Note: All characters and venues are totally fictional; any semblance to real persons or places is merely coincidental.
Synopsis: Sheila completes the story of her parents and their migration to USA.
Munni's LIA - Episode 8
Munni Learns about Benny's Doll
(Note: we left Part 1 at this question....)"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.
NOW part 2:
"...no...no..no" he replied," please go on with the story" - he really meant "pUuuuLEeeeese".
"...oh..ok", Sheila decided to postpone making more tea for herself and continue on..
" So...then my dad tells mom not to worry about being knocked up ...he will help her...but mom ignores him and goes straight to the sweets and milk tray...and gives some to dad also. Then he wants her to tell him what happened so he could go and whup the living bejeesus out'a the real one who did that to his boss' daughter....and to his shock...he learnt that the patel girl had lied to her family.....and when he found out why...he felt sorry for her ...and promised to help "
"....so you ARE uncle Benny's daughter ?", Reddy couldnt bear it anymore.
"eh ?", she laughed, realizing that Reddy had forgotten what she told him about when she was born that afternoon when they had coffee @ Starbucks Coffee.
"...hold your horses..", she said, and continued," yes; I am your uncle Benny and auntie Kamla's daughter born at the Blessed Mary Hospital in Atlanta on November 3, 1975" and added with a wink," I am guessing they did it on Valentine's day of the same year...made in america...all the way...Oh..say..can you seeeeee(that Sheila has no connection to that 1970 thing)..?."
"...ok..ok...ok....I remember now," Reddy said, a bit ashamed for his run-away thoughts, completely missing her reference to the valentine's day happenings.
"can I go on now?" Sheila asked. Reddy was quite awake and enjoying the story now, because nobody is tied to the tree and getting whupped. He nodded his assent.
"...so my mom told dad that she was very afraid about getting kidnapped by soldiers....she had heard from others about indian girls being taken to barracks for a few weeks and then either killed or thrown out when soldiers are finished....she wanted to get married right away, because she also heard that soldiers don't like to take fat and ugly pregnant girls and also because my dad is strong and can look straight at soldiers and talk in Bantu like other africans and drink with soldiers in the street or shops without being afraid like other indian people..... when my dad heard this....he was so sorry for that girl. He told her that he'd protect her from soldiers alright, because she is the child of the boss; she didn't have to lie and go and marry him for that. He also told her that he will keep her secret and help her get married to some nice young man she liked after a few years."
"...eh ?", now Reddy was wondering where this story is headed; he couldn't jump to any rapid conclusions and start to worry.
Sheila continued," ....but then mom had a different idea....see...she has seen a lot of indian movies, hindi movies are very very popular in all of Africa. So mom thought, she'd get married to a guy who will protect her, and then get more insurance by getting pregnant right away, because in the movies, girl got married, girl went to room with bed and flowers and ate sweets and drank milk with the husband, then they did it....well, they didn't show that...but they showed a song...but mom got the point…she knew they did it ...and in the next scene the girl is knocked up and showing big time"
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Reddy laughed.
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"....so after she ate sweets and milk, gave dad some sweets and milk, explained to him why she needs to be knocked up right away, so that she is safe in the street and on top of that her folks need not know she had lied in the first place...she wanted immediate "full service" from dad....pronto.....but then dad wouldn't....at least at first......the story I heard from my dad is that mom took off her clothes threw herself on the bed and threatened to cry in a very loud voice so her uncles could hear her...and think my dad was trying to kill her and the baby"
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. Reddy was stunned; he didn't know where this was going to go.
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. "....ok...dad was a nice guy and all and did't want the teenage wife....but mom was a hottie....she has really really nice fair skin, long beautiful hair ....very beautiful face...great eyes....cute nose ..pretty lips...great shape...for god's sake ...she was a teen with tremendous boobs and legs...and there she was...naked...and ...practically ordering him to do it.....and all the family just outside the door listening in for the good sounds….and there was this poor guy, over 30, working for a living and bunking out in some shack in the black people part of town"
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. "so what did he do?", Reddy asked her, still somewhat nervous.
. "...what else can he do ? he did it ....but then for mom it was the first time....she liked it and wanted to make sure she was pregnant by the morning....so she asked him to do it again.....probably the family outside the room heard all the ruckus she made and were happy that their daughter was happy.."
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. Reddy was pretty amused by now, by both the story and the way Sheila delivered it.
. ....he asked,"and then ?" as if he was listening to a bedtime story from a grandmother.
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. "then what ? she made him do it again and again...and when she fell asleep, and suddenly awoke, she rubbed her belly and wondered if the baby had been made in her yet...and then got nervous...and woke him up and asked him to touch and see...when dad told her it is not possible to feel a baby that soon....she got more nervous and asked him to do it again just to make sure....dad was getting tired and...pretty sore in some parts... and he wanted to escape, go out to the coffee hill and tie himself back up to one of the trees and invite the uncles .....but mom was a strong teenager...she could have danced all night…(Sheila winked)...know what I mean ?"
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. Reddy was laughing hard , his sofa shook vigorously and the extra metal legs of the fold-outs drummed the floor.
. Sheila cried out,"...hey...careful there....the people below want to shake their own bed and hear it....not yours"
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. He settled down; Sheila got up with her cup,"...this story teller needs a tea...you want some ?".
. Reddy said," no..no..I am fine", now somewhat settled; he had never heard a "first night" story like this ever in his life.
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. Sheila talked from the kitchen:
. " .they had to remain in that room for three days...food is served for them in the next room...they already had their own bathroom.....my dad didn't know that was the custom...mom knew...and she was hoping she'd show by the end of three days...."
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. Reddy caught the idea, but the point about who is going to show what to whom was murky. He didn't say anything. Sheila came back to her seat with new tea.
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. She went on,".so in the end...after three days ...they were released....dad got away....went straight to some african shop and ate lots of meat with plenty of curry and garlic and drank cheap liquor and slept in his shack for two days....the Patels thought he had run off and never coming back..."
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. Reddy asked "he ran off ? he really ran off ?"
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. "No ..no ...he came back...he kept his promise to protect...he even carried a pistol and his hunting knife,....he is a good shot...you know....he went hunting secretly without telling the Patels and ate bush meat with his african buddies and sometimes even soldiers on leave went hunting with him.. they say he could skin an antelope in fifteen.."
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. Reddy stopped her from more dad-admiration with:" so he came back...and then what happened?" so that she can continue with the main story.
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. "..yes...yes..", she continued," then what...after a couple of weeks, mom got found out by aunties and grandma"
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. "...how did they find out ?", asked Reddy, perhaps mechanically, in order to egg the story teller on.
. Sheila looked at him very surprised...and said"...nevah you mind...they found out and they slapped her around for a bit and called her a slut and various things and locked her in a room ...but then what was done was done...."
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. "..then ?" Reddy didnt really know what to ask now.
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. Sheila's cell phone rang from the bedroom; getting off the sofa, setting her tea mug on the carpet, she said, "...just a minute…ok?.." and went into the bed room, closed the door and answered the phone. That was a very brief call..."...must have been a wrong number or something" Reddy thought. She came back out right away, went and sat in the sofa and asked him,"so..where were we?"
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. Her getting up and flashing her legs about, walking quickly into the bedroom had distracted him; he fumbled a bit to answer the question.
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. Then she herself remembered it and continued on with:
. "...then life went on ...at first uncles treated dad very badly.....gave him difficult construction work and dirty jobs and stuff....but then one day they heard servants at home talking something about "Benny's Doll"....and they came to know that was the name for their baby sister in the street. The talk was...if somebody ever touched Benny's Doll, Benny will skin them like an antelope and boil them in salted soup, 'xcept the guy who touched Benny's Doll'd be alive when he got skinned ; and the servants talked, Benny could do it for real…..Then aunties also wanted to go to shops in Benny's taxicab or have him drive the family car when they go out, for extra security ...and every body in the family said he was ok...even though they didn't like him hunting, eating meat outside or coming in to certain rooms in the main house. Mom was real angry with him for a long time for not giving her a baby right away so that people didn't find out about her lying….but then got over it"
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. "oh", said Reddy.
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. "...when they took everything and everybody was getting kicked out in 72, dad was able to trade many taxicabs for one big truck, they'd have taken the taxicabs for nothing anyway, and got the whole family out to Kenya safely on the road....driving the truck by himself and a couple of his black buddies in the cab.....my uncles saw how many friends dad had in many Bantu villages on the way....how he could easily speak with everyone....they have a lot of respect for dad now....especially for saving aunties.. many other indian families suffered a lot..."
Reddy couldn't say anything; he was truely speechless. He thought back to what his mother warned him about uncle Benny and his brother's advice...and now he heard from someone he had come to respect and admire in just a few hours and who knows uncle Benny more than anyone could possibly know. He decided he is going to touch uncle Benny's feet and mean it when he meets him.
Sheila brought him back to earth with,"soooo.. what do you think ?"; but then, Reddy had an emotional swell that had balled up in his throat.. After some struggle he said,"your father is a great man".
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. She answered,"but he is the sweetest silly guy....very emotional when it comes to family, friends and his Sheila...and that is the truth", then she let out a sigh,...and asked Reddy,"...mmmh... how was your dad ?"
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. He started,"...my father was...."
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. Then there was a knock on the room door. Reddy looked at Sheila nervously. Sheila said," 'cuse me" and swept the blanket out with one hand and got out of the sofa with her tea mug, placed the mug on the kitchen counter and walked around to the door. Reddy wondered what he ought to do. Sheila looked through the spy-hole lens at the door, with her hand on the door handle ready to turn it open, after she confirms who it was at the door.
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