3.2 Star of The Sea

I took shower and to ease my mind I got engaged with repairing a kitchen cabinet in the refurbished floor. Around eleven-thirty, a group of girls entered.

“Hello Kawla! I am Shalin,” the girl with lob cut hair wearing clear specs introduced herself. She wore a white tank top and black tight pants, a light brown skin. “You can leave that to me.”

I dropped the hammer and straightened, “I still have to paint the walls.” I was not quite able to meet her eyes because I sensed she looked directly into mine.

“I can do that,” she stated pulling 500 banknotes one by one out of her purse. She passed me five thousand bucks exactly as for her security deposit as she was aware of all this beforehand.

“Well,” I uttered, “send me the paint bill please.”

It dawned to me that these were the folks I was supposed to expect as Sabo in the east wing mentioned to me as relatives of his wife. I have no idea which island they belong to. I did not ask. I still don’t know where Sabo comes from. I do know though his wife belongs to Saint Nadine.

I liked Shalin from the moment I saw her, in the way she called my name, I mean nickname, and that look on her innocent face. She was young and very attractive, probably in her mid-twenties.

It took a load off my shoulder.

 

Early in the morning, Simon reached Salt Waters and met Asmr on the promenade. A tall thin guy who sits still and straight, with a goatee beard rather greyed at the edges and wears a bandana on his hair. In deep thought, his watery eyes flicked from corner to corner, his palms placed firmly on the stone. “Have you heard that Donato has called off the wedding?”

“What happened?” asked Simon.

“He’s not going to marry her.”

“Why? There must be a reason!”

“Why would you think someone would dissolve a marriage on the eve of the wedding?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think!”

“Thalassemia!”

“Think!”

“Financial problems!”

“Think!”

“Father did not give his consent!”

“Think!”

“I don’t know.”

That instant Murry joined stumbling down from his bike, “You heard! He has called off the wedding!”

“She cheated!” Asmr grouched, “Stella slept with another guy! She took a sidekick last night!”

“Who was it?” cried Simon.

“Someone among us,” said Asmr.

“I know. I know,” hinted Murry excitedly, “I saw them last night.”

“Was it Jokey?” asked Simon.

“No.”

“Tell me!”

“Kawla!” growled Asmr, “She didn’t come home. She didn’t go to the spa. Her phone switched off and not in range, unable to connect. They looked everywhere for her.”

“Watch! Here he comes!” warned Simon.

When I reached my friends, Murry uttered, “They called off the wedding!”

“Really!” I cried mounting my bike on its stand.

“You know damn well what went wrong!”

“Poor sod!” I chuckled.

“Hey! What did you do?” asked Simon.

“I fished her out! Nothing happened between us! She can’t be disowned!”

“What about the paint job?”

“My new tenants have taken care of it.”

“A friend of a friend took her out on the night of the wedding,” Murry started to sing, “You cannot show that face to say that you know nothing.”

“Oh shit!” I lit a fag, “What are you trying to say? Murry, I took her to the spa.”

“You are in the dark, Kawla! Still in the dark! She talked. She said she spent the night with you.”

“Mi falda!”

Half Tone and Jokey showed up and reached us. “Concha!” he swore, “What the fuck got into you! He’s my good friend! You cheated on him. Kawla! You crossed the line. You offended me as well. Donato is very angry with me. Can you understand!”

“Tell him to go to hell!”

“That is not the way to treat a friend!”

“Fuck you!” I uttered.

“He is my friend!”

“Son of a bitch!” I carried on annoying him.

“Don’t dare bring my mother into this!”

“Your mother is a puta!”

“You think your father is a hero!” Half Tone took the grip, “Everyone likes a hero.” He is a more serious guy when it comes to this. “There are no heroes. Kawla! Your father was promoted a colonel.” He squatted before me, “Now listen to this! If you hear this from me, you are not going to believe it. And I don’t care. Because whether you believe it or not, this is going to ring in your ears for the rest of your life like a tinnitus.

“I was a private at the depot waiting on the top brass on duty. Your father was a newly promoted colonel at the NSS. When news broke out on that morning before dawn of an unknown armed troop climbed the island and killing people, on Third November 1988,” he rose to his height, five feet ten inches, “Your father began to limp,” Half Tone demonstrated, “Oh, my back! Oh, my back! Oh, my back!” He limped around on the promenade.

“That was not my father.”

“Damn well your father. You aren’t illegitimate!”

“Oh, cut it off!”

“Your dad. He cannot read or write but a damn good colonel. And he took an excuse to go home because of his backache. I saw him limp towards his motorbike, climbed on and just before the double gates narrowed on that fateful day, he slipped away like a coward.”

“Fuck off!”

“He left before dawn,” Half Tone began to enjoy his sarcasm, “before the attack was launched at the depot killing the guard at the gate post. You’re such a fake!”

“Liar!” I left the group instantaneously.

The irony about Half Tone’s portrayal was that he said at the beginning it will ring in my ears for the rest of my life like a tinnitus. It always did.