After Part 1...
After dinner, when Mayan came to his room, it was just a quarter to nine. All the neighborhood noise had already ceased. It had been four or five months since electricity poles were erected in the village. Almost every day, the elders would plead at the electricity office. But there was no sign of a connection. Kerosene lamps and lanterns, in their attempt to dispel the village's darkness at night, grew tired too quickly.
So, as evening passed, the neighborhood seemed to be gripped by the stillness of midnight. Two jackals howled together from the bamboo grove, breaking the night's eerie silence like fragile glass. The echo, hitting the stillness, spread around.
A few more jackals started howling from inside the paddy fields. Until recently, jackal calls were not heard so close to the village. With the rate at which bushes and forests are being cleared, wild animals are being forced to come closer to humans. Perhaps someday, people will keep jackals instead of dogs.
Mayan lay half-reclined on his bed and opened 'Tom Sawyer'. Nadim would arrive after ten. He'd read as much as he could before then. But Mayan found that the writing didn't hold his attention. Yet, he had read 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' by the same author in one sitting. After barely two pages, he tossed the book onto the table. Then, as he tossed and turned in bed, he didn't know when he fell asleep.
Suddenly, a knocking sound jolted Mayan awake. Someone was tapping on the window. Nadim had arrived. He said in a muffled voice, "Wait, I'm coming."
Then he got up and took out the net from under the bed. As he lowered the lantern light and opened the door to step outside, Mayan was bewildered. The moonlight was like a flood. Everything around was bright as day.
Mayan smiled. When Nadim came forward, he said, "We're in trouble tonight. Even a thief would think ten times before stealing on a night like this. If Mokhles Mia sees us, he won't spare us."
"Don't be afraid. Nothing will happen."
Nadim's voice sounded somewhat hoarse, as if he was drawing in air from outside with his words.
"What's wrong with your voice?"
Nadim started walking without answering. Mayan said, somewhat impatiently, "Did you catch a cold or something? Your voice is gone."
"Don't talk too much. Come quickly," Nadim said, stopping and speaking in the same hoarse voice.
"Did you bring anything to put the fish in?"
Nadim held out his hand without speaking. In his hand was a folded cloth bag. Mayan said, "Brother, do you really know that Mokhles Mia's dog is dead?"
Nadim nodded, "Yes."
"It wasn't a dog. It was huge, like a tiger. It would growl fiercely if it saw anyone approach."
As they reached Mokhles Mia's pond bank, their luck began to turn. A cloud appeared from somewhere and covered the moon. A cool north wind began to blow.
On the east bank of the pond stood a bushy mango tree. Even though the cloud covered the moon, it couldn't completely block its light. The thin moonlight that stirred around, defying the cloud, was still quite strong. So, the dense darkness under the mango tree could be a good hiding spot. Mayan signaled Nadim to stand on the bank, then he went down a bit and stood under the mango tree.
From there, Mokhles Mia's office room was visible. Mayan's heart pounded. They say that as people age, they don't sleep well at night. If Mokhles Mia suffered from insomnia and decided to guard the pond from his office, Mayan and Nadim would surely be caught.
Mayan gathered his courage and arranged the net in his hand when a gust of wind threw the net to the ground. All the surrounding air gathered and shook the mango tree with immense force. Mayan, somewhat frightened and surprised by the sudden wind, looked at Nadim. Nadim stood still on the bank. His facial expression couldn't be discerned in the cloud-covered moonlight. The sudden swirling wind subsided as abruptly as it came.
Mayan gathered the net again and cast it into the water. With a splash, the iron weights began to pull the net under the water. Mayan quickly looked towards the office room. His heart was pounding. He kept thinking that someone would scream and rush out from the office. But nothing of the sort happened.
Mayan gave the net some time to sink, then slowly began to pull it towards the bank. There was a pull on the net. Mayan knew what that meant. When a large fish gets caught in the net, it tries to swim away in the opposite direction to escape. That's when the net pulls.
Mayan was delighted. Good fish seemed to be caught. But as the net came up, he was disappointed. Not a single fish had come up. Instead, something like a round log had tangled in the net. As Mayan tried to untangle it, he was terribly startled. His heart pounded against his chest as if it wanted to burst out.
The faint moonlight hadn't allowed the darkness under the mango tree to thicken. In that dim twilight, Mayan saw that what he had thought was a log, and had untangled from the net, was actually a tangled human body. As his hand touched it, a shivery, ice-cold sensation ran through Mayan's entire body. He realized there was no life in this body.
No living human body could be so cold. After being freed, the body slowly straightened. From the waist down, the legs submerged in the water. The rest of the body remained on the ground. Now, the face of the supine body turned towards Mayan.
To be continued...
If you’re interested to read part one. Hit below....
With💙
©Chrysanthemum
