7.4 Club Rehendi

“Huda never married.”

“She never married. Huda lost a loving boyfriend just like that. His name is Adam. Farida also dated him. Huda was forced to sleep with another guy.”

“What happened?”

“That happened when I was a child. I only heard. A southerner came to Thora. Then Multi-Ibre approached her. He demanded that she sleep with this guy. She said no at first. Multi-Ibre gave her a gold chain and told her that nobody would know…just one night and this would be over. She was having sex with this guy when Multi-Ibre secretly brought Adam to the window.”

“Oh shit! That is a performance!” he cried.

“Even today they do not talk to each other. Adam and Huda’s brother, you know that white guy like her…”

“Yes, I know him, Muhsin, albino white.”

“They don’t talk to Multi-Ibre.”

“But what has sorcery got to do with this?”

“It’s a fake. That is what you are told. It is for the masses because they believe in it.”

“I don’t understand. But why spoil her! There are enough girls in Thora.”

“Not enough,” retorted Kish, “our community is small. Forty girls for two societal clubs, not enough. They rely on fanditha to keep those forty.

“If a girl marries, they make sure that this couple splits up. Fix a guy to sleep with her and let the husband know.”

“Are you under the influence?”

“Not that I know of. I’m not married.”

“I see! A birth of a child without a father is called an island middle.”

“Everyone on the island is to blame, in that case, for fathering a child. It is their responsibility. You cannot pin point a finger at any one individual and say this is the father. All in it.”

“All in it,” agreed Muaz, “It is going to rain!”

“Yeah, I feel a salty breeze.”

“Let’s go home!”

Rain came down on them as they reached Sosun Magu and took bare shelter beside the dispensary. Wind blew the rain in their faces from Majeedi Magu. They were wet through. Briskly, she bent down touching hands on the ground and her hair fell over the shoulders.

“What’s the matter with you?” cried Muaz.

“I can’t hold it! I can’t hold it!” squealed the girl. She straightened awkwardly squeezing the legs together, “I need a toilet!”

“It is raining!” uttered Muaz.

“I can’t hold it! I need to poop!”

“Let’s go to my place!”

“I need to poop now! I need a toilet!”

“I don’t know any place around here!”

“That mosque!”

Muaz grabbed her hand and ran across the road to enter a narrow lane, “I take you to a toilet!” She ran in short steps. By the next corner, he reached Nisha’s place. He threw the gate open and stumbled in.

By luck, they came across Nisha. It didn’t bother him about Goat because he knew Muaz’s family and they were neighbours. Two in the morning and in Malé houses folks usually do not sleep that early.

Nisha ushered the girl to a shower room – that would mean a large sheltered bathroom with a water well in the middle. Muaz noticed her wet cloth that revealed every inch of skin on her body, white panties, nipples, the girdle on her waist with gold coins and medallions – wet through.

In the meantime, Nisha offered a cup of tea and sat down on a wooden swing to talk and smoke. The rain ceased or the shower just passed. Kish stepped out and had few sips from the cup of tea.

Muaz and Kish left Usvaru and by the next turn entered Mesquite. He picked his bike and walked the girl to Salty Breeze in a light drizzle.

Again, they spent a while searching for his heel he dropped. They searched the narrow lane with the help of his bicycle lamp. They checked the side lawn and even the foreground garden near the banyan tree where he sat to drink a Portello. That bottle was still there.

Having had no luck, they retired for the night. He biked his way to Mesquite. Lights were out in the mid hall and it was very dark. Doors closed but left unlocked for the late comers to enter. He unhooked the lamp and turned it on to find his steps. As he swung it around, he noticed a block of wood lying on the ground. It was the detached heel from his shoe. He dropped it here.

Muaz biked to Salty Breeze without it. He walked all the way down Alifan Magu without it. He did not know it was missing from his mule. He felt no bump of a limp. He began to laugh. Noxious! Damn stupid of me!