Part 4
1991
Jai was stunned to see the girl lying prone on the road; one of her arms was still clutching a guava fruit tightly, almost bruising it. She was wearing a non-descript blue jeans with a white T-shirt. Her tiny body lay still - her bike was mangled beyond repair, and the wheel was still spinning slowly. He knelt by her side and raised her arm to check her pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it. He gently touched her head to see for injuries and was relieved when he found none. He lifted her slender body in his arms and walked briskly to the nearest stable. He placed her gently on a stack of hay in the stable and looked for water to sprinkle on her face. As he stood up to get the water, Bani moved slightly and mumbled something weakly. As he strained to hear what she was saying, her eyes opened slowly and she moved her head to look at him. Their eyes held each other's and stared for a long moment. It was Jai who broke the trance finally.
He smiled gently, "Are you all right?" he sat on his haunches next to her, "Do you hurt anywhere?"
Bani shook her head, she felt tongue tied and couldn't open her mouth to say anything.
"Do you have a doctor that I can take you to? Can you give me your phone number or address, so I can get in touch with your parents" Jai asked softly.
She stared at him wordless. He didn't recognize her. She thought of him every single day for the last four years, he probably didn't even remember the summer four years ago. Why would he? He was probably busy in America finishing up his studies and having a great time. She bet that he didn't even care about horseback riding anymore. Her eyes filled with tears involuntarily.
Jai's eyes softened imperceptibly. Poor thing! She looked scared to death. He went down on his knee one more time.
"Please don't cry" he pushed the hair that was covering her face and tucked it gently behind her ears. "do you hurt anywhere?" he repeated the question softly.
"Nnnnoooo", she stammered. "I am OK" she scolded herself for being such a silly goose.
He smiled, his whole face changing dramatically, his eyes crinkled at the corners, his masculine lips opened to show the row of perfectly white teeth.
Bani stared in stupefaction, he has grown more handsome in the last four years, his wiry frame seemed to have more muscle than before, and his chest seemed to have expanded, his Burberry polo shirt barely containing his pectorals. She blushed hard; color seeping into her face and spreading to her neck.
"I bet you old Betsy is hurting like hell because of you!!" Jai looked gravely at her.
A frown appeared on Bani's face, "Who is Betsy?" She looked guilty for hurting the unknown female.
"My friend's twenty year old land rover!!" He winked at her.
As Bani looked indignant at his teasing, he laughed. Then he changed the subject as he looked at the guava fruit in her hand…"It's been four years since I had one of those!!" He was almost drooling as he stared at it longingly.
Bani smiled shyly and extended her hand to him, "Here, you can have it, I have lot more in my backpack."
He hesitated only a moment before plucking it from her hand. He sat on the stool next to the haystack and bit into the fruit with enthusiasm. Then he closed his eyes savoring the taste, it was just perfect, just the way he liked it. Not too ripe, not too firm. Bani stared at him without blinking her eyes taking pleasure in his unmistakable enjoyment. He opened his eyes finally as the last bite disappeared into his mouth.
"Mmmm, You made my day!!" He smiled again, then immediately looked guilty. "I am sorry about the accident, my friend is still sitting in the car, and she thinks she killed you!!" His voice was grim.
Bani looked surprised, he wasn't driving the car?
"It wasn't your fault, she was putting the lipstick and wasn't paying any attention to the road" Jai's eyes flashed angrily.
Bani looked relieved, she didn't know why, but it made her want to smile with sheer happiness.
Jai stretched his hand to Bani, "Come, let's go out, I will take you home, your parents must be worried about you!"
Bani refused to take his hand. She brought her legs off of the haystack, her head spun as she quickly tried to stand up. Jai quickly reached to hold her by shoulders.
"Easy, Easy does it!" He steadied her as she swayed slightly in his arms. "May be you should lie down for a little while!" Jai looked hesitant as she brushed him off and took a few steps.
He followed her closely making sure that she wasn't going to swoon again. The bright sunlight outside almost blinded them as they stepped out from the stables. Roshni was waiting outside in the car, her head on the steering wheel; she seemed to be praying hard. Jai looked at Bani and smiled mischievously. He put a finger on his lips as he gently led her behind him and asked him to stand behind the car. He briskly walked to the driver's side door and tapped on the window startling Roshni. She looked up, her eyes were red, she looked like she was crying, and he cynically smiled to himself and wondered if the tears were for the girl or for herself. For some reason, he was sure that Roshni was incapable of crying for anyone other than herself. For the nth time, he kicked himself for inviting her to come with him to Cottonwood.
"Is she dead??" Roshni looked scared out of her wits.
A wicked smile wanted to breakout but he barely contained it. Without saying anything he nodded.
"Oh god, Oh god!! I am going to go to the prison" Roshni started wailing. "Jai, you have to help me, you have to put me on a plane to U.S, I can't go to jail". She was crying in earnest.
Jai's mouth curled distastefully. He was going to tease her a little, but what came out from her mouth made him want to shake her. "I can't believe you, Roshni!!" Bani stared at him as he angrily walked away.
Then she stepped from behind the car and walked to her sorry looking bike. She picked up her backpack and looked unsure on how to deal with things.
Roshni stared at her aghast, her face reddened as she realized that Bani was safe. She got down from the car and followed Jai in a fit of rage. "Jai, how could you?"
"Roshni, Please leave me, I want you to go home, now!! I will come home on my motorbike, I asked my driver to bring it. Please don't say anything!" Jai turned away disgustedly. He still couldn't believe that she wanted to run away leaving the dead girl here.
Roshni looked stricken. She turned to go and spotted Bani hanging behind. Roshni gave her a pure look of hatred and ran to the car. The car started on the second try and left both Jai and Bani staring behind it.
Jai sighed in exasperation and looked at Bani with an apology in his eyes.
"What's your name?" Jai prompted her finally.
"Bani" She supplied her name reluctantly.
"OK, Bani, my driver is coming with my family in an hour, I will ask him to give you a ride to your home. Is any one expecting you at home soon?" Jai looked questioningly at her.
She shook her head negatively. "No, I was coming in to exercise the horse"
"Oh, so you are a horsewoman!", Jai gave her a sidelong glance. He reached the fenced grounds where Jugnu was kept. "You have a horse here?"
Bani nodded silently.
"Which one?" Jai looked around for a safe pony and didn't find anything other than Jugnu and an equally fierce looking gray next to Jugnu. Jai turned his head swiftly and looked at her, "Don't tell me that's yours?" He looked shocked.
"That's a big horse, are you sure you will be able to ride it? It looks like an Arabian?" Jai stared at the gray prancing restlessly.
He didn't wait for her answer losing his interest quickly in the horse and the girl. Bani thought that was so typical of Jai, nothing could hold his interest for long.
"Where is Sunny? He was supposed to be meet me here at four." Jai looked irritated.
"He said he is coming in a little late, he had to go to the town" Bani mumbled.
"Well, what happened to all the stable hands?" Jai didn't understand why the place looked so shabby and deserted.
"There is only George and I" Bani answered him as she opened the door to the fence. "We only have a handful of horses now, Sunny uncle was saying that we are going out of business!" Bani didn't know if it was the right thing to say, but somehow she wanted to confide in him.
"What happened to BD? He was supposed to groom and exercise my horse" Jai looked puzzled. "I was sending money to Sunny to pay BD"
Bani was surprised at this disclosure. She looked at him in confusion.
"BD was one of the stable boys, he wanted to be a Jockey!!" Jai explained impatiently. "He is about twelve, if any one is going to be a winning jockey, it will be him" Jai was nostalgic.
Bani flushed with happiness. She quickly hid her face as she bent to look at her shoes.
As they reached the horses, Jugnu and kismet smelled Bani's scent and whinnied softly. She reached up to Jugnu to give him a carrot and touched the side of his face. As the horse trotted excitedly, she calmed him, caressing the mane and talking to him softly. Jai came from behind to take the reins in his hand and placed his leg in the stirrup to hoist himself astride the horse. He was shocked to see the ease with which Bani handled Jugnu. Jugnu didn't let anyone but him or BD touch him.
Bani went to kismet and pulled herself up on to the horse.
"You want to have a race?" Bani looked at him challengingly. Jai stared at the young girl who sat upright on the beautiful gray horse that looked big and menacing.
"You want to race with me?" Jai looked at her curiously. This girl had guts!! "Jai Walia doesn't race with little girls"
"Oh, does he only race with little boys, then?" Bani smirked at him.
"Are you calling me a male chauvinist?" Jai looked thunderous.
"If the shoe fits…" Bani knew she was fighting with fire. Right now, she was seething, how dare he not recognize her!!
"The usual place, to the sunflower farm and back" Bani clicked her heels to give the signal to Kismet to take off. As the horse galloped past him picking up pace, Jugnu moved with an easy grace behind Kismet. Bani held the her horse back just a little until Jai caught up, "You can do better than that, Jai" with that she let Kismet do her thing. Jai's mouth opened in astonishment!!
She called him by his name and what did she mean by the usual place? Jugnu followed Kismet closely, but he was left behind eating Kismet's dust as the girl and the horse moved as one, with grace and surety.
Edited by Sheena_Row - 18 years ago
