Kuchoe Ama! Chapter 3

Washing the last plate, Aum Wangmo takes a glance of the phone nearby the rice cooker plugged in for charging. Toweling her wet hands, she picks up the phone and searching Dema’s number from the contact list, she dials looking at the wall clock. It’s 9.45PM. Dema went to Thimphu town for shopping today. She left at 5 in the evening. She has never come home late but today it’s too late. Holding the phone to her ears, she waits. Now, her heart goes cold. Where is she? Why is she not responding her call? Keeping down the phone, looking at the counter, she shouts, “Deki, dinner is ready.”

Filling up her plate, she lifts the rice cooker lid when her phone rings. She dashes towards the phone, thinking it’s from Dema. Grabbing the phone, she takes a glance. It’s not from Dema, but the Manager. Listening to him for a while, she hangs up the phone. Looking at Deki, who stands beside her with a plate, she asks, “Do you know where Dema is?”

Shaking her head, she fills up the plate. She has been angry since the morning about the shopping. Aum Wangmo tries to open her mouth when Deki walks away to the counter. Exhaustion suffocating her, she at Deki sitting down at one of the tables. In addition, she is so worried about Dema. Closing her eyes, covering her ears with palm, she sits down on a chair, standing idle beside the refrigerator. She rests having a sensation of confusion burning her forehead. Not even a single customer has paid credit today. Without that she cannot do Deki’s shopping but Deki does not understand the situation.

Today, right after breakfast she went to meet the quarry manager. After waiting for one hour, finally he called her into his office. Revolving his chair, he stayed silent observing her for a few minutes. Finally, he called his personal assistant and asked for coffee. Keeping the coffee in front of him, he said, “This coffee is not free. I have to buy from the market. They give me when I pay them. So, Wangmo. Life is all about give and take. Give. Take.”

Getting off his chair, catching the coffee cup in his hand, he took it near her mouth saying, “Smell it. You like the smell? Don’t you? Coffee beans need to be burnt to give this smell. To give life somewhere, you need to sacrifice something.”

Circling her, he walked front and back, then finally, he said, “What did your daughter say?”

Without saying a word, she stayed silently.

“You are her mother. So, why do you even need to ask her?”

He asked her, leaning his face towards her, with his eyes bulged out.

“I am giving you a week and if you fail to arrange the marriage by then, you know the circumstances you are going to blessed with.”

The sudden ring of the doorbell wakes her up from the morning memories. Standing up slowly, she looks at the door as Deki walks towards the door. Pulling back the door, Deki stands there talking. Thinking it’s Dema, Aum Wangmo rushes out of the kitchen towards the door. Standing behind Deki, she hangs her head outside. To her surprise, the manager’s personal assistant stands outside swaying her body side to side, as if to fall down. Smell of alcohol surrounds her.

“How can I help you, madam?”

She asks looking outside. Falling on the ground, the madam looks up at her.

“How can you give your daughter to the manager? I am his fourth wife. We have a son.”

She says crying, trying to stand on her feet.

“We have a son. Son.”

Hidden in the night devotees thronging round the memorial chorten, having circled for the third time, Dema looks at Chophel.

“Can we go now?”

He stops walking and looks at her, walking away from the path making way to others. Catching her hand, he says, “Dema, you need break. Your result is not good and you are tensed. Instead of helping you, your mother is forcing you to marry an old man. You are in a very bad situation. You are badly in need of a break.”

Holding her hand, she pulls her round the chorten back into the crowd. She can feel the phone vibrating from her bag. As Chophel walks in front of her, holding her right hand, she runs her left hand into the bag and pulls out the phone. Pressing the power button, she switches her phone off. Sliding the phone back into the bag, she follows Chophel calmly. He is right. She is badly in need of a break. She likes the grip of his hand on hers. She senses a mysterious feeling of being bonded. Bonded. A feeling of being bonded forever.

Story by: Phurpa Dorji (PJIKKS)

Chapter 4 Tomorrow @9PM

Kuchoe Ama!, Chapter 2

Having washed her face, she stands in front of the mirror, remembering the days when she would sleep till noon on summer and winter breaks. Her father would never let them to wake early. Now, she has to wake up as early as 5AM. She looks back at the bed where Deki is still sleeping. Switching off the light, she heads towards the kitchen where her mother has started boiling water and cooking rice for a few workers who eat breakfast here.

Her work is to get the flour ready for momo. Workers take momo in the lunch. Her mother stands at the gas stove, walking past her; she takes out a bowl out from the metallic rack. Keeping it down on the floor, she mixes flour with water. Her head aches, as she could not sleep well last night shocked by her mother’s words to marry that manager. After her mother left the room, she chatted with Chophel. He asked about the result. He consoled her talking about other ways of making a living. She felt good to have his support. Chatting with him for hours, she forgot about her mother’s words. She cannot tell him about that.

Dawn breaks. Time moves fast. Soon, the company workers start to move tro-and-fro. Breakfast is ready. Waiting for the morning customers, standing behind the counter Aum Wangmo calls, “Dema, where is Deki?”

Walking past her, she goes directly to the bedroom. Pushing the door, she goes directly to the bed where Deki is still sleeping. Nudging her shoulder, she wakes her up. Opening her eyes reluctantly, Deki looks at her.

“What time is it?”

“7.”

Forcing her sleepy body off the bed, as Deki disappears into the bathroom, Dema walks back to the kitchen. Eyes reddened by onions, she bends and takes another onion from the bowl when her mother shouts from the counter, “Two rice.”

Standing up immediately, taking out two plates from the rack she fills them up. As she arranges the plates and cups on the tray, she expects Deki to walk in but there is no sign of her. Then, lifting the tray, she walks to the table, where two young men sit nearby the bukhari. Standing in front of them, she keeps the tray on the table. One of them looks at her directly and comments, “Aunty, who is she?”

Smiling at them, her mother replies, “My daughter, sir.”

Taking the tray, she walks back to the kitchen when the same man says, “So, you have two beautiful daughters?”

“Yes, sir.”

Deki is not in the kitchen. Morning customers fill up the room, some asking for tea and some fried rice. Her mother is frying rice when she looks at her, “Where is Deki?”

She walks to the bedroom and finds Deki sleeping. Waking her up, she goes back to the kitchen. On the way, the same man stops her. Looking at her, he says, “I am done.”

Walking to the counter, she stands there waiting for him to come and pay the bill. Walking towards the counter he takes out his wallet and pays the bill.

Looking at him, Dema says, “Sir, do you have credit?”

“Nope, why?”

“If you have, you need to clear your dues,” says Dema, making a serious face.

Saying no words, he walks away as if frightened by her face, something which she is not supposed to do because it’s her mother’s advice to be good to customers. Going back to the kitchen, she gets back to her momo making. Then, Deki stands at the door, looking very clumsy.

Looking at her, mother says, “You are late.”

“Today, we are supposed to be going for shopping,” says Deki, looking at her mother, who slides the fried rice down on to the plate.

“Take this to Table 3.”

Walking inside, Deki takes the tray and heads towards the table. What has happened to her mother? She looks so lost in this canteen thing. Confused by this, Dema keeps making momo when Deki walks back.

“Mom, aren’t we going for shopping today?”

Looking back at her, her mother fires, “Can we talk about that later?”

Then, a man stands at the counter. Turning her face, Deki walks to the counter. Then, keeping the man standing at the counter, she walks back to kitchen and stands at the door.

“This man has credit but he is not willing to pay.”

On hearing this, Aum Wangmo walks out to the counter. Looking at the man, she says, “You have credit. Please!”

“It’s order from our manager not to pay our dues.”

“What?”

“You can call him.”

Surprised by this man words, walking back to the kitchen she picks up her phone and calls the manager. Talking with him for a while, she hangs up the phone, face looking very sad.

Looking at her, Dema asks, “What is it mother?”

Standing at the by the gas stove, her mother asks, “What have you decided?”

“Decided?”

“About the marriage?”

Keeping her head down, Dema does not say a word.

Keeping her knees on the floor, Aum Wangmo looks at her, “Dema, you need to understand something. This manager lent me money to start this canteen. I owe him 5 lakhs. If I cannot pay back, I will be jailed and you two will suffer. If he marries you, he does not want the money. If you don’t marry him, he will do anything to fulfil his desire.”

Story by: Phurpa Dorji (PJIKKS)

Chapter 3 Tomorrow @9PM

Kuchoe Ama!, Chapter 1

Located along the Thimphu-Phuntsholing highway, a few kilometers away from Chuzom bridge, Damchu, is a place where there is a stone quarry. Nearby the quarry nests a building and it houses a canteen in the basement, owned by Aum Wangmo. She cleans the gas stove and looks at Dema, who is at the basin, washing dishes. She has completed class ten and result is out today but she has not asked her yet. Having cleaned the gas stove, hanging the cloth, she walks out of the kitchen into counter. It’s midnight. Her back hunched forward, eyes angled straight up at the television, Deki, the youngest daughter, sits on one of the tables. She is going to study in class seven and schooling will start a after week. As of now, both of them are on vacation helping her to run canteen.

On seeing her coming, picking up the remote, she switches off the TV and rushes to her room. Going to the counter, she takes out the credit book and flips the pages totaling the credits. She has heard that her only customer, the workers in the quarry, have got payment today so she expects them to clear the credits from tomorrow. There are some customers who don’t pay the credit, instead quarrel with her by making excuses. Collecting the credits, she has to pay rent, do schooling shopping for both Dema and Deki and buy things for the canteen.

Before running this canteen, she was a housewife but after her husband’s sudden death in a car accident just three months ago has forced her to start this canteen. She has to look after her two children. Her husband was a taxi driver. Now, without him, it will be difficult to stay home and look after them. She started this canteen a month ago.

One night two months after husband’s accident, she was waiting for taxi along the roadside when a Prado stopped suddenly in front of her. Opening the door, the man sitting inside the front seat looked at her.

“Get inside.”

He took her to a restaurant. Having talked for hours, finally the stranger said, “Can you help me with something?”

As she gets lost into her flashback, the sudden knock on the door startles her. Walking towards the door, she pulls it back. Tshenchap, the manager of the stone quarry stands frozen, wearing woolen jacket, looking directly into her eyes. Without saying a word, he walks past her towards the counter. Pulling a stool, he sits keeping his hands on the table. Pushing the door, Aum Wangmo, goes back and stands behind the counter with credit book. Taking out a glass off the rack, she pours two pegs of K5. Filling it up to the brim with water, she slides it in front of him. He keeps staring at her. Ignoring his sight, she keeps checking the credit books name by name, so that she can make a list and give it directly to the finance of the quarry.

Grabbing the glass, he empties it at once and slides it back towards her. Looking at the glass, she lifts her hand up to the rack to get the bottle when he gets off the stool and walks towards her behind the counter. Standing in front of her, he holds her right hand. Looking at her eyes, he says, “I have been waiting. Now, I cannot wait any longer.”

Pulling her forcefully towards his chest, his fingers touching her nose he says, “I am sure, you know what I want. Don’t you?”

She stays silent breathing heavily, as Dema can walk out of that kitchen any minute from now. Turning her face away, she pulls her body away from him but he pulls back grabbing her waist. Staying clutched to his chest, she lowers her head down. Keeping his forehead on hers, he takes out his phone jacket pocket and plays a song. Keeping the phone on the counter table, he makes moves to rhythm of the music. Keeping her eyes at the kitchen door, she stays static. Shaking his body, keeping his head on her shoulder blade, he starts to bite her ears.

As Dema appears from the kitchen, she pushes him away and pretends as if nothing has happened. Walking past them, Dema goes directly towards her room. Pushing the door slowly, she walks inside. Her sister, Deki is sleeping. Standing in front of the mirror, she thinks about how to tell her mother about her result. Grabbing the hair clip, she takes out and keeps it on the table. Changing dress, she climbs on the bed, feeling exhausted. She has been washing dishes for the whole day. On the other hand, Deki served and mother cooked.

Switching off the light, she gets inside the blanket. Turning her face towards Deki, she asks, “Deki, are you asleep?”

No response. Then, she takes out her phone from the drawer. It was a gift from her father on her 16^th birthday. This phone reminds her of him. She misses him every day. She has not touched the phone for whole day. As soon as she checks Facebook, the notifications beeps. There   are lots of messages and calls from her classmates. Today is result day. More than one’s result, friends are eager to know other’s result.

Then her phone beeps again. It’s in vibration mode. It’s Chophel. He has called her many times. He is two years senior to her. His class twelve result is not out yet. As a matter of fact, he has been after her since he was class ten but she has not accepted him. She is not sure whether to respond the call or not. He calls her every night but today he will be asking about the result. She does not want to tell her marks. Not to anyone, not even her mother. She ignores the call but it rings again.

Taking a deep breath, she is about to press the answer button when her mother walks in the room switching on the light. Standing a few meters away from her bed, she asks, “How is your result? Qualified?”

Keeping her phone down, Dema stays silent. Her eyes bulging out of the socket, her mother shouts, “How is your result?”

“I didn’t qualify.”

“Good. The manager wants to marry you,” says Aum Wangmo and leaves the room banging the door, waking up Deki.

Story by: Phurpa Dorji (PJIKKS)

Chapter 2 Tomorrow @9PM