Not knowing how to tell her father, Euthra
waits outside basking in the sun, in front of the car. Her father has just
returned from the hospital. Angay has been admitted to hospital and he is going
to take her there but Tshegyel is on his way to pick her up as they planned to
visit his village at Paro. She called him and told him to wait a little. Other
people say that she is a bold girl but in front of her father, she is like a
cat. She has no courage even to talk with him.
Her mother is frank with her but today she
was also moody. Actually, her parents had gone to village at Trongsa for the
annual lochoe, where offerings are made to local deities seeking blessing for
the coming year and returned home with Angay, shattering the tranquility of the
family. One strange thing about lochoe is, they never took her to village not
even once but they take Shaycham with them sometimes. She insisted to go once
but they always denied.
Her phone rings again. It’s Tshegyel. She
is about to answer the call when her father walks out from the house. Ignoring
the call, she changes her phone to silent mode. Greeting him, she opens the
front door and sits next him calmly. Starting the car, he speeds down from
towards the town from Changangkha, where their house is. He drives silently. He
looks tensed. She has never seen him like this before. Maybe this is something
related to that old woman. He is not even talking about her marriage. Only six
days left now. He was excited about the marriage before leaving to village but
now no words about that.
As her phone flashes again, without
answering the call she hides the phone from her father’s sight. This morning,
she went to her mother and asked about the woman but she didn’t say much. She
only said, “She will be here only for a few days.”
Driving past the Memorial Chorten, her
father takes a glimpse of the people around it and looks at her, “Everyone
becomes old. Did you talk with Angay?”
Terrified by this question, she goes silent
for a while. Then her father asks her again, “Euthra, did you talk with your
Angay?”
Then she lies, “I tried but she cannot hear
me.”
She cuts short. She wants to ask more about
her but she does not.
Her father does not speak for a while. He
pulls the car up to the hospital parking. Stopping the engine, he looks at her,
“I am happy to have Zam in our house. A person like her is very rare.”
Confused by this sudden praise, she gets
out. Locking the car, he gives her a card.
“This is the ward number. Bed 12.”
Taking the card from him, she follows him
towards the hospital entrance. Walking through the crowd, as they start to walk
up the stairs, her father stops.
“I forgot to get medicine from the
pharmacy. Can you please go and stay with Angay for a while?”
She does want to but she has to obey him.
Giving him a nod, she walks up to the third floor. Walking along the corridor,
she looks for the ward. Seeking help from a hospital staff, finally she finds
the ward where Angay is. Standing in front of the ward, then she observes the
room trying to locate the bed. Stopping a nurse, as she walks by, she goes to
the bed number 12. Eyes closed, hair cut short and wearing a new woolen
clothes, looking warm, Angay is sleeping on the bed. She looks clean and
younger than yesterday.
Remember this morning, Euthra’s father came
home asking about Angay and Zam told him that she was in the guest room? Euthra
was very afraid that Zam might tell him everything about her; taking bath and
asking her to move Angay. She stood at her room’s door, when her father walked
towards the guest room.
Going inside the room once, then he came
back looking very angry. Looking at them; Euthra at the door, Shaycham on the
sofa and Zam at the entrance door, he asked, “Who moved her?”
Euthra stayed silent. Looking at her once,
bowing her head down, Zam said, “Dasho, I moved her. She reminded me of my late
grandmother. Thinking that Euhtra is new to such things, I think it was good to
keep her in my room. Sorry Dasho, I did this without seeking your permission.”
She didn’t mention about Euthra taking
bath. Listening to Zam, her father looked calm, as if his anger evaporated in
the heat of the sun. Zam has been working in their house for last five years
but Euthra never talked with her nicely, not even once. She is grateful to Zam,
for what she has done to her this morning.
Thinking about this morning incident,
Euthra sits on a tool, looking around the ward filled with patients. Angay is
not smelling bad. Zam washed her. Euhtra has never visited a sick people in a
ward before. This is her first time. Then she looks at Angay, recollecting her
father’s words, “Everyone becomes old.”
Suddenly, Angay starts moving. Stretching
her hand, a little, she opens her mouth. Then her hand starts to move as if
searching something, but Euthra stays silently. Then the woman starts to
stammer, “Wa-t-ter! Wa-t-ter!”
Looking terrified, Euthra looks at the
water bottle on the table next to her pillow. The woman keeps stammering but
Euthra stays stuck to the tool, as if her body is glued. Then her phone
flashes. It’s Tshegyel. Answering the phone, she walks out, the woman’s stammer
getting fainter as she walks away from the bed.
Getting outside, rushing towards the
parking, she jumps on to Tshegyel’s chest. Caressing her hair, he asks, “What
happened?”
“Missed you.”
Getting inside the car, she looks at the
mirror. Luckily, there is no sign of her father’s car in the parking. Playing
her favourite song, Tshegyel gives her favourite noodle. Tearing the packet,
she starts to eat. As the car runs down the flyover bridge, Tshegyel looks at her,
“Shaycham told me something about your grandmother.”
Sipping juice from the bottle, throwing
away the noodle packet through the window into the bush below the road, she
says, “This Angay thing is giving me headache. I even couldn’t sleep well last
night. I don’t know why but my father kept her in my room, then asked me to
bathe her and now kept me in the hospital.”
Making a sick face, Euhtra leans her head
back on the seat.
“Lucky you, I don’t have grandparents,”
says Tshegyel, keeping his eyes sharp on the road.
“Lucky? I hate oldies,” says Euhtra
covering her face with the sunshade, as the sunrays falls on her face.
“Euthra, your phone is ringing.”
“What?”
Lifting her head up, Euthra checks the
phone. It’s her father. Ignoring the call, she switches off the phone.
In the meantime, the car gets slowed
suddenly jerking her off the seat. Looking at Tshegyel, she shouts, “Tshegyel!”
Pulling over the car on to the roadside,
looking through the window, he says, “Traffic checking. I didn’t bring
license.”
Story
by: Phurpa Dorji (PJIKKS)
Chapter
5 Tomorrow @9PM
