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“Reverend will tell you. You must have come here on some other mission then?”

“Yes, to meet with one of the prisoners.”

“A Tamil?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Look like you are also doing some good work in some other way then?”

“I am trying to know people without separating them in to different races as Singhalese and Tamil.”

“It is very hard to explain such a thing to some people, sir.”

“Especially to the ones who are trying to separate the North from the country,” another soldier added.

“Not everyone up North thinks the same way.” Doctor Saminadan joined in on the conversation. “One day every one will understand that we do not belong to one race all the time. Like the priest said, what a temporary hold this is?” Ajith as well as the soldiers looked on in amazement at the Tamil doctor who spoke such fluent Singhalese with such an understanding.

It took about half an hour for the priest to return. He brought back with him the papers to let in Ajith and Saminadan into the camp, very happily as if he were carrying a white banner of victory.

“Let us, gentlemen. I talked to Vasantharaja as well. He is willing to help with the work.”

“What work, reverend?”

“To undergo hypnosis.”

“Whatever way, if it helps the boy, that is all that matters,” Saminadan said. “When I spoke with Janaki earlier she told me about all the trouble she had with the boy. After his father had died, he had become so stubborn and rotten. Then one of his uncles had taken him away to join him with the Tigers.”

“He is not a very happy person. Very restless,” the priest said. “He told me about a dream he had. He knows quite a bit of Singhalese.”

“He had lived in wellawatte,” Ajith revealed what little he knew. Then he realized that this boy was his grandson from his previous life.

They walked down a dusty road and entered the surgical unit of the camp. It was a small building. On its columned front porch, Janaki was already waiting for them.

“I told them to bring Vasantharaja to a bed in here,” the priest explained.

“It is very quiet around here.”

“Pinna arai kami,” Janaki said and pointed to the interior.

A soldier who came to the porch, led them to an inner room with pale blue walls. Inside on a bed sat Vasantharaja dressed in a white sarong and a light weight long sleeved undershirt. He glanced at Ajith, then looked down and started to pinch his own arm.

In one corner of the room were several chairs. The priest pulled out one the chairs close to the bed and sat on it.

Janaki sat by her son and whispered something to him. Vasantharaja nodded his head.

“he is ready, sadhu,” She said for the priest to her.

“If you’d like to, you can stay in the room.”

The priest sat upright in his chair. “Vasantharaja, please lie down on the bed. Let us see what your dream is all about.”

To Ajith, none of this was any more. Listening to the commands given by the preist, Vasantharaja closed his eyes and relaxed and floated into another world while Ajith watched.

“Vasantharja, see where you are?”

“Kandy… Peradeni…”

“Give us your name?”

“Enadu peyar Lionel. My name is Lionel,” Vasantharaja started to talk in a very distressed masser. After muttering a few words in Tamil, he started to talk in Sinhalese. “I am Lionel. I went from Kandy. To Galle. Galle. Che Guvera.”

“Tell us, what happened, Lionel?”

“I got shot. Shot in the chest. My chest.” Vasantharaja’s right hand rested on his chest. a pain registered on his face. His eyes were tightly shut.

“Lionel, now you will not feel any pain. Let us go a little further, into your childhood in that lifetime….. Take a look at the house where you live.”

“We are in Colombo…”

“Who else is there?”

“Mother, father, younger sister and younger brother – Suneetha and Ajith.”

Ajith was startled. “Ajith?”

“Yes, Ajith. My younger brother, Ajith. Yes here is my younger brother, Ajith. I am angry. Everybody treats him nice. I am angry…. angry…. I want to take revenge from everybody.”

Ajith blurted out “Aiya” (Older brother). The young Tamil man lying on the bed in front of him, could this be his own brother, Lionel? It was also only a memory.

“I….I went to the campus,” Vasantharaja went on talking.” That is where I met Anula and got friendly with her. That Anula…” He stated to pant heavily. “I left my Anula and went to join the revolution.”

“Where is Anula?”

“I don’t know. Yan Oya. In Anuradhapura. No, no! It was that Anula I saw in Bodhipura. With Anula was our daughter….. I know now. Before I left her, we…we…” Vasantharaja’s voice faded and tears were streaming down his face. His eyes were still closed.

“Lionel, now we will come to the moment of death in that lifetime. You will not feel any pain. You can very easily float up and away from that body. You will not feel the pain of that body now. See what you can see now.”

“I got caught by the police. I am very angry. I must kill all of them. They tortured me. They shot me right her in my chest.” Janaki noticed that Vasantharaja was pointing th the birth mark on his chest.

“Now there is no more pain, Vasantharaja. When I count to three, you will wake up. One – your body is very relaxed. There is no pain. Two – you are very close to walking up. There is no pain at all. You will feel very comfortable and relaxed. Three – now let us wake up.”

Wiping his tears, Vasantharaja sat up in bed. the first thing he saw Ajith’s eyes wide open in amazement. Janaki who stood up from her chair, went to the bed and hugged her son. Ajith could not hold back his feelings. He also got up and went to them. He had a great desire to hug both of them. As Ajith sat on the other side of Vasantharaja, he hugged him. Ajith extended his arms to hug both Janaki and her son. While all three were crying, reverend Subuthi got up from his chair and talked in a hushed voice to Saminadan. “Let us go outside, doctor. These tree have a lot to talk.”

The trio on the bed did not even realize that the priest and the doctor had left the room.

“This is my daughter, Janaki,” Ajith rattled on. “This is my grandson – also my older brother from this life. Vasantharaja and Lionel – they are both the same.”

“Appa – Aiya” (Father, brother) Janaki mumbled. “My son. My fathre’s older brother…. you are brothers…”

“I want to meet with that Anula,” while sobbing, Vasantharaja said. “I can’t wait to see her one more time.”

“I understand, I understand,” Ajith agreed.

While the three of them sat on the bed and cried, the night crept in.