening upwards. He could now hang the old framed picture of the deity on the wall. A bench and table also found a place in the arrangement for his customers to sit. He placed the stove on a wooden table to enable him to stand and cook. New glass jars for the snacks were now up on a shelf. He had purchased new drums to hold water for cooking and cleaning. On a stool- in front of the shop, he set up a clay pot with a protruding tap to store drinking water for the customers. Bandu was now extremely happy and satisfied with the new look of his shop, although he had to spend a considerable amount of his hard-earned money on it. Partho gave him two keys for the lock.

The case, for the time being, was on the back burner. While, surprisingly, the business picked up again, and that too at a faster pace than before. Bandu stopped going home for lunch and cooked something for himself in the stall, and took a nap in the afternoon if possible. Two weeks later, one morning, the inspector stopped by the shop.

"Tea, sir," said Bandu offering a cup.

"Bandu, do you recall seeing the dead criminal any time before? You serve a lot of customers every day, so it must have been difficult for you to recall the face quickly." said the inspector

"To tell you the truth, sir, I did not take a good look at the dead body as it was dark when I found him in front of my stall, and later I never got a chance to see him," Bandu said.

"What! Do you mean you have not seen the dead man yet? How can that be? I thought that the identifications were over. That was a serious lapse in our investigation, I admit," the inspector grit his teeth, "Well, then let's correct that mistake now," the officer said and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. He unfolded it and handed it over to Bandu, "Take a look at this pamphlet with his photograph and see if you recognize him."

Bandu now scrutinized the person in the pamphlet, and after a few seconds, his face lit up with a tense excitement as the stranger's statement flashed in his memory "But I think he knew you,"