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A few days later Anula and Siripala were alone in an isolated wooded area. It was not clear which one succumbed to the other. Both of them behaved with bodies heated by extreme passion.

A week later Anula informed Siripala that she was pregnant.

After listening to her news, Siripala picked up a blade of grass from near where he was squatting and chewed on it and contemplated for a while before replying. “What can we do, Menike? Let us get married then.” Tasting the milky flavor of the grass, he spat and stood up as if he had made a final decision. “Let us tell your mother. I will take care of you the best I can.”

“Mother likes you very much, Siri.”

Siripala smiled innocently.

“If she found out what I did to you, your mother won’t like me very much, Menike.”

“Mother likes you. We don’t have to tell all that to her.”

“I will be getting three acres of land in Yan Oya. I have sent all the forms all filled up. New villages are being built up there.”

“I am coming with you then.”

“I won’t go there without you, Menike.” About him was a very childlike innocent quality. Siripala did not have the know how or the anger that Lionel had.

Duly, Anula received her mother’s blessing as well. Siripala’s only family was an older sister and his old father who lived in Vavuniya. Siripala had left home after an argument with his brother-in-law.

“That man would pull out a knife when he got drunk. I am not used to that kind of behavior,” one day he told Anula. “I must have drifted this way because of my luck, to meet you.”

“I also came here because of my luck,” Anula replied.

“If you went to the university, how could someone like me ever grab such a big branch like you!”

“After I’d finished my studies I would have come back to the village anyway.” Remembering a discussion she had once with Lionel, she sighed. “We don’t need to talk about all that now. I am in the village anyhow.”

Their marriage took place in a simple ceremony. Finding an auspices time one morning, they went to the registrar’s office and registered their marriage. Mother cooked a special milk rice. The neighbours got together and made lunch for everyone. There was no one from Siripala’s family attending this ceremony.

Anula’s younger brothers lit some firecrackers and four village women played the large Raban drum.

Towards evening the house was sans company again. The mother, extremely tired, fell asleep. The two younger brothers went out to roam about the village. Anula and Siripala were alone in their room.

Anula remembered the last time she was alone with Lionel and a tear rose in her eye. Siripala who was sitting next to her on the rope bed stroked her back and asked “Why are you crying, my Menike?”

“No, it’s O.K.”

“I know you had to give up your education because of me. If you want to, go back to the university, my Menike. I will take care of the fields.”

Feeling the gratitude towards Siripala’s trust and love for her, Anula wiped away the tears and smiled. “That’s nice. My Menike is smiling.”

As Siripala bent towards her, she hugged him. She thought how much better Siripala is than Lionel. Lionel thought only about his revolution and liberation. Didn’t he die because of those selfish ideals?

Perhaps he lost his life by the erroneous actions of the group he joined in the hope of helping others. But that last night he behaved in such a ferocious selfish manner. Did he behave that way because he knew that was going to be the very last time that they would be together? Was that the reason he left a memento with her? Anula felt as if the fetus was stirring within her womb. When Siripala pulled her and laid her on the bed she told him to be careful.

As if understanding why she said so, Siripala stroked her belly with his fingers and embraced her.

After a while covered with sweat, Siripala fell asleep. Anula could not sleep. In the stifling heat, an eye-fly hummed around her eyes. Where did that come from? What a bother! Unable to bear the annoyance, she got up and went to the table at the end of the room.

Sitting in a chair nearby, she could see a box filled with books underneath the table. These were books from here university days, books that she did not have the heart to throw away. Pulling the box slowly towards herself, she opened the lid. A silverfish ran amidst the musty smell. She took out the top most Economics book. Turning to the last page she saw a pressed plumeria flower there.

She picked it up and smelled it. The flower held a faint fading smell of decay. The petals that were once brilliant with white and yellow were now brown in color. The folded flower had no beauty in it. It only had a sweet memory.

Remembering Lionel she thought of that memorable night and pressed the flower to her bosom.

Siripala groaned lightly and turned the other way on the bed. Anula panicked and hid the faded flower once again among the pages of the book. Siripala slightly opened his eyes.

“Anu…”

“Why, Siri?” Putting the book back in the box she stood up.

“You are still reading books.”

“No, no I just turned the pages.”

“You are still thinking about the university.”

“No, Siri.” Saying this, Anula sat next to Siripala and stroked his head. One of his hands rested on her stomach. Till he fell asleep once more, she sat in that manner.

She got up only when she heard the voices of her brothers walking back towards the house through the shrubbery.

After this for a very long time she forgot the faded flower hiding among the pages of her economics book.

Seven months hence, she gave birth to a baby girl. She delivered the child while laying on the rope bed in her room. A midwife was there to aid her.

Siripala who came running back from the fields paced up and down outside the room with great impatience. Every time that Anula moaned he would stop and look towards the room. The window of the room was shut.

As the sun reached its zenith, Anula’s screaming also increased. Unable to bear anymore, Siripala came to the door and talked to the mother. She told him to stay outside. Unable to tolerate his wife’s moans and groans, Siripala walked to the arecanut tree grove and squatted in the shade and covered his ears. A crow cawed up on a tree.

“Are you crying too, little black crow?” Looking up, Siripala talked to the bird. “Oh, little bird, I hope Menike will deliver the baby without any mishap. If that happens I will offer you some food as well – an almsgiving to the crows.”

Heen Ethana who had come to assist in the delivery room, came running in search of Siripala. “Come on in, Siripala. She delivered the baby.”

“She had the baby?”

“Yes, yes, a little baby girl…looks just like you.”

Elated, Siripala ran in to the room. He picked up the baby that still smelled of fresh blood with a great loving feeling.

The little girl wriggled with clenched fists. “Just like a worm,” Siripala muttered.

Anula chuckled.

“I made a promise to the crows that if you delivered the baby without any mishap that I would offer them some food,” sitting by Anula, Siripala said.

The very next day this offering was prepared. The food placed in the arecanut grove was a feast to the ever hungry crows. Their crowing could be heard late into the day.

Anula named her daughter Visaka. Siripala handed the decision making on that matter entirely to his wife. “Your baby looks just like you,” he said.

Anula also felt that Visaka looked just like herself. But doesn’t the baby’s lips resembled those of Lionel? Her eyes were exactly like Anula’s. But mother said that the little girl looked just like Siripala.

Hearing this Siripala smiled without any comments.