A beginning
at the end
By Amrita
Dhingra
ITs not easy for a man to
walk away from the only life hes ever known, but
you knew you had to do it. Things were finally settled.
The conglomerate was no longer in any danger, Carrie
Calloway, you thanked your stars youd never been
foolish enough to buy a ring for her, had decided to
marry Frank after all. Frank incidentally had decided to
see a shrink about his ailorophobia. Tom Spence
unfortunately had had to postpone his plans of becoming a
vagabond. His sister had arranged for him to go to a
better school with the understanding that he would be
free to pursue more of nature work than before. Even
Comet freed from the confines of Franks room was
happy.
All in all it was a very
satisfactory situation. You of course were happy. You
mean who the hell were you to stick out like a sore thumb
and say, "Sorry folks, but excuse me if I dont
share your joie de vivre. Ive got things on
my mind."
You had done your duty
and all you asked for now was well, to paraphrase Garbo,
to be left alone. So you wandered around Fionas
estate for a long time. It is a lovely place to wander
endless stretches of grass, old trees and the ever
present lake. The afternoon faded into the evening pretty
soon and your champagne bottle that had kept you good
company so far, began to run out of things to say to you.
Reluctantly, you decided to make your way back to the
house, hoping all the while that the worst of the fracas
would be over and most of the guests would have left. All
you wanted to do was slink quietly up to your room.
Finding ways to postpone
the inevitable you took a detour by the side of the lake.
You needed the time to school your expression, to
make your self presentable, to finish the last of the
champagne. You set about the last of these tasks by
putting the bottle to your lips.
"Drowning your
woes?" It was dark by now and you could only just
make out the motionless figure that sat on one of the
benches. It seemed like shed been sitting there for
sometime.
"Its pretty
effective really. You ought to try it sometime". You
were surprised but were damned if you were going to show
it, "But I forgot, you dont have any woes, do
you?You never have any woes."
"No," she said
and it could have meant yes or no.
Somehow you never made
it all the way back to the house just then, and Amanda
was walking by your side.
"Everybody thinks
youre a hero and you really should have stayed
back," this was said very casually.
"Yeah well thanks.
Im no superhero."
"Maybe not but what
you did today was pretty brave."
"Why are you all
proclivity all of a sudden?" You looked at her
suspiciously, for experience had taught you that Amanda
was at her most dangerous when you least expected it. But
she was looking straight ahead and you really
couldnt make out her expression. "What are you
planning to sic or me next? The manual and materials to
make an atom bomb? And then call the cops?"
It was pretty clear that
you were all cut up but the surprising thing was that she
refrained from cutting you down to size. Now that was
wholly unexpected from Amanda Spence who never let slip
an opportunity to get at you, in fact according to one
school of thought, main proponent, she actively went out
of her way to create opportunities of getting to you.
"And while Im
at it I may as well tell you exactly what I think of you.
"You offered her the bottle one more time before you
carried on and she took it, taking a long swig from it
before handing it back to you. "Its like this
Amanda, there are two kinds of people. Those that build
bridges and those that build bombs. And you Im
afraid are a definite builder of bombs!"
"Thank you,"
she said contrarily, "thats the best
compliment Ive ever received!" Her voice so
full of sincerity, made you even madder.
"See what I mean!
Never at a loss of words, are you? How do you do it?
Doesnt it get tiring, winning all the time?"
"Oh that, "
she laughed and you noticed that it was a very pleasant
laugh light and truly amused, "thats
when I let you win."
"Thank you,
Im obliged, " didnt care if you sounded
petulant, "but I am not going to be around much
longer so youll have to find someone else to play
your games with."
"Leaving? Somehow I
thought you had more staying power. Whats the
matter? Chicken?"
"Call it what you
will. Fact is youll just have to find yourself
another... " You were going to say
victim but then thought better of it.
"Looks that
way doesnt it?" There was a frown in her
voice. "Or I could simply tag along with you and
continue to sic bombs on you."
You refused to answer
that, mainly because you couldnt come up with an
answer to something like that.
"Pity youve
decided to leave though. Daddys got this new branch
planned in Hawaii and he was counting on us running
it".
"Us? Running it?
Why we couldnt run a grocery store together!
Ha!"
"You know that
isnt true! she said showing that rare flash of
temper.
"Thanks but no
thanks I think Ill be better off jobless."
"Fine." She
said folding her arms, "have it your way!"
"Thank you."
Two minutes later, when
she still hadnt given up on you, you were wondering
what the hell was going on. Here was Amanda Spence, a
haughty spirit by all rights, still walking by your side.
And quietly.
"I hope," you
enquires solicitiously, "that youre feeling
well? Not feeling light headed or something?"
"No I am perfectly
well thank you," she answered sweetly,
"perfectly well. Alive and kicking."
"Thats the
problem," you decided to give up on caution and go
the whole hog, "youre not kicking."
"Never pays to get
too predictable," she said , as if letting you in on
a trade secret.
"Ah now I
see," you nodded equally sagely. She took another
long swig from the bottle and finished the champagne.
"Pity, really I
could have done with some more."
"Lets get
back to the matter at hand for a moment, shall we? What
exactly are you up to now?"
"Poor chap,"
she said, shaking her head and laughing that strangely,
gloriously beautiful laugh of hers, "I really do
have you running around in circles, dont I?"
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Now
that weve all enjoyed the joke whay dont you
start by telling you exactly what was that little chat
you were having this morning with Carrie all about?"
You glared at her for it
had just occurred to you that you still didnt know
precisely what had been going on. It also occurred to
you, and to be perfectly honest it wasnt for the
first time, that Amanda was really an exceptionally
beautiful girl. What with the moonlight falling ever so
softly on her hair and shoulders and her eyes shinning
with life and so much spirit. Alarmed at your sudden
soft-brained tendencies which had landed you into enough
trouble allready, you stopped yourself right their and
sternly hauled yourself back.
"Well... "she
was saying.
"Im all
ears."
"I just had a talk
with her." She took a deep breath and carried on
hastily, "Yeah, I just sort of had a talk with
her!"
"About?"
"Well you know
Carrie used to be my junior at school and well we just...
sort of got talking about things you know, things?"
"No," you
said, "I dont know. What sort of things?"
"Oh girl stuff,
" she said dismissively, "You dont want
to know." And for the first time, and this is one
for the record books, Amanda Spence smiled ingratiatingly
at you.
"No suppose you
tell me. I may be lot of things but Im not exactly
a chauvinist you know." This was getting more and
more interesting.
"You know girls, we
get talking about one thing and then another." More
and more and more interesting. Amanda Spence trying to
stall?
"What exactly did
you tell her?"
"It was like
this... "you could literally hear her mind changing
gears, "she was upset about you and I sort of
consoled her."
"I see. And?"
"And I told her
Frank Gulley was a good man and that you had a criminal
record and well no woman in her sane mind would marry you
especially since you went around stealing miniature
pigs!" All of this came out so fast that you had to
strain to catch it.
"Thats
all!"
"Yes!"
"Are you
sure?"
"Oh all right! So I
told her she shouldnt marry you because you were an
absolute rake and you broke womens hearts just
cause you liked the sound and that she oughtnt
trust you as far as she could throw you!"
Amanda Spence one of the
most, make that the most, poised and articulate
young women you knew, who could conduct board meetings in
her sleep was having trouble saying these simple things.
Things such as these she was used to throwing at you
every now and then. It made you suspicious. Very, very
suspicious. You were sure she was still hiding something.
"Are you sure that
was all?"
"Yes! Stop
bothering me, will you? Must you know?"
You stopped walking,
raised an eyebrow, folded your arms and waited.
"All right,"
she took a deep breath, "but dont faint on me,
okay?" You nodded and she carried on. "I told
her not to marry you because you were already engaged to
marry somebody even before you met her!"
"You what ?"
This was a truly original one and it threw you for a
loop.
"You heard
me!" The smile and some of the cool assurance were
back.
"And who exactly
who am I supposed to be marrying?" Some people may
be able to take such information with equanimity but not
you. You like to know who youre going to marry and
all that sort of thing.
"Me." she
looked you straight in the eye.
"You?" You
stared at her in complete bafflement.
"Yes me." She
shrugged.
"You?" She had
done it again. The rule of thumb to remember when
youre around Amanda Spence expect the
unexpected!
"What are you, an
echo?"
Now that put you
straight and you stopped short of your third "you
?" and looked at her. The moon was still shining,
her hair was still auburn and it framed her face the same
way it always did and her eyes... Well her eyes were
something else. They were still grey, still sparkling and
they could still freeze people off but they werent
doing that just then. Oh no! In fact they had the most
unusual expression just then. An expression that made it
difficult for you to breath. An expression, it suddenly
occurred to you, could get used to seeing for the rest of
your life.
There is no satisfactory
answer to a question like, "What are you an
echo?", so you did the only thing on your mind just
then. Under the mad moon you stepped forward and kissed
her.
Five minutes later you
were walking to the house with your arm around her
shoulders. Champagne and celebrations were in order.
"Look at it this
way," she said consolingly, "I may a builder of
bombs but at least your life wont be boring."
"No," you
agreed, "my life wont be boring."
And with Amanda by your
side and a song in your heart you stepped into the light
and into a new life.
(Concluded)
This
feature was published on May 23, 1999
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