Climax

Weang and Wanking - 5

Their plan to visit the dam got thwarted by a cyclone. It rained relentlessly for the remainder of the week. The whole island donned a variety of raincoats and jumped about on the roads that were mostly puddles.

Wei and Xie were among the puddle jumpers.

"I hate rain." Wei said on their way back home from school. Storms meant no fishing and that meant no food and no job for his parents and friends.

Xie had no such direct impact from rain. He loved to get soaked in rain and jump in the puddles and ride his bike splashing water around. "Me too." He said, not wanting to contradict his friend. "Do you want to come to my house? We can play some board games."

"Um... no. It's okay." Wei couldn't possibly go to his house with his dripping clothes. Also he would have to invite Xie to his house in return which was not happening. Wei had seen the houses in the middle town, they're big with neat lawns and gates. Not like his house. There's no way Xie would stay friends with him if he saw their house.

The negative response wasn't what Xie expected to hear. He was sure they had become close friends now. Then why did Wei say no? Didn't he like board games? He cursed himself for not asking first.

"Ok. Some other time, huh?" He said.

"Ok..."

****

When the next week dawned with boiling sun and blowing cool wind, everything went back to normal.

Every other day Wei brought meaty rikla for Xie, which Xie accepted with a sincere smile and fed to the stray cat on his way home. Wei started riding bike without assistance. By Thursday he was circling the whole playground on his own.

It put such a big grin on Wei's face, Xie almost flew up due to the airy feeling inside him.

"You did it!!!" He exclaimed when Wei came to a halt in front of him.

"Thanks. Did I bend my body?"

"No. Now it doesn't matter. You got the balance. Another week you would be ready for dam."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. From now on you ride the bike and I will sit in the front."

Wei agreed. He was so proud of himself. Nowadays he almost forgot about his disease. All his free time was consumed by bicycle. He was ready to show off his new skill.

So the streets of the island witnessed two grinning boys on a bike, flying as if they owned the world.

All was well until next Thursday.

"Towels, water bottles, coins for snacks, anything else?" Xie asked, getting down from the bike and taking it from Wei.

"That's it. We can go directly from school. I can't wait to eat mangoes." Wei said excitedly.

"Me too. Okay, see you." Xie took off waving bye to Wei.

Wei started on his way. After five minutes or so he remembered that they may need raincoats for tomorrow's excursion to the dam. So he turned back and walked towards Xie's street.

What he witnessed broke his tiny heart. Xie was shaking the rikla box, dumping its content on the street corner before throwing the box away. Wei could recognize many empty boxes at different stages of decomposition around the litter. He turned back with blurred eyes and ran.

He couldn't believe what he saw. Xie never ate his Rikla. The rikla he made with so much stress and care. Every morning while sorting fish he stole the meatiest shrimp for Xie so that it won't get counted by his mom. He hid it under the other shrimp until evening and marinated it. After cooking, he stole the shrimp again from the pot and packed it for Xie.