I glanced up at her. Her eyes were fixed on my bleeding arm, wide with horror. Clearly, she hadn't meant to hurt me.
"I sorry..." she whispered sadly.
For some reason, I smiled in spite of the stinging wound.
"You know that word?" I asked her. "Funny..."
I realized I was getting late for home. I didn't want Mother to suspect anything, least of all, ask questions. Jason was away at work, so he wasn't a problem. Mother is easy to convince, I thought, as I washed the cloth in which the sandwiches were packed earlier. Careful to hide all the four cuts, I wrapped it around my arm tightly and secured it with a knot. I'll tell Mother I got cut by the jagged end of a piece of wood, I decided and walked back to the bunch of firewood I had cut. She was also standing now... still gazing at my wounded arm with those sad eyes...
"Well," I said, "I have to go now... I'll come tomorrow."
She nodded slowly, still staring at my right arm. I sighed.
"My arm's going to be just fine," I spoke slowly, walking back to her, trying to make her understand. "Don't you worry... okay?"
She nodded again, this time, looking up at my face. Then, suddenly, she stepped closer and before I knew what was happening, she had licked my left cheek!
"W--- what the---" I stammered, at a loss to understand what she did.
She stayed quiet for a moment, apparently thinking, then said, "Salt..." and without another word, she started walking towards the river. I watched as she stopped right at the edge of the water, then with an astonishing leap, she dived into the river, noiselessly.
That was smooth, I thought as I turned to leave.
Mother made quite a fuss over my arm, wrapped up in the bloodstained cloth. "Where in the name of God did you get hurt like that?" ... "Why didn't you just come back home when you got hurt?" ... "You should go see the doctor... He can patch you up properly." There's no way I'm going to the doctor, I thought, shaking my head in exasperation.
After much argument, Mother finally agreed to let me take care of my arm myself. Maggie prepared hot water in a trough, gave me a clean towel, a thick wad of cotton, some herbal ointment and a long strip of cloth to wrap my arm in, and I retreated to my bedroom upstairs quietly.
After about half an hour or so, my arm was bandaged properly and felt much better. Maggie made me some warm soup and watched sternly as I had a few spoonfuls.
"What?" I asked her, looking up from my bowl.
She stayed quiet for a long moment and then spoke, "You shouldn't hide things..."
"Huh?" I asked, puzzled. "You are talking about this?" I held up my right arm.
"Uh-huh," she nodded. "Why didn't you let Mother have a look at it?"
"She probably would've fainted if I had done that," I said casually. "The wound is pretty nasty. Though I feel better now, loads better..." I looked up at her again.
She just stood watching me silently, her back to the kitchen counter, her hands on her waist... Just like Mother, I thought, finishing the soup. Worrying herself sick...
"Maggie!" Mother's faint voice from outside the house broke the silence. "Can you come and help me with the laundry for a bit?"
"Coming!" Maggie called back. She took the bowl from me, placed it in the kitchen sink and made for the door quickly.
"Be careful not to hurt yourself like that again," she said, walking past me, ruffling my hair as she went... I smiled and closed my eyes, thinking about how lucky I am to have a sister like her...
After that day, I started visiting her regularly. In the beginning, there was nothing that we could talk about properly to each other. She didn't understand or speak human language too well. Most of the times she was confused as I struggled to make conversation. Sign language was my ultimate option but I was bad at it as well. I had a lot of trouble understanding her too, as she often talked using disconnected words. Almost two months passed away like this, without any proper communication, and both of us were lost and confused. Slowly she started understanding what I was saying to her. She was intelligent, and remembered the common conversational words I spoke. I felt like I was teaching a child--- innocent... ignorant... She learned, and spoke, and learned some more till, after about a month or so, she was able to speak better, and I heard the first proper statement she said on her own.
"Patrick is nice," she said. "Patrick is a good teacher."
"Wow... Congratulations!" I said happily. "That's your first proper sentence till now."
Her eyes brightened up.
"Thankoo," she said in her hoarse voice.
"You said it wrong again!" I said exasperatedly. She says it wrong all the time, I thought. It's not that tough...
She was gazing silently at me. I knew it to be a signal of asking for an explanation.
"It's thank you," I told her slowly and clearly. "Thank. You."
"Ooo..." she said again, making a shrill noise and I covered my ears with my palms. She used to end up making a shrill sound whenever she tried too hard to pronounce any particular word. "Thankoo..." She stopped as I shook my head vigorously. Looking at my face, she started laughing. Her laugh was more like a high-pitched gargling noise.
"Intentional mistake, eh?" I asked her in an irritated manner.
She nodded and laughed again. What is so funny? I thought.
"By the way..." I said slowly, "I found a name for you..."
"Name?" she asked, puzzled. She paused for a while and said, "Patrick name?"
"That's my name," I told her. "I'm talking about yours... What if I call you... Pearl?"
"Pearl..." she repeated, lost in thought. I knew she was trying to remember if I had mentioned that word earlier. I had not.
"It's a... umm... something which is found in the sea..." I said. She nodded. I had taught her that 'big water' was actually called 'sea'. Or 'ocean', if you go further. Whatever... My Geography is bad enough.
"It's found inside oysters..." I explained more. "Oysters... Like this." I cupped my hands to resemble an oyster, opening and closing. Suddenly she jumped with excitement.
"I know! I know!" she squealed shrilly. "Its white! White! Whi---"
"Yeah, I guess," I said hastily, shielding my ears again.
"But it closes," she muttered sadly, her voice dropping.
"Well... yes," I answered. "It does. But that's not what I'm talking about."
She blinked in a confused way.
"Your name..." I said slowly. "It's Pearl from now... Okay?"
"Pearl?" she asked.
"Yes, Pearl."
I looked at her thoughtful face, and waited. She went on staring at me for a long time. Then quite abruptly, she said, "Okay." I beamed.
"All right then," I said, getting to my feet. "I should get going now..."
"Why do you always do that?" I almost yelled, pushing her away slightly. "It's--- it's so---"
Pearl looked up at me innocently and asked, "It's so what?"
"Disgusting?" I suggested, a bit angrily. Why... I thought. Why, why, why!
"For you... may be yes," she said, sitting down at our usual place. "But I want to make sure..."
"Sure of what?" I asked, slightly curious. She sighed.
"I can't see very well when I'm out of water. I like to know it's you. My tongue... well, it's like a dog's nose, I guess."
There was a long moment of silence. Then she spoke, "Are you angry?"
I didn't answer, not sure of what to say. She sighed again.
"Okay then. I'll stop---"
"No, it's fine," I blurted, before I could stop myself, hardly aware of what I was talking about. "You... you can... If you can't see too well in air..."
I didn't know why I said I was okay with it... Okay with her licking my face! Everyday as soon as she saw me, she would lick my right cheek. No matter how much I tried to stop her, she would do that... I never knew the reason. Now I understood...
I sat down beside her quietly.
"You sure?" she asked.
"Yeah, I am," I said in a decided voice.
"All right then..." she said, leaning towards me, looking keenly at my face. I closed my eyes in a hypnotized way... letting go...
Then I felt it... It was really weird, as I felt her close to me, her tongue on my cheek, warm and wet... But strangely enough, I didn't feel repulsed this time... I felt as if she was trying to... know me.
She withdrew slowly. I opened my eyes. She was smiling.
"W--- what happened?" I asked her.
"That was... nice," she said slowly. "You are a good person... I could taste it."
"Don't tell me... You could taste that I am a good person? Taste my goodness?"
"Yes, I can do that." She spotted the look on my face and laughed. "Of course, you didn't know." She added.
"Sounds ridiculous, actually," I muttered and started unwrapping the parcel of lunch. She glanced at it.
"Oooh! Steamed rice," she said happily. "I love the smell..."
"You do?" I asked in a surprised way. I always thought mashed potatoes were her favourite.
"Yeah, but its second best to mashed potatoes."
Silly me, I thought, shaking my head and smiling. Mashed potatoes are still her favourite, I should have known...
"What?" she asked, seeing me shake my head.
"Never mind..." I waved the question away. "Let's eat. I'm hungry."
We spent the next few minutes eating silently during which Pearl gave me many curious glances. I didn't speak a word though. Women, I thought hopelessly. They are all the same... Just too inquisitive at times...
After we washed up, she asked, "Is something the matter?"
"No, why?"
"Nothing," she said and kept quiet. I busied myself with securing the bunch of firewood more tightly.
"Patrick?"
"Huh?" I asked, turning to face her. She was sitting beneath a tree, leaning against its thick trunk. Her eyes were fixed on my face.
"Well..." she spoke slowly, "Can you tell me about your family?"
"My family?" I repeated blankly, wondering why she was asking about it.
"Yeah, you always tell me that you have a mother, a father, a younger sister and an elder brother. Tell me about them."
I stared at her for a long moment.
"All right," I said, walking up to the tree and sitting on the ground next to her. "Whom do you want to hear about first?"
"Umm... Your sister."
"Really?" I was surprised at her choice. I thought she will ask about my mother first. But then, I wondered, her way of thinking might be different than normal people...
"You talk about her most of the time and well, she's the one who prepares your lunch."
"That's why? Okay then... my sister. Her name's Maggie, which you already know. She is a year younger than me and the sweetest sister one can wish for. She is kind, caring and hardworking and she is close to me. I mean, closer to me than my elder brother."
"Why is that so?" Pearl asked, her dark eyes widening slightly.
"Umm… that's because Jason is--- what should I say--- sometimes very mean towards us," I explained. "He's always been like that, as far as I can remember. He always keeps complaining about us to Mother, always very particular about our behaviour and above all, always trying to get things done exactly the way he wants… one heck of a big brother!"
"He shouldn't be like that," Pearl said in an indignant tone.
I looked up at her face. She seemed angry, with her eyes narrowed.
"You think so?" I asked, smiling at her indignation.
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