Nine Hours to Rama by Stanley A. Wolpert

Author:Stanley A. Wolpert [Wolpert, Stanley A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, India, Banned, freedom, Assasination, Political
ISBN: 9789997410443
Google: v48FAQAAIAAJ
Amazon: 9997410440
Published: 2023-05-31T18:30:00+00:00

8

“Shall I tell you a secret?” Naturam asked her.

“Yes, I love secrets,” Sheila said, bending over him to blow lightly against his ear and neck.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Men like it—I thought.”

“Well, I don’t—it tickles.”

“But that is what it is supposed to do,” she said. He was the strangest customer she had ever encountered.

“How can I tell you a secret if you tickle me?”

“I will listen carefully,” she promised.

“You must not tell anyone else!”

“I will not.”

“Do you swear by Ganesh?”

“Yes, why not?”

“Say ‘I swear by Ganesh never to repeat what I am about to hear.’ ” She said it.

“Now if you break your vow he will destroy you,” Natu said, sitting up on the bed.

“Please do not look at me that way,” she asked. “It frightens me. Let me get you some more gin.”

“Do you not want to hear my secret?”

“I do not think so—no.”

She was so obviously superstitious it made him laugh, which only frightened her more, but then he realized what he had been about to do and it worried him.

“Better make us some tea,” he suggested. Then watching her walk away the motion of her hips enticed him, and he said, “Come back here.”

“What is it?” she asked, returning timidly.

He pulled her down onto the bed, and pressed his mouth against hers.

“Wait, let me undress,” she said.

“Do not speak,” he told her. He closed his eyes and found her lips again. They were soft and yielding. Her mouth opened too quickly. He kept his own lips firmly closed and pressed them very tightly against hers.

“Please. You are hurting me,” she said.

“I told you not to speak, damn you!” He jerked away and pushed her aside gruffly. She lay with her back to him, rubbing her arm where he had gripped it too hard.

“What are you doing now, stupid?” he asked.

She had begun to cry. She was apparently a rank amateur at this business.

“Make the tea,” he ordered. “You are not paid for tears.”

“Sorry,” she sobbed, sniffling as she went to the kitchen.

It was not her fault entirely, he knew. It always ended that way with the others. Always pain and tears for them. For himself only contempt, disgust, a sense of futility, of wasted effort. Rani alone was different. If I could see her just once more, he thought. Even for one hour. There had been so few hours for them, it almost seemed to be worth the try. After Trimbakeshvar, of course, he had been sure it was finished forever. He had returned to his job with a passionate dedication that even Vishnu Apte found impossible to accept… .

“Are you trying to kill yourself, Natu?” Vishnu asked, combing back his hair carefully as he entered the dim office. “Why must you work so late tonight? Tomorrow is Tuesday, did you forget?”

“Listen. How does this sound, Vishnu?” Natu asked, setting his pen aside, and picking up the paper blackened with scratch-out lines, cross-hatching, and inter-lineal scrawling. “‘Mr. Jinnah has finally revealed himself,’” he read, stooped over the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.