SunEclipsers just for you!: In Fairy Land - Page 3

'Abheeee', she screamed! 'What's the matter??!!', he jumped out of bed, saw her by the window and ran to see what was up. 'IT'S RAINING!!!'. They both gazed out at a vast, impermeable sheet of grey. It had swallowed everything ... the valley had disappeared! Obliterated! Like it had never existed before!! 'O MY GAWD!! WE'RE STUCK!!', she screamed some more ... disappointed.

'Oh good, that means I can get some sleep', he said walking back to the bed. 'I've been kept awake the last 2 nights. Sure didn't know you could snore!'. He was in bed and turned over on his side so she could not see the teasing grin on his face as he stifled his laughter.

'I do not snore!!!! WHAT are you talking about??!!', she turned around from the window.

'Oh yes, you dooo! Aaannd how!'

'SHUT UP! I DON'T! It's never kept you awake in the past!!'

'Ah, but that's only because I have fallen asleep before you'.

'Don't talk nonsense!! Anyway, you need to get up!'

'Why??!!'

'Because I am HUNGRY and I want some breakfast!'

Silence.

'Did you hear me??!! I'm hungry!! GET UP!!'

'What does that have to do with me??!!'

'What do you mean, what does that have to do with me??!!'

'Well, which word did you not understand? You're a big girl! Surely you can arrange for your own breakfast!!!'

'Very funny!! You know exactly what I meant! Get up!!!'

Silence.

'Get up you pack of lazy bones!!!', he heard her say and could tell she was standing over him. He turned his head ever so slightly so that he could look up at her through one eye.

'You should not be calling me names! Oh no siree! I'm your husband ... you know ... your lord and master'. He turned his head away again so she could not see the amusement on his face and the gleam in his eye. He was still stifling his laughter!

'Lord and Master is it??!! I'll Lord and Master you!!'. His eyes were shut so he did not see the arm reach across him and pick up one of her pillows. Thwack! It came down on his head. 'Get up!'. Thwack! 'Get up I said!!', thwack, thwack! He felt the duvet being snapped off of him and thwack the pillow came down on his behind.

'OK!! You asked for it!!'. Before she knew it, he was out of the bed, armed with a pillow of his own. Thwack! Thwack!

'Hawwww! Domestic violence!!!'. Thwack! Thwack! Soon they were running around the room screaming and laughing like kids.

'Oh you ogre!' Thwack. 'Y'sure!' You fiend!' 'Un hunh ... that's what they all say!' 'I'm telling your mom' 'You do that!' Thwack! thwack! 'Go pick on someone your own size!!' 'I am'. She ran from him over the bed, shrieking and laughing. There they were, running back and forth, over the bed, into the next room, back into the bedroom ... pummeling each other. He fell backward into a chair, she pummeled him some more. He pushed her back. Then the phone rang. The pillow still rained on him as he went to answer it. Thwack! Thwack!

'Wait!!! ... Hello?'

'Oh! Mr. Taneja! This is the front desk. Is everything alright sir?!'

'Yes. Everything is fine! Why?'

'The guest in the room below yours just called, alarmed that you may be having some kind of trouble!'

'Oh! Gosh, I'm so sorry! No, no! Everything is fine. Please apologize to them on my behalf. Nothing is wrong. Really sorry to have alarmed anybody. Bye'

They both looked at each other and began laughing even more hysterically! Flying went his pillow. She tossed hers on the bed. He fell on his back and she on her stomach, still laughing loud and hard, wiping their tears. Then they were silent, looked at each other only to burst into laughter again. This went on for a couple of minutes more. They were silent again and looked at each other. And looked at each other. She started to blush and he could feel the blood course through his body.

'Simi .... I love you', he said softly ... endearingly ... his eyes tearing ... 'I really ... really love you' ... she looked at him and said nothing ... 'Don't you love me too?' he asked, softly and gently ... 'You know I do' ... 'No not like that, tell me you love me' .... there was a long pause ... for her, these were emotions not easy to express ... it wasn't because she was ambivalent about her feelings ... to verbalize such feelings for people other than her natal family was even more unfamiliar than the western clothing she had been wearing ... even with him ... 'Abhi ... I love you ... more than life itself', she whispered ... he looked away silent ... then, he raised himself and turned around curling up with his arms around his knees, sobbing silently ... it was no more easy for him to show this side of his nature ... she climbed into bed right behind him, put her arms around his waist and rested her face on his back ... through his tears, he was being engulfed with the anguish of guilt and its accompanying remorse ... guilt and remorse ... guilt and remorse ... they ebbed and flowed ... just like those huge waves in the ocean that gradually gather up, rise almost to the sky, race to the shore, and in counter-point to the slow, seemingly gentle rise, come crashing down ... except, for him, there were no surfers waiting to catch the wave for that perverse flirting with death, just for a moment or two of thrill and pleasure ... they sat there, curled up, silent ... completely oblivious to the rain outside - in the grip of a blowing wind that smashed it against the window pane ... changing direction with no sense ... crash! smash! His turmoil and the rain's beating - in complete asynchrony ... much more discordant than a Rachmaninoff or Prokofiev composition - if there had been anyone listening.

His silent punishment and frequent cruelty had been totally out of proportion with the gravity of her crime. Of this he was fully aware. He held on to her arms as he lay down. She lay right beside him. Two S figures, inseparable. Intuitively each knew that the matter had resolved itself. There would be marital conflicts. But, there would be no more such demonstrations of vitriol, anger, recriminations, and resentment.

The planet earth was not where they were when they finally fell asleep in each other's arms. Breakfast would have to wait.

He woke to find her curled against him facing away. He got out of bed ... gingerly, so as to not disturb her. He walked to his suitcase and retrieved the box with the bracelet. His mother had asked that he give it to her when the time was right. The time was right.

Her subconscious detected his absence and she woke turning on her side.

'Hey', he said gently and softly ... 'I have something for you' ... he held out the box.

She raised herself up. The scene reminded her of the time he had sneaked in ... in the middle of the night to return that bell of his after their blowup in the park. His blowup.

'Something your mum-in-law wanted you to have'. He handed her the box. She opened it to find the bracelet. She gasped. 'Oh Abhi! This is gorgeous!', she said removing it and slipping it on to her arm. It fit well. 'It belongs to the oldest daughter-in-law when she comes home as a bride. You're its rightful owner now'. She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with tears ... a smile lighting up her face. He let her wipe her own tears away.

'You hungry?', he asked. She nodded, still admiring and playing with the bracelet.

'Looks like the rain has let up. It's only mid-afternoon, so we can still go sightseeing. I'll give Baichung a call and ask him to come over with the jeep.' Knowing that there was a possibility of rain, he had asked Baichung to wait for his call yesterday.

'I'll call room service. What did you want?'. 'Toast and eggs'. 'Omelet OK?' 'Sure, sounds good'. He called in the order and asked them to leave it in the front room if there was no answer when they brought it up.

'Well, I guess we better go shower.' 'You go first ... and don't steam up the whole place'. 'No ... I meant ... together.' ... 'To-gether??!!'. "Well, this may come as news to you Mrs. T, but we're still married. Aren't we??! Married people are allowed to do that sort of thing. Besides ... think of all the water we'll save! And the bathroom will steam up only once'.

They visited the Orchid Sanctuary to see its rare and extensive collection of the 454 species found in Sikkim, and the 'TSUK LA KHANG' which to see the beautiful and impressive building with mural covered interior, lavishly decorated altars and the many fine works of woodcarving. Baichung was asked to drop them off in town where they would have dinner then take a taxi back to the hotel.

Abhi was in his pajamas, sitting in bed reading a Sikkim sightseeing guide. Simi turned off her bedside lamp, the floor lamps, then the one on the writing table and went to change. He only fleetingly thought about the strange behavior. She fingered that lovely pale silk chiffon nightgown that she had smuggled into the bathroom when he wasn't looking. Her heart was racing but she reminded herself that she was a woman on a mission! She slipped it on feeling the silk slide down her body. It fit her like a glove. Venus herself would have been green with envy! The silk felt heavenly - sensuous and luxurious against her skin. She let her hands feel her own curves as she made sure everything was in place. Her face was hot as that red-hot poker she had taken to thrash Bhalla. It was from the uncontrollable blushing! She could never have thought herself of having the capacity to be this 'forward'. She picked up the bottle of perfume that was one of the things Anusha had bought for her during their shopping trip. She slowly dabbed some behind her ears ... taking the time to breathe normally ... she dabbed some on the inside of her wrists ... the inside of her elbows ... the bottom of the nape of her neck ... the little depression in the front and bottom of her neck ... between her breasts ... her women friends at work had guffawed only a million times about all the 'erogenous' zones on a woman's body! She was going to find out for herself if any of that talk had even a sliver of truth to it. Then she put up her hair and held it in place with a large hair-clip. 'Calm down Simi! Calm down! I have every right to want this ... he is mine!', she muttered. There was no calming down. Not much anyway. She reminded herself again that they were each other's ... to have, and to hold ... and most of all, cherish. She opened the bathroom door and shut off the light.

Abhi just glanced up and for a fraction of a second thought he had seen an apparition. When his eyes adjusted to the dark, he realized it was Simi. The soft light from his bedside table did not illuminate her as she stood there. Then, very, very slowly she walked towards him, her arms by her side. The skirt of her nightgown gently undulating in some form of Brownian motion around her ankles. Her grey form transitioned into color as she emerged from the relative dark into the diffuse light of his lamp. He was looking at her in complete and absolute silence, frozen, immobile. She walked up to him, sat down and slowly, gently, leaned close to his face. Slowly still, she reached back and undid the clip letting her hair fall around her face and down upon him. Then she kissed him gently on the side of his mouth. Then she kissed him gently on his mouth. She began planting a sweet kiss on his jaw as he turned his head to the side. He was reaching over to turn off the light.