Suora

They continued to swing….They knew not my piercing stare, they knew not, that they had been fascinating me for over ten minutes now. They continued to swing blissfully unaware of my vacant stare. There was nothing amazing in that motion…nothing that should have stopped me from going down the park, eyes fixed dead ahead at my company that peeped through the leaves of the old banyan tree; nothing in the motion of those two swings should have dragged me out here, behind these thorny bushes, in hiding…
 

Nothing save the fact that those swings had no residents on them...

No wind…no kids...nothing…at least nothing that could be seen by my mortal eyes….

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Mrs. Dawson was busy in the kitchen. She had a doctor’s appointment and did not want to miss it. Until the report was out, she was sure she would not be able to relax.

“Mommy? You there?”
“Yes sweetie come on over. I’m just making supper.”
Tommy dragged his feet down the little kitchen. Just awake from his Sunday nap, he looked tired and lethargic. But his mother sensed that something else was bugging him. So she put the bacon down and went to him.

“What is it honey? Tell me…”
“Nothing it’s just that…well…am I having a sister or a brother?”
“I am just as anxious as you, baby. I’m going to the doctor’s as soon as everything is set for supper.”
After a short pause Tommy said in a feeble voice, “Mommy, I’m scared.”
“What for?”
There came no reply.
“Come on now kiddo! Now, you are mommy’s strong boy, aren’t you? There is nothing to be afraid of…” She gave him a brief lecture on challenges and life, thinking that her boy was worried of something of the sort.
“So why do you have to be scared? Look at mommy, am I scared? No. Nor should you. Now I simply must get the supper ready.”

After a pause that seemed to stretch forever, Tommy mustered the strength to ask his mother one of the questions that Rose had asked him last night.
“Mommy? Can I ask you something?”
“Fire away kiddo!”
“Why…Why did you kill my…my suora?
The bacon dropped from her hands. She turned, her eyes dancing in the glimmering light to some archaic melancholic tune. For a few moments, there was sheer terror in her eyes. As if she saw a ghost…

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“Hey Tommy!”                                                                   
Tommy awoke with a start to see Rose sprawled comfortably on the chair. He looked at the clock and saw that it was thirty minutes past midnight.

In the past he had asked her if her parents would get worried finding her bed empty. She had laughed at the time and told him that her parents stopped caring for her long back. He did not press the matter. Somehow she never liked to come over in front of his parents. In fact she scorned and guffawed cynically every single time he told her how great a set of parents they were. Though he was irritated, he didn’t complain much.

“Go away. I’m tired. I wanna sleep.”
“I gotta ask you a few things.”
“Now? Really?”
“Please?” she added knowing full well that this word always made Tommy give into the demands of others. When he was wide awake and ready to have a proper conversation, she broached the subject.

“Do you know that your mother is pregnant? That you will be very soon getting a sister?”
“She said only tomorrow she’ll know if I’m having a sister or a brother.”
“It is a sister.”
“How do you know?” He took a sharp breath and said, “She told you! Without telling me!”
“Of course not you dork!” She replied with a snort. “I know it because I learnt it long back-to know if it’s a boy or a girl. Tell me this… Do you want a brother or a sister?”

“I don’t know.”
“It’s not that hard to answer. Answer me with your heart.”
“Well…I think I’ll have a sister! Although I’ll end up with stupid Barbie dolls between my Batman and Superman toys, a sister will be fun to have around. I could teach her to climb trees, play hide and clap with her, and scare her in the middle of the night like you scared me. I’ll…”
Unknown to Tommy he had become so excited that he started walking here and there, telling Rose all that he would do for her. She did not hear much. She kept staring at him, with a tinge of envy in her eyes as though her rightful love had been snatched away from her when a cruel man decided to play dice with her life. A tear almost escaped her, but she held it back and regained her cool.

When he stopped to take a breath, Rose stood up and went to him and said, “But you won’t be given a sister.”

“Bu…But...you said I’m getting a sister…”

“I don’t think your mother will let you have one.”

Seeing his puzzled look, Rose decided to tell him the secret she had literally sworn with her life. She never wanted him to know it. But someday she had to tell it to somebody. Tommy seemed to be the best person and that day seemed to be the most perfect.

“Tommy, before you, your parents had been blessed with a sister, your very own suora. But they killed her.” Her resilience gave away, and she started sobbing. Though she tried her best to hold it back, the floodgates were finally open. There was simply no way to hold it back.

 “What?”
“I…I have to go now…I’m sorry.” She started towards the door, now weeping unobtrusively.

“My parents killed?” “Just ask them about it when the time is right.” She called back, as Tommy saw the last of her as the fog ate her up beyond the trees.

“Baby…I…We…” She could only splutter and stammer as the pain and guilt that had built within her for a decade, failed to make sense in the present life. It seemed that the truth of the two ages refused to mingle with one another and share the stories of the past and present. Maybe it was for the better that the past never mingled much with the present.
Tommy could simply sit and stare at his helpless mother. For a moment he believed that he had done something wrong. How frivolous to think that the innocence of a child chose to take responsibility for the mockery of the old!

“Oh God! I never thought such a day would come. I…” It took her the best of fifteen minutes to regain her composure. When she had done so, she sat next to Tommy at the old rickety table and took his hand in hers. Her heart barring her from looking at her child, she started to try and explain the pang in her heart.

“Baby, I wanted her so badly. But your dad was not doing all that good. A girl child means a lot of responsibility. The world is not safe for her, and we’ll have to sacrifice a lot to raise a girl. He…We did not find it worthwhile to raise a girl. So…I know it’s wrong. But..we…couldn’t..”

Her voice trailed off. She sat there with her hands across the table resting upon her son’s hand.

With a start she looked up, directly into her son’s eyes and asked, “But, baby? How did you find out?”

“My friend told me.”

“Friend? But…how did he? Who?”
“It’s a she. Rose. Rose Dawson.”
The moment those words were said, a supernatural force of realization came crashing down on the duo. It was the first name- a name that she had lovingly called her unborn baby years ago that ignited her senses. But it was the last name- the name that had gone unnoticed by Tommy for all these years that send chills down his spine.

The mother and son stared at one another and hugged each other, as the baby bundled in the woman’s womb, gave a smile- the smile of hope; a hope to live.

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Rose felt alive in the inanimate world as the wind came slapping down on her face every time the swing came down. Her duty as a sister had been done perfectly for seven years now. She knew that last night would be the last time she could share a laugh with her dear brother. She could still laugh with him of course- but it would just not be the same without him knowing that she was with him all day long.

As she swung far back, she glanced to the left to find the beautiful girl seated there as she had sat twelve years ago. She would wait there patiently until tonight when her parents would seal her fate-to kill or not to kill. How petite she was- her life at the mercy of the whims of a mother.

The little girl did not see her older sister on the adjacent wing. She was new to the unborn world. Rose could do nothing but hope that her little sister could make through to the world- Tommy needed her.
 

That was when she saw her smile.

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I almost let out a scream. For ten minutes now I had been observing the continuously oscillating swing. There were no physical forces existing to provide the swings enough energy to swing. I do not believe much in magic either. Just as I made up my mind to come out of hiding and clearly sweep the area for a satisfactory explanation, I saw a flash that emanated from the swings. Then, just like that, its motion ceased.-an abrupt conclusion to an enigmatic dilemma. But I can assure you, for a fraction of a second I had a vision. I saw two children, approximately ten years old seated on the two swings. I know not if it’s just hallucination, I know not if it’s real. All that I know is that my mind is destined to ponder over certain truths of the world!