Munni's LIA - A Serial Fiction - Episode 7

Note: All characters and venues are totally fictional; any semblance to real persons or places is merely coincidental. 

Synopsis: Sheila tells the story of her parents.

Munni's LIA - Episode 7
Night of the Nookie Monster - Part - 1 of 2

LIA =Life in America
When Sheila came out of the kitchen after a few minutes, Reddy was still holding his legs straight out in the (sofa-)bed, empty cup in hand, apparently in deep thought.
She said,"you know.... the bay area never gets above 60 at night...ever ..you ought to get into the sheets...you'd feel warmer".
He turned his head and looked at her and said "...yes..yes...it is very cold here at night "
She agreed,"yes...especially for you..just come from India and everything"

Saying,"I am going to get you an extra blanket and pillow" she went into the bedroom and closed the door. Reddy nodded and stayed put; after just 10 seconds, he realized he had been given a cue so that he could get himself within the sheets without Sheila being in the same room, in case his knickers fell off.

He hurriedly got off, took the tea mug to the kitchen counter, came back, opened the top layers of blanket and sheet, got in and set his head on the pillow he had already. She reappeared after a full five minutes, with another blanket and pillow. She asked him "can I put this extra blanket on you ?" "no..no.. I am ok now", he said. She draped the open blanket on the single sofa, and gave him the pillow . He put it on the backrest of the sofa for now.

Then she went to the kitchen and came back out with her tea mug. Reddy said,"....thank you so much for everything today". He had been preparing and practicing an appropriate americanism to say since that self-recrimination session of the evening. She smiled and said,"cousin...you are family...and besides dad told me to check on you…when my dad tells me something I take it as very important…and... ..aren't you sleepy yet ?".

Reddy responded," no..no..I am awake now".

"Want to make a phone call?", she winked, and continued on,"...oh sorry, it is daytime over there, isn't it ?" Reddy understood her insinuation and laughed, and added,"..yes sunday afternoon there"

"If you want to I can sit over there on the other sofa and ...we can have a chat....ok ?"
Sliding back up on the sofa's back rest, and resting on his elbows, he said, "...that will be good ".

"Alrightie", she said and went to the single sofa, flipped open one edge of the blanket with her free hand, sat and closed the blanket back around her.
The she said,"...ok..what d'you want to talk about ?".

Reddy blinked and fumbled a bit and then suddenly remembered," ..oh..oh..you said to remind you of your father's marriage.".
Sheila recalled,"oh..yes.yes..I did tell you that, didn't I ?.....Now, remember...this is only for family, not for anyone else...ok ?".
He said,"ok..".
She went on,"when you meet my dad in person, don't ask him about it ".
He said "ok".
He wondered if there'd be more conditions for this story. And as if, just to prove him wrong about more promises not to tell anyone, she said,"..here we go"

"I told you my dad married mom when she was very young. I think she was only 14 or something. Dad worked on many jobs for her family. He drove Taxis, Trucks to bring merchandise to the shops, also repaired motors and did many jobs like that. I had seen photos of him from when he was young; he was a strappy, good looking guy and tall, like you. (Although she only meant the "tall" part, Reddy was pleased at this comparison.) Sooo anyhooo, some times my uncles sent him to the typewriting institute to clean, arrange furniture or do maintenance, like fix typewriters and stuff. Dad also worked in the coffee plantation and construction when needed, like build houses, sheds and such. I know he didn't go to school much; but he can just about do anything. He is also the sweetest guy I know. When you got this strong, tall, good looking guy come around in the institute, the young girls over there were all getting steamy, giving him the looks, talking about him and giggling, y'know what I mean ?" She sipped her tea.

Reddy smiled and said,"So, then... he asked her out ?".
Sheila gulped her tea, smiled and said,"...quick learner, aren't we ?" and giggled.

And then continued on with her story," you know...because I heard..... that in Uganda, indian girls are usually from wealthy families and my dad was simply the employee for one of those...sort of like servant....so getting involved with a rich girl would be ...what can I say...even dangerous...and besides he was a lot older and stayed well away from all those wealthy indians. So...I think it was 1969 or 70, two of my uncles....now one of them is in UK, and the other one is living in Jackson now....came to the shop and asked my dad to go with them in the car. So dad goes along, figuring they had some job for him. After they get to the house, they pull guns on him and make him to come to the coffee area, you know because the coffee plants cannot take direct sunlight, they have big shade trees in rows and the coffee plants are all underneath. Coffee is a good six to eight feet tall, so once you go in there, pretty much nobody can see you. They make him take his shirt off, hug one of those trees and tie up his hands. Then they whupped him real good."

Reddy had't expected this. He got worried as to where this was going.

Sheila started back: "When dad cried out, a servant woman in the plantation heard that, and saw the two bosses beating an indian; she ran to the house to tell Madam, that was grandma, the news that brothers are whupping an indian, something not usual. Madam comes out and the brothers tell her the reason. It turned out that baby sister Kamla who had gone to learn typing did more than learn typing. She had got knocked up !".

At this point Sheila paused for the reaction from Reddy. He is now sitting higher up, no longer on his elbows, in rapt attention; but no reaction for the final phrase. "I said she had got knocked up! ", she repeated; still no reaction from Reddy.
"Didn't they ask you that in TOEFL when you applied for college here ?", she laughed.
Reddy didn't see the connection; but went on,"...no..no they didn't need TOEFL"

"nevah mind," she continued with a smirk,"you'd catch on a little later....now then...when my gran'ma heard that, she stopped the whupping and took her sons indoors...dad was still on the tree...after a couple of hours talking they come back and told dad that if he'll make an honest woman of mom...he can live in the house, may be even get more money and better job….if not, they are gonna take him out, tie him all up with some heavy stones and put him in the big lake victoria."

"...honest woman ?", asked Reddy.

".....don't worry....you'd catch on soon...the good part of the story is comin' up....yeah; they asked him if he wants die or marry the daughter !! …at that point dad was pretty much ready to marry my grandma….. my dad figured the patel girl had got into trouble with a negro or some other already married indian or something, and the family is getting a poor man to stand in and take the blame", with that she drank the rest of the tea from her mug and set the mug down on the carpet.

Now there was enough in what she said for Reddy to understand the gist of uncle Benny's options. He gave Sheila a serious, empathetic and understanding look...and at he same time was a little puzzled as to why she continued on with that happy twinkle in her eyes.

"When I was a kid, I didn't know much, except that my dad was poor in africa and he married the boss' daughter. I got the juicy details from my aunties when we all had a big party for my med school graduation....when everybody was soused…and talking old stories"

Reddy wanted her to go back to the story without taking side tracks about some graduation party:
"so what happened to your dad ? they bring any doctor to help him?"

"No..no... they cleaned him up, put some linament on his back, and locked him up in a warehouse with the coffee….They told him to sit there until they come back for him".
"They came back ?"
"....yeah..they did..with a couple of priests, they called them punditji...Then they dressed dad up in some clean indian clothes and dragged him to the temple at the bottom of the plantation, ( coffee grows on slopes) and married him to this girl ...dad can see the girl's hands but not the face...dad didn't know how many girls were in the house or who he was marrying...later that evening he found out that it was the patel girl from the typing institute."

"That was it ? That was how it was ?", Reddy asked, after all, even he knew happily-living-ever-after comes right after the marriage.
He also had a couple of other questions, but decided to hold them back.

"...no...no ...here comes the real juicy part.......in the same evening, the family get all the servants to clean up some rooms for the newly weds, they have a new bedroom set decorated with flowers and such, private dining room and bathroom and leave dad in the rooms with all kinds of sweets, fruits, foods in silver trays and sweet iced water and pistachio milk.. Dad once told me that he ate some at first ...and then used the clean bathroom...and then he found that the Patels were vegetarians....and dad wanted curried bushbuck and Kenyan beer.... the one thing he remembered most was the clean bathroom with lots of water and also servants pouring hot water in to the bath through conduit from outside."

"the first night " understood Reddy.

"then in the evening my two aunties --they were young then -- and mom, all three of them decked up in sarees came along, aunties were singing songs and they push mom into the room where dad was and lock the door from outside...then mom goes to dad, removes her head veil and touches his feet. She said she did it because that is what Madhu Bala did in movies, even though mom really didn't want to do that to the servant-man".

"you want more tea ?" asked Sheila. Reddy couldn't care less; he wanted her to get to the end, where he finds out if Sheila is really Benny's daughter.