8.3 Underthings

A day later, Niyaz entrapped the dancers playing bashi on the seaside at the drop of Alifan Magu in front of the mosque. A dump area engulfing the south lagoon. Niyaz came with a friend, both on bicycles and in school uniform. He produced a handful of photos and showed to the dancers boldly.

Sawsan asked, “Where did you get them?”

Niyaz replied, “A friend…a resort boy.”

“Are you keeping them?”

“Yes. Why?”

“You are a school kid.”

“I forgot to change my uniform.”

Another girl enquired, “What is your grade?”

“I’m a tenth-grader,” he said.

“Oh! You’re a big boy!”

The dancers talked about this incident at home. Farida asked, “Who was it?”

“A school boy,” replied Sawsan, “he said a resort boy passed him the pictures.”

“I vow he’ll burn in hell!” she reeked, “I must get in touch with Mantha to work on something substantial for self-protection. These things could turn poison on us if we don’t. I want everyone to wear a talisman.”

Farida made a call to Majid and mentioned about the photographs leaked from LH.

Majid called him to his office, “Muaz, I know you are keeping those photos. Bring them to me!”

“No sir, I don’t have any,” Muaz lied.

“I give you one hour to change your mind.”

Muaz returned in an hour with the photographs what were left with him. He was terminated from job.

Majid did not name a suspect and Farida did not know until she heard that he was sacked. Farida dropped in at Mesquite to find him because his house did not have a telephone. She came across Lady Zebrin and Muaz was out that day. His mother wore a sari. When she said she’s from Thora, his mother talked for a while standing on the foyer.

Afterwards, Muaz went to see her at Salty Breeze and Farida made a single call to fix him a job at CTA with better pay.

CTA was closely linked to the hoteliers known as U Group – an underground link. It also dealt with other resorts because they were the suppliers of vegetables and beverages.

On his fourth day at work, Woodie came out of the office and negotiated, “You must go with them on the boat. Three resorts not too far. Watch them carefully how they handle the cases. Do not let them throw the boxes. I don’t want a single bottle of wine to break.”

“Alright, Woodie. I’m ready to go,” said Muaz.

Meanwhile, the boat crew loaded those cases of wine to the vessel. Muaz grabbed an orange from a case of mixed soft drinks and sat down on the prom near Jetty Number 6.

On his left, in front of him, stood the President’s Office; a two-storey building with whitewashed walls and white window frames. Twin porches could be seen over the low boundary. An armed guard stood by the gatepost painted in stained-glass-pattern grids.

Drifting clouds covered the sky, rain fell and the roads collected small puddles of water. At this stage clear and not slick. But when the vehicles and barrows, bicycles and people start rolling, they’d turn muggy. It was humid in the air despite a wind blowing from the sea.

“Hi Madiri!” It was Niyaz who turned up from the corner on foot, “I’m looking for a job.”

“You think I don’t have a job!” reacted Muaz and pulled at the bottle, “Farida knew I passed the photos to you but she fixed me a job without a question.”

“Listen, Madiri!” he sat down on the promenade beside him, “I’m suspended from school.”

“You are!”

“Yes, I’m afraid, a few months to my final exam, me, Ibu and Shyam are suspended.”

“Why?” he passed the orange.

“Can I have a Portello?”

Muaz picked a Portello and passed to his friend who told a nauseating story of what happened at school. He just sat listening and lost in words.

“We stole sodium from the science lab and close to the interval break, we got in there beside the water well and dropped. Nobody knew that I stole potassium. While they watched that smoke on the water, I dumped a small canister of potassium into the well,” Niyaz demonstrated, “Woosh! Fire in the sky!

“It created an eruption with a blast and we ran. You know, boys in Grade 5 classroom watched us and the headmaster grilled them. Then the whole Grade 10 class was detained. They knew the names.

“Headmaster framed it on us. He told me that Shyam said I stole them from the lab. And he told Shyam that I said he took it from the lab. He also picked on the good boys, isolated them, interviewed and threatened not to keep silent. Give names or they too will be in trouble.

“Next day, senior classes were assembled at the hall and we three were canned.

“My dad is out of his mind. He wants me to join SES next year and sit the exam. Of course, I do want to do that O Level but repeating Grade 10 in another school, I really hate the idea.”

“Find a job!” suggested Muaz, “At least for now, it will help you. Go in there and ask for a job.”

“I don’t want to go to a resort.”

“Ask for a Malé Office job,” he got up tossing the empty bottle upside down into the case, “I have to go now with this boatload.”

“Thank you.” Niyaz discarded the bottle on the road thoughtlessly as he passed.