Dreamy Red

Episode 18 - The Cursed Beads

"How do you know about the beads?", I asked Joseph surprised. "Which means you have taken them", remarked Joseph. "Yes", I nodded guiltily. "Bibbitha, those beads are cursed!", he exclaimed in an elevated tone. Cursed?! Is there even something like that in the real world? "I know it sounds funny. But you have to believe me. Look at me, I'm old and sick", he said while pointing at himself top to bottom. "I do not know when I'll die. I cannot be telling stories now", he said dismally.

"But then how did you know that I might have the beads?", I asked interrupting him. "Uh, Bibbitha dear, I'm the one who procured it in the first place. Won't I not know where and all it travels?!", he spoke enchantingly. Was he a magician, I wondered. He looked at my surprised face and spoke as he laughed, "I was just pulling your leg. Don't overthink, dear. Now, let me tell you the story of the beads and how I guessed you might have taken them."

He sat opposite me on a small wire stool and started narrating, "When Kamal showed me the treasure chest which he found in the cave, I got super greedy and went in search of another treasure in the same cave." He sighed and expressed, "Even after scavenging a lot, I could not find any treasure. When I was tired and sweaty, I took a dip in the small beautiful pond inside the cave." I saw dad contemplate. "I don't remember seeing a pond in the cave", expressed dad. "Maybe you didn't explore properly", commented Jospeh. But that was unlikely for an archaeologist, I thought. However, Joseph continued his narration, "Fortunately or unfortunately, in the depths of the water, I saw something sparkling." I listened with keen interest. "I dived in and saw that it was an oyster." He made gestures in his hands as he spoke. "I opened it and in it were the attractive red beads. It was alluring and as something was better than nothing, I took it and returned home and then I tied them together with a nylon string to form a beautiful mala."

He paused for a while. I didn't intervene. "But keeping the beads with me made me do wrong things. It poisoned my mind or it made me think so. So I thought of giving it to someone whom I might not meet again." I interrupted him, "What kind of wrong things?" I looked at dad thinking he might feel embarrassed at my curiosity. But he smiled and looked at Joseph expectantly for an answer. I felt bad that I had stayed away from such a lovely father all those years because of my stupid ego.

Joseph replied to my question, "Actually I'm very ashamed to tell you this. But as I have nothing to lose, I'll tell you. Wrong things like hitting a man with my car and not stopping to rescue him." He shut his eyes and put his head down in guilt.

"Oh my god, Joseph. You would never even hurt even a fly. It's unbelievable", expressed dad in surprise. "What happened then?", I asked with concern. "The police came to my home and charged a fine on me. Someone had noted my car number and had hinted to the police. Since the man only had minor injuries, I escaped. I also had to bear his hospital charges", stated Jospeh regretfully. "Did you do anything else?", I asked curiously. He sighed and said, "Yes, but I don't feel like sharing it. Sorry", he said sadly. He must have done something even more terrible.

"Do you want something to munch?", asked Jospeh changing the subject as he got up. I actually wanted to, but I kept mum. But Dad nodded. Jospeh smiled and went to the kitchen. I could hear the fridge door opening. He came out with a large packet of chips and a bottle of cola. He gave me the chips packet, kept the bottle on the teapoy and took three glasses from a shelf behind dad.

"One day when I was at the construction site", said Jospeh as he was pouring the cola onto the glasses, "Armaan surprised Nishanthi on her birthday by showing her the building under construction. I took it as an opportunity to discard the beads. So I gifted her the beads. She loved it." He smiled and passed two glasses of cola to me and dad. I opened the chips packet, picked a handful and passed it to Joseph. He too took a handful and passed it to dad. Dad refused, so Joseph returned the packet back to me. I put the chips in my hand back into the packet and took a piece to enjoy. Jospeh continued while taking a sip of cola, "I thought I'll not meet her again. But on the morning of the day she was killed, she came home. She said that these beads were coming in her dreams and strangling her to death."