"I spy you!" - 5

The dachshund ran behind him barking happily.

She could not eat any more. She got up and washed her hand in the wash basis which was just outside the dining area. Rain drops started falling on her. She did not bother.

Upendra, who was a silent witness for the whole scene signaled to his assistant who came there with a glass tumbler filled with milk to go behind her.

Vasupradha walked back to her cottage. The food consumed did not give her any relief. It rather aggravated her feelings.

Why this man should meet her here? If it is a coincidence, why? If not, how come he is here before me?

The estate personnel showed torch light in front of Vasupradha so that she could easily walk on the flat stones embedded in the earth.

When they reached the door of her cottage, she took the tumbler and thanked him. While he was just moving away from her she very casually asked, “That Sahib, since when he is here?”

She expected anything but his reaction. The torch fell down from his hand. He was trying to retrieve the torch. The light from the torch was swaying on the ground from side to side. The moment he had his hand on the torch he vanished from there.

Vasupradha came inside her cottage thinking deeply. Why such a reaction? Is the complete estate staff under some sort of duress? If so, who is threatening them? Pushpahaasa? It sounded little far-fetched.

She forgot every other thing once she went near the bed. The power had not got restored. So there was a feebly burning lamp in one corner. She shook the youth on the bed and made him sit. He did not open his eyes. He opened his mouth. She made him drink the milk little by little. She wiped his mouth with a small towel lying next to the pillow and slowly lowered his head on to the pillow.

She badly wanted a bath. But the weather did not allow her to take a cold bath. She just wiped clean her face, hands and legs and came to the bed. The youth had slept in a haphazard manner. She did not have space to sleep on the double bed. She thought she could shift the cot a little away from the window. But she could not! When she found out why, a small smile came on to her lips. There was no wooden or metal cot. It was a square stage-like construction. May be this was to avoid insects and reptiles to hide under the bed.

She had already seen a wooden chair. She put her pillow to the back of the chair, stretched her legs on the edge of the bed and slept in that uncomfortable position.

The sleep eluded her despite the weariness of the weather, driving hard in the rain and the tension of traveling looking on her shoulder almost every minute.

Pushpahaasa’s face loomed large in front of her closed eyes.