Wanderers in Eternity – Chapter 2 (Page 4)
March 5th, 2006“Look at him, Amma.”
“Took at sin, Mamma.”
“Son, can’t you leave your sister alone,” Mallika scolded. “The way this boy is growing up is no good. The eldest in the family should be an example to his younger siblings.”
Lionel went quiet. He became more stubborn.
A few days later, Lionel went to the main road while holding his younger brother’s hand. By this time Ajith was learning the vocabulary.
Mother was heard saying, “Don’t go too far.”
At this time of the afternoon, there was a lot of traffic on the road. This was the main High Level road. The vehicles travelling between Colombo to Avissavella via Nugegoda were endless. For an instance, Lionel had a thought to push his little brother to the road. But this sinful thought faded on hearing the little brother’s cute voice and seeing his beautiful big eyes.
“There, car, car… go .. go… “Ajith who was laughing while saying this, suddenly started to cry.
Lionel saw a petrol bowser coming towards them.
As this heavy duty vehicle went by them, Ajith screamed and started to run towards the house. He stopped only when he go to his mother who was cooking dinner in the kitchen. Though she quizzed him for some time the only reply from him was a cry.
Lionel also entered the kitchen in a little while.
“What happened to little brother, son?”
“I don’t know. He just started crying and ran away.”
“I don’t know what this boy did to the little one.”
“I told you, I did not do anything,” Lionel yelled out loud.
“What a foul mouth you have. I should burn your mouth with a torch.”
“No, no,” it was Ajith who cried out. “No fire, no burn mouth.”
Ajith ran out of the kitchen and hid under the bed. Feeling very low, Lionel also walked out of the house and sat under the Nam-nan tree in the gathering dusk.
Aggie Nona consoled Ajith. Taking the little one from under the bed, she sat him on the mattress. While doing this she could feel that his body was burning like a hot rod.
“Oh, the baby was very high fever…. Madam…”
Mallika felt the baby’s forehead. “You are right. He has high fever.” The thermometer confirmed this.
“This kid has gotten afraid of something. What did the little brother get afraid of, son?”
“I don’t know,” Lionel yelled from the garden.
“Don’t you ever take brother anywhere again.”
“I don’t want to, either.”
“Look at the way he is yelling. Wait till your father gets home, you brat.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Lionel started to cry.
“This boy has done something bad to the little one,” Mallika told Aggie Nona. “Maybe if you ask him, he might tell you, Aggie Nona.”
Aggie Nona went to the garden with Suneetha as if to walk around. Lionel avoided her as well.
“Our little master took care of little brother real well, didn’t he?” Aggie Nona asked in a pleading tone.
“What was there to take care? He got scared by something and ran home.”
“This could be from an evil spirit,” Aggie Nona came back in the house and told Mallika.
The baby’s fever increased. He started to shiver. Now Mallika remembered a vow she had made to the shrine in Katharagama when Ajith got sick the first time. Was this fever a kind of reminder from an angry god who had not been appeased?
She lit lamps to the god Skanda and worshipped him. She prayed to him saying that as soon as the baby got better she would go to Katharagama and release the vow.
She placed pillows all around the baby’s body and lit a fire in a potsherd and placed it under the bed. By the time Victor Henagama came home in the evening, Ajith’s fever had subsided somewhat. But immediately he took the boy in a taxi to the dispensary in the Nugegoda junction.
The doctor who examined the child gave a red liquid for him to drink. He also prescribed a white powder to be taken every six hours. Ajith showed signs of getting better from the red liquid medicine.
Though the fever was gone by the next morning, Mallika urged her husband to make a pilgrimage to Katharagama to release the vow. She also told Victor that Lionel should be kept away from Ajith. “This all happened when the little one went up to the main road with that one. That one has an envy in his heart – because we pay attention to the little one.”
“Don’t let the two of them go towards the road together after this.”
Though Lionel did not get a thrashing from his father for this incident, he felt his father was very cold towards him. Because of this, Lionel became more and more remorseful and quiet.
He lost the privilege of going to the roadside with his little brother. If he did go, there was always Aggie Nona and Suneetha with them.
“Why can’t I go to the roadside with my brother on my own?” he complained.
“You will have to ask that from Sir,” Aggie Nona replied right away.
“Father is no good.” Lionel yelled out.
“I am going to tell that to father.” Suneetha threatened.
“Go ahead, go ahead and blabber. See if I care.”