Part 11B
FOREST OF PEACE – By Gary Walter
A mountain forest way up high
Close enough to kiss the sky
Untouched beauty born from grace
You feel that it's a timeless place.
Who can say how much it's worth
Enjoy the sweetness of the earth.
A place so green, a realm of light
A love for all is pure delight.
Countless birds up in the trees
The breath of God is in the breeze
They sing their songs of endless praise,
Inside our hearts the rhythm plays
My restless thoughts begin to cease
I fall into the well of peace
To see the oneness of the whole
It is my everlasting soul.
The tall trees competed with each other to climb to the clouds, From afar, you could neither see the clouds nor the ground, just the dense forest and the moist smell of the moss combined with damp earth.
"It's an apt name for the jungle, isn't it, the cloud forest, reminds me of a poem by Frost called Birches!"
"You read poetry?" her eyes rounded. He was a contradiction, a man who seemed to be romantic at the same time all macho and aggressive.
He flushed and ignored her question. "You know where we are going today, don't you?" He smiled at her teasingly.
"No!" she looked at him quizzically.
"To ride the clouds." He sounded cryptic.
"Huh?"
"We are going canopying, travel the forest like Tarzan using the cable ropes!" the enthusiasm was palpable in his voice.
"I will be your Jane!" Her cheeks dimpled prettily.
In answer he pulled her close to him and kissed her thoroughly. "I will be your Tarzan anytime, sweetheart!"
"A man in loin clothes always makes my heart beat wilder!" She teased him.
"In that case, let's stay in the cottage, I promised to make my wife happy at all costs!" He looked at her passionately.
She shook her head and laughed.
They went to the MonteVerde Cloud Forest Reserve on horseback.
Monte Verde rainforests have majestically tall trees that competed with each other to reach the skies and the mossy undergrowth was festooned with orchids, bromeliads, ferns, vines, and mosses. The swampy forest is supported by poorly drained areas and buzzed with crickets.
The entire area was dissected by deep gorges and interspersed with crystal clear streams spilling to gorgeous waterfalls down the gorges.
While they rode on the horses, the guide told them that the wildlife included the graceful but deadly Jaguar, The spotted Ocelot, and a mammal called Bairds Tapir that looked like a hyena with a pig's face.
He talked about the birdwatchers that come purely to visit the rare birds like the Three-wattled Bellbird, Bare necked Umbrella bird and the famous elusive Resplendent Quetzal. The name of three-wattled bellbird comes from the three worm-like wattles of skin that hang from the base of the bill, and when the male sings and emits a distinctive bell-like call. The Umbrella bird has a tuft of forwards-facing black feathers on its head, giving it its name. The resplendent quetzal truly lives up to its name. They have an iridescent green-gold, blue-violet body and a red breast.
They reached a spot where they harnessed themselves and wore the safety equipment for the canopy ride.
They climbed the trees using the ladders that were securely built against the trees and walked on to specially build take-off and landing spots on the tree. When she looked at the distance between the tall trees and how far the earth seemed from the spot where they were, Bani paled and clutched Jai's arm hard. Jai squeezed Bani's hand and pressed her fingers reassuringly but it did not lessen the fear in her. When he saw the stark fear in her eyes, Jai embraced her and whispered in her ears. "If you don't want to go, I will tell the guide that 'I' have agoraphobia and we will go back!"
She blinked and smiled at him. "You would do that for me?
He nodded self-consciously, "I don't want you to prove to me that you enjoy this, if you are scared, I want you to tell me."
She was grateful for his support. "Thanks, but if you are with me, I can do this! It looks exciting!" she lied.
He hesitated for a minute until she pulled him by his arm to go ahead.
"Bani, Let me talk to the guide and see if we can go tandem, we will go ahead at the same time. I will wrap you with my body?" He winked to distract her.
She was grateful to him for not making her feel like a wimp. Jai talked to the guide and came back.
"What happened?" she looked fearful at his grim expression.
"You can go tandem, but only with the guide." A muscle twitched in his cheek. "Apparently, I don't have enough experience!" he looked away in disgust.
"And this offends you?" Bani looked confused.
"I don't like any Tom, Dick and Harry to put his hands on my wife and wrap themselves around you, Bani!" a slash of red colored his cheekbones.
"I see!" but she didn't see it. She didn't understand why he was so offended, after all, the guy was a professional guide and she saw them guiding many tourists on the cables.
"Just go, Bani!" he turned a fraction to hide his anger from her.
She didn't want to hold up the people behind her and she swung on the cable and clutched the rope with her hands and put her legs up, curling them on the rope. The guide came along with her, pushing her body with his momentum, she closed her eyes desperately as she began to move rapidly on the cable toward the tree at least half a kilometer away. When finally the journey stopped, she opened her eyes to see that she was standing on the platform safe and sound. This time when she swung on to the next tree, she tried not closing her eyes. The wind on her face, and the thrill of moving like a monkey swinging on the rope made her exhilarated. She was still going tandem with the guide, but some how she wanted to experience flying solo. By the fourth ride, she was itching to do it by herself. She waited for Jai to catch up with them and as he watched her, she told the guide to wait on the sidelines and kicked the platform to go on the ride by herself. As Jai watched her open mouthed, she reached the other end, screaming at the top of her lungs. When she reached the other side, she had a huge smile on her face and literally started jumping on the platform, shaking the whole tree. The guide looked at her reproachfully and shook his head. When Jai joined her, she launched herself at him, nearly toppling him off of the branch and hugged him tightly with exuberance. He laughed, and gave her a hard kiss on the lips, punishing her for scaring him.
The climbing up and down the ladder was excruciatingly hard and tiresome. Her muscles hurt, and she felt faint. She sweated profusely but didn't protest once until the entire ride was finished. Jai was proud of his wife. For the umpteenth time, he told himself that he was lucky to have a wife with grit and spunk. He couldn't help himself from being impressed with her, he knew that if she would never back out of hard times even if she didn't know how to deal with the situation.
That night, he went into introspection, he felt scared about the jealousy he felt when some one else touched her. His possessiveness toward Bani and the utter hatred he felt for the guide scared him. For the first time since they got married, he turned to the other side on the bed and pretended to be asleep. Bani was too tired and snuggled and curled around him before she slept exhausted from the day's activities.
He stayed slightly aloof the next day as they went to the Poas crater, a sulphuric pond created by the volcanic crater with it's sapphire green tinge, the butterfly garden with it's vivid flitting creatures, the hike to the waterfalls near La Paz and the humming bird gardens where the small birds traveled the whole world and tasted the honey from the same spot and same flower around the same time every year.
The next day was the end of their honeymoon and they were returning back to Mumbai. As the night started spreading it's wings on the mountains, and the soft breeze started cooling the warm day, they had dinner on the terrace of their hotel room. Both of them did not want to share their privacy with any other guests. If Bani noticed Jai's morose behavior, she put it down to his reluctance to go back home.
***** OK, if you are under 16, please stay away from this ******
He hardly touched the exotic food prepared for them. The traditional menu of chicken rice, with vegetables with mango salsa was left uneaten on his plate. She was missing the spicy Indian food and ordered something with a whole lot of hot peppers.
She tried to converse with him and was upset when he refused to participate in her conversation, almost ignoring her. She didn't know what was wrong with him and why he was behaving like that. She felt tired, depressed and was missing her family. Silent tears fell gently from her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away. She took a spoonful of food and shoved it into her mouth to stop herself from sobbing aloud. When she bit the hot pepper, she thought she was dying, she squirmed in pain and reached for the water glass, downing it in seconds. He looked at her questioningly, as she reached for his glass and downed it as well. Now the tears fell rapidly as her tongue and throat burned with the heat of the chili pepper. She reached for the jug of water and realized it was empty and started puffing and breathing out to sooth her tongue.
Jai looked at his wife; her ears, and nose were red; Her eyes were streaking with hot tears. She looked terrible, but he had an urge to take her into his arms and kiss her senseless. The tension he felt all day yesterday and today was bursting at the seams. He pushed his chair back and reached her side in an instant. When she looked at him tearfully, his heart melted. He dipped his fingers in the mango ice cream and lifted his hand to her mouth, urging her to lick it. When she dutifully licked his fingers, it was like someone punched his in his solar plexus. Desire curled sharply in his loins and he quivered like an electric wire with high tension. He fed her the ice cream, gasping as her pink tongue curled around his fingers and licked each finger with delicate laps.
Heat emanated from him and finally transferred to her. She looked up to see the swirling haze of desire in his obsidian depths and she stopped licking his fingers, dropping his hand and wiping her mouth self-consciously. His chest expanded as he inhaled deeply. As she licked her lips nervously, he dipped his index finger into the icecream again and rubbed it on her lips, as she opened her mouth to lick it, he shook his negatively, his eyes not moving an inch from her. He pulled her closer to him and his head descended slowly down, closing with a desperation that knocked her senseless.
As he pulled her inside into the room, he kicked the French doors shut with his heels. The sleeveless black dress she wore was long, almost to her ankles, secured by spaghetti straps and hugged her every curve. He wore black trousers with a long sleeved linen white shirt with a Chinese collar. His belt dug into her stomach and she felt his fingers on her b****t, cupping her over the dress. He kiss went on and on until she felt faint with lack of air, it was only when she pushed at his chest, his mouth left her lips to give her a succor and he lifted her slightly over his arm, to place his lips on her long neck, nipping and nibbling it until her toes curled. He bent his head more to touch her cleavage, to drop tiny kisses where the light chain with a single diamond pendant nestled. When she tried to grab his hair to pull him away, his large hand grasped both her hands and held them behind. She was an unwilling prisoner, wanting to free her hands to touch him freely with the same freedom as he was touching her. He controlled her easily, lifting her with a hand behind her bottom and wrapping her legs around him.
He didn't know the moans that were coming out from her were because of the heat of the jalapeno she bit or because of the passion he incited in her. He didn't care nor did she.
He took her ruthlessly, his haste and roughness scaring her yet the same time exciting her to the core.
When the morning dawned, he stood at the side of the bed, looking at the ravages of the night, the crumpled bed sheets, the ripped dress, the dark bruises on her upper arms, her waist and her thighs. His eyes darkened with shame, he did this to her, made love to her until she whimpered and clutched at him with all her might and pleaded with him to take her. He controlled her every move, indelibly branding her with his body. He couldn't stop himself from reaching out to her all night, barely letting her breathe. He watched the golden sun rays casting their shadows on her naked body, staring at the mole on her waist wistfully. Even now, he wanted to get in beside her and kiss each and every bruise he made, caress each and every curve and tell her how sorry he was for being such a jackass yesterday. Instead he turned and walked into the bathroom to shower with ice cold water.
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This post is for my friends Kanta (K, you are dead meat and you know why!). Yes, I read your naughty, naughty Mole and Til...now don't imagine the Memsahib and Sahib anymore...varna, I am going to send an electronic belan at you!
Cheery cherry who is having a hard time being cheerful these days and my good friend Bhavna (Sorry yaar, I have been extremely busy with school and guests at home)
Please leave your comments...as always they are appreciated. I encourage you to break your silence.😉
Edited by Sheena_Row - 17 years ago
Indian Idol 15
