Gift In Green by Sarah Joseph

Author:Sarah Joseph
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Published: 2012-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

27

The Full Moon Rises

‘Kunjimatho?’

‘Hmm?’

‘The moon is rising. Look!’

‘Yes, I see it is.’

‘The sea must be in turmoil, no?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘The sea could be aroused, no?’

‘Yes, it is. I can feel it.’

‘Then, how come nothing stirs here?’

‘That’s just what I was thinking.’

Merely sighting the moon was enough for the water to lose its self-composure, for the sea to rise and arch!

‘Kunjimatho?’

‘Hmm?’

‘The sea: is it male or female?’

‘Female.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Women experience this sort of arousal under the moonrise of men, don’t they?’

‘Do they? I . . .’ Karthiayani said.

‘I don’t, Kunjimatho. I can’t stand their smell.’

‘The hair on their bodies puts me off,’ Karthiayani added.

The companions made faces at her.

‘Lies!’ said Kunjimathu.

She too was a sea, Kunjimathu knew. The rising of the full moon churned her womanhood. Her body arched and rose, impelled by the longing to drag into her the man who loomed far beyond her reach.

‘Stay on the ground. Behave like a woman should,’ mother had been admonishing her for years now. But how could she stay on the ground? This thing erupted from depths unfathomable, and would not be bridled. It surfaced, uprooting and bearing with it all that came in the way: pearl formations, seaweed and vegetation, whales, killer sharks and corals. Many had said in the past that waves rolled and reared within Kunjimathu’s head. But was that all? Didn’t the choppy waves rise and run amok all over her body, from head to toe? Didn’t the depths of her churn and surface as though she were an ocean in heat? Her veins, alleys for the moonlight; her stomach its mansion; and her womb its very manger.

Why would Kunjimathu tell a lie? Even to this day, the waves within her had not subsided. How could they? Nothing had been lost: neither the supple sheen of her body nor the firm swell of her breasts. There was no flab on her soft belly. The virgin-like robustness of her pelvis was still perceptible, and her thighs were even today firm and graceful. And none of this was going to change so long as the moon continued to rise, albeit in the far distance, beyond human reach.

And her companions: why would they tell a lie? Every woman is an ocean for whom the moon stays beyond reach forever! For that very reason, the arousal within her would never cease. Mother knew this. Grandmother did too, as also her mother and grandmother…

Kunjimathu looked sideways at her companions. They sat looking down, refusing to look up at the moon. Nor could they take their eyes off the moon nestled in the lap of the water below. Sly creatures!

For a long while they sat on the ridge, awaiting the tide. It was a full moon night in Karkidakam. Since the new moon day, however, every night had gone by without the moon coming into view. That night, they feared, would be no different.

At eventide, all of a sudden, a star appeared in the sky. Even as they watched, the moon rose over the forest, like the round, shining rim of a polished brass vessel.

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