A Man among Wolves

Chapter 4

There was an old saying in Selva's native: When you associate yourself with monkeys, you will find yourself dangling from the trees at some point.

Selva was woken up on an early December morning by a phone call from work. It was Albert, who asked him to come as soon as possible. The urgency in his voice was more powerful than that of a full bladder.

Without bothering to change his lungi, Selva hurriedly travelled to Agilan's place. It was 4:30 AM and there were barely any buses available. He caught an auto, although why the auto driver was driving around his lonely neighbourhood is a question Selva didn't know the answer for. Nor did he care. The laziness that accompanied a cold, winter morning made it very difficult to care about these elementary details.

Albert's voice had sounded agitated on the call. There seemed to be a problem. Selva also considered the possibility that it could mean nothing since it was common for Albert to sail through lakhs of moods per day. In any case, he was already working hard to emotionally distance himself, like he did every morning. It was a sort of metamorphosis where a jumpy, timid young man transformed into a servile robot.

A thin layer of early morning mist draped over the entire locality. It seemed to get thicker as he neared Agilan's place. He realised that he was trembling as he climbed the steps, but he wasn't sure if it was just the weather.

There was no one in the dark hallway. Just when he wondered if he had mistaken Albert's words and arrived too early, the door on the right opened. Its creak sounded like a shrill scream of a ghost from a horror movie.

Selva jumped and almost fell over.

Gugan was standing at the door.

"Oh, it's you!" He exclaimed, his facial expression relaxing with recognition. He turned back into the room and spoke to someone. "Selva's here!"

Selva hobbled into the room, awkwardly looking around as he entered.

Albert was seated on the chair where he had first seen him. His enormous right leg was crossed over the left leg which was tapping on the floor. His one hand was on Agilan's table fingering an empty paper cup. It was already half squished from his grip.

"A..Anna!" Selva called to him.

Albert's eyes flicked to him once, signalling that he had heard him, and moved away to the wall again. He seemed to be in one of his terrible states of mind.

Selva stood there, waiting. An unease was growing in the pit of his stomach like a creeper, stretching down to his legs. He was mentally debating with himself about his next course of action. Should he call this man again to remind him more forcibly about his presence? Or should he just stay silent?

"Selva!" Albert spoke to him, still addressing the wall.

"Na?" He took a step forward obediently.

"Sit down!"

There was no other chair inside the room except Agilan's, on the other side of the table. Selva knew better than to sit on it. He sat on the cement floor opposite Albert and smoothed out his lungi. The man looked even more expansive from this view. He was jarring to look at, especially when his eyebrows were knitted together tightly.

Albert's next few words surprised him. "Did you eat something?"

Selva stared.

"Did you eat something?" Albert repeated loudly.

"No." Selva answered, terrified. It wasn't usual for Albert to call him at 4:30 AM in the morning and ask him about his meal.

"Hmm," Albert muttered, distractedly. "We can perhaps have some tea on our way back."

Back from where? Selva almost asked that question but his mouth didn't co-operate. But his question was answered, anyway.

"Selva," Albert spoke again, his face suddenly deformed into a pleasant smile. "You won't forget this day. I remember when I first experienced something like this. It was life changing and I still remember it with details. Like a photograph in my memory. Ka-chik!"

He imitated a camera shutter sound and laughed out aloud.

Selva's mind was already going to a state of hyperactivity. He didn't want to go through any sort of life changing experience with these people. There was an absolute certainty that it wasn't going to change anything for the better. Yet, he was too scared to ask anything. Hence, he just sat there staring at Albert.

"Be clear, Albert na!" Gugan stepped in to clarify. "Selva, we have a work at Perungudi. You will be driving us there and-"

"-and just enjoy our handiwork!" Albert interrupted with a sort of maniacal glee in his eyes. He looked like a young kid who was about to watch the latest movie of his favourite actor on the first day. "Because we are going to murder a son-of-a-bitch!"

He let out another one of his loud guffaws as he stood up. "The rest, we shall discuss on our way! Hurry!"

Selva followed them with a dead stare in his eyes. None of his faculties seemed to be in his control.