Space for Vegetables
James Macklin was looking for a smile. It had been the last thing he had seen on his mobile phone before the rock shards from…
Author: Pranav Lal
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James Macklin was looking for a smile. It had been the last thing he had seen on his mobile phone before the rock shards from…
James Macklin was looking for a smile. It had been the last thing he had seen on his mobile phone before the rock shards from the construction site had slammed into his eyes. It was a freak accident but it had allowed him to come in from the shadows. He had been the first recipient of the Argus 10. The system worked by stimulating his rods and cones as well as his optic nerve. The system showed him lights and shadows but his brain did the rest and usually that was enough.
It had all started with his stepfather, Miles Bradford. James must have been 8 or 9. Miles was an easygoing man who always smiled and treated James like a son. James well remembered the day when Miles stopped smiling. The beating had lasted until eternity. Ever since that day, the lack of a smile lead to James feeling insecure and the beatings. Miles was later diagnosed with schizophrenia but it was too late for both of them. James was 13. His mother had died the previous year. There was no proof but James suspected that Miles had had a hand in her death. She had broken her neck after falling down the stairs.
James also had a moral science class that year. Ms. Sara Skipper had been a superb communicator and had temporarily replaced his mother. Ms. Skipper had preached “being proactive.” The idea had struck James like a bolt of lightning in his last moral science class. The next evening, just before sunset, James embarked on a life of crime by killing his stepfather.
In James’s world, Smiles were good as long as they were on display. Once people stopped smiling, their darkness emerged. James wanted a world filled with smiles and light and he began a secret quest to create just such a world.
Over time, he preferred capturing and killing women because he found their smiles more beautiful. He had captured so many smiles, in cabins in the woods, deserted beaches and once in a boat. The boat had been the easiest and most romantic. She had been sleeping under an awning while the boat drifted on the lake. He had boarded and crossed to her without her knowing. He remembered leaning down, kissing her lips, those pail blue eyes, the crinkles and the way her lashes shuddered. He rose, took his phone from his left pocket and snapped a quick picture. His right hand moved automatically plunging the switchblade into her neck, killing her instantly.
Things had palled after that. No smile seemed as beautiful or as perfect. His album grew and he bought bigger phones and tried desperately to find a more perfect smile. Moreover, the implant did not allow him to fully appreciate the smile. The device for all its technological sophistication showed him only light and dark. He had to build shapes in his head using the contrast. The irony was that he was able to connect his phone to his implant and feed images directly into his brain but it was not the real thing. A smile was a lighter dark... The urge however was as strong as ever.
It was on YouTube that he first saw the face of Swati ma, a new age guru in the Himalayas. He had to have her. Her smile had come through so clearly in the video. The studio artist had outdone himself. The video had shown Swati ma, begin to smile like the opening of a flower in slow motion. It was that perhaps that led him to be able to appreciate the expression.
James climbed the slope, being careful where he kept his feet. He was on a mule track but that meant very little. There were steps of a sort, uneven, at no fixed intervals and handrails did not exist. His breathing came easily. No altitude sickness for him. He was in perfect physical shape and knew where he was going. The ashram was situated at the top in a meadow. The people below had told him to follow the track.
Meanwhile, a few thousand feet below, old Raja, the soul resident tiger of the hill community zoo was hungry. He had been hungry forever, or so he felt. The 2-legged things kept him in this funny cave and it was a good life. A goat for each meal but recently things had stopped. He had been pushing against the bars for a very long time. Sometimes, he had got more meat when he had pushed in particular ways. He had tried biting them over time but that had lead to his teeth being loosened. Yes, it had cracked the bars but pushing was more effective. He pushed against the bars and they parted. Ramu, his keeper had left for the city and Sema, head of the project at the NGO had quit to take a job in journalism. He moved out towards the forest and freedom.
James heard the bells well before he saw the mule train. He stepped aside as the mules went past. He could not help asking;
“Swati ma?”
“20 minutes”, came the reply.
James trekked on faster. The slope became steeper forcing him to slow. He had trained as an athlete for some time where Marisa had drilled him in pacing and rhythm. Marisa was on his phone, her smile a part of his collection. The slope was littered with stones and scree. The steps were at different heights thereby making that rhythm elusive. He was tiring and therefore decided to rest. The trail broadened into a smooth landing having several large boulders. He sat between two of them, shrugged off his pack and began to eat a meal of biscuits, dry fruit and chocolate.
Raja moved soundlessly through the forest. His strength was not what it once was but he had not felt so alive in many years. The smells were the same. He could not smell any food just yet. It was the birds, carrion, dead plants, and the usual heady mixture of smells of the jungle. He could smell the man thing some way ahead. Maybe it would have food but there was no goat smell.
James stretched out on the rocks and looked into the sky. He was not one to look at nature very much but ever since the implant he had found it fascinating the way natural colors were rendered. The sun was a golden ball. He turned his head and saw the brilliant yellows and greens of the plants. The rich velvety tones of the tree trunks, the flashes of orange in the changing light and Far away, he could just make out a bright line of blue. That had to be the river. He turned his head in the opposite direction and stared into empty space. He lifted his head and then saw the patches of darkness with hazy bright patches. That was the dust and snow. The bird song did not change and he decided to enjoy the view. Swati ma was not likely to go anywhere. If she did, she would have to use this trail and he would catch her. He was right and wrong.
A thousand feet above in the ashram, things were not going well.
“Did you get the vegetables Shaila?” asked Pooja.
“Vegetables?” chorused Shaila.
“Yes, you know I had asked you to get them. We can’t grow them here and ma always says that we must buy from the farmers. How can you forget? I wonder how you remember your own name.”
“Ah now that you mention it, I do think you said something about vegetables. I forgot. Ma had told me to get back quickly with the medicine.”
Pooja looked down.
“I am the one who is forgetting now. How is Ratan?”
“You can ask him”, said Shaila.
Pooja spun around. Ratan Singh Chauhan stood before her, all of 5 years old and erect as an arrow.
“How are you?”
He squealed and jumped into her arms almost bowling her over.
Shaila could not stop smiling.
“Leave the vegetables to me. I think ma has to go to meet some reporters.”
“Again?”
“Yes, her videos are very popular and they want to shoot her but their cameras need electricity so she has to go to the village.”
Shaila walked up the grassy slope, crossed the narrow path which was lined with bushes and reached the open meadow ringed by trees on either side. Ma sat there in the lotus position.
“Yes, my daughter, you look happy but why are your eyes down?”
Shaila stood speechless. Ma’s habit of coming to the root of the matter unnerved her even after 6 years in her service.
“We do not have any vegetables and I forgot to bring them but Pooja told me to bring them before I left to get the medicine for Ratan.”
“That is ok. Bhasham is taking me down and we will get the vegetables. In the meantime, get the fire wood ready.”
As she spoke, she rose and took the path that Shaila had taken a few minutes earlier. Shaila marveled at her grace and the way she seemed to glide over the ground. Her clothing never caught on thorns and she never missed a step. The best part of her were her eyes and that near permanent smile as if she was from another world where there was no suffering and everyone was happy.
“Bhasham shall we walk?”
Bhasham Singh Negi, her latest devotee smiled.
“No ma, we take the mules.”
“Ah ok one mule right?”
“No ma, we ride. We do not have time. We will take all three, Shyam, Ghanshyam and Gopal because we need to bring things from the village.”
“Add vegetables to the list she said” and climbed on to Shyam’s back. Bhasham rode Ghanshyam and had Gopal follow.
Raja licked his jaws. The man thing was still but it did not have any food. This close, he should have been able to smell it. Maybe the man was food. Raja’s blood raced. He was just about to spring when the smell and the tinkling of mule bells registered. Raja was in the bushes in a flash. Mules kicked too hard and ran too fast. He knew he was not strong enough to chase one.
Ma spotted the man first.
“Bhasham, slow down.”
“Must be a trekker ma, no need.”
“Really child perhaps he is lost? No harm in talking to him.”
Bhasham felt his gut churn. The stranger was a foreigner but that was not a problem in itself.
“Ma, he gives me a bad feeling.”
“My son, all the more reason we must stop.”
Bhasham eased the mule train to a stop a few feet away from the stranger.
James rose and smiled.
“Good evening guru ji”, he managed.
He could see that smile.
“Can we help you? I am Swati ma.”
“I have come a long way to meet you.”
“Many come to me. I sense you seek me. You are a deeply troubled man.”
“Well ma, I have my problems but I came seeking your smile which I have found.”
Bhasham could not stop intervening, “Ma, the vegetables.”
“Yes my son.”
“Come Gopal”, she said, gesturing to the unencumbered mule.
“Ma, how will we carry the vegetables?”
“Have faith Bhasham. God will guide us. Let this be a practical lesson to you.”
James mounted the mule with some trepidation.
“It will carry you without a problem. I will be ahead of you. Do as I do”, said ma.
James wanted to laugh. This guru was so naive. Could she know? Would the smile still be there once she realized his true intentions? The man was going to be a problem but not much of one. James was fast. The forest was almost dark but that did not matter much. His implant amplified the fading light to the point that he was able to sense the contrast in the scenery around him and navigate without difficulty. The soft light and muted colors heightened his desire. He had to see that smile.
“So, guru ji, what do you teach?”
Ma turned, her smile very much in place.
“What does the student want to learn? I run an ashram not a school. I show you the way and the rest is up to you.”
“Has anyone ever left you?”
“Yes, so many times. I am but one guide who shows the way. There are others and then there are people who do not want to see.”
James listened with rapt attention.
“How are you so calm? Does not the dark scare you?”
“What should I be afraid of my son? Our lives are in God’s hands. We are amongst his children and with Mother Nature. Why fear?”
James held back his laugh. Him, God’s creature. He was silent, wondering what to say. Those yellow points of light were still pacing them. He did not care, his work would take a few seconds and the yellow light would add to the experience. This photo was going to be one for the books if he could ever get it published. The mules moved fast. James had taken over 3 hours to cover the distance they covered in two hours. They did not seem to care about the rocks. They were sure-footed though a shade skittish.
Raja was the first to detect the village. He knew that was where he had escaped from and had no intention of going back there. They were soon at the steps. James drew his knife with his right hand and his phone with his left.
Raja detected the change in the scent of the man thing. It was pungent and evil. He did not want another killer in his territory and his belly would not stay empty longer.
James had to get her closer to him. The only way to do so was to ask her a question and keep her engaged in conversation and oh yes, he needed that smile.
“So, guru ji, are all creatures on earth God’s creatures?”
“Yes my son, said ma”, as she slowed her mule and came close to him.
“Ma, may I take your picture? I really like your smile.”
“Sure, but you must carry my smile in your heart and not in these toys”, she said eyeing the phone.
“Yes ma, but I am not as evolved as you and I guess I like my toys”, he said sliding off Gopal’s back.
Still she allowed him to take the photograph.
“You see my son she continued, all of creation is God’s creature. Bhasham knows that better than any person I have met”.
Ma turned to call to Bhasham.
Raja padded alongside. He was curious about the shining thing the man held but his stomach overrode his curiosity.
Shyam sensed Raja and instinct overrode training; he balked and took off running. Ma taken unawares could only hold on. Gopal followed suit.
James’s implants registered the star light reflected in the yellow eyes in his peripheral vision, a second before Raja snapped his neck. The last image that James’s phone captured was Raja’s grin as he bent to drag his kill into the bushes and break his enforced fast...
Shyam and Gopal slowed as they reached Bhasham and Ghanshyam.
Ma asked Bhasham, “That poor child, he went to God. Do you see?”
“Yes ma, I do; we have space for the vegetables now.”
END
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