THE EDGE OF INNOCENCE

Trina was hopping all along the path from her school. She pulled at the whiskers of a dog sleeping on the road. The dog did not bark back, but rolled over and fluttered its ears. It was probably accustomed to the antics of Trina. Then she tugged at the chin of a calf. The poor calf ran away frightened. As she neared her home, her joyfulness vanished all of a sudden. She could hear the shouts of her father from that distance. She tip toed the rest of the way. Her younger brother, who was yet to go to school, ran out of their door howling.

Then she saw her father coming out of the door with a stick. He was hurling the choicest of abuses at poor little Rana. Seeing Trina at the door step, he started shouting at her too. The moment didn’t seem quite opportune enough to enter the house. She ran with the school bag strapped to her back towards Rana. Seeing her approaching, Rana started running again. She called him a number of times, but the frightened boy ran farther away. Finally she broke into a sprint and caught hold of his left hand. He fought with all his might to free his arm from her clutches. When he couldn’t, he pulled her hand near to his mouth. Trina immediately shook him off and slapped him back. The boy started howling again.

Trina led him towards the stream and washed his face with her left hand. She still held him by the wrist, lest he might run away again. His back shook as he continued sobbing. When he finally stopped, Trina wrapped her right arm around his neck and gave him a chocolate that she had got in school. The boy snatched the chocolate from her hand and put it in his mouth. As the elixir soaked in he smiled at her. She smiled back too.

“Why did you run away?” she asked.

He looked up at her and said, “He beat me when I asked him for bread.”

Her eyes moistened on hearing this. She wiped her eye brows and said, “Want to see a magic?”

He looked at her, puzzled.

“See,” she said, as she threw a small piece of stone into the calm waters of the stream where the image of the sun in the western horizon reflected back in vibrant colours. The reflection of the sun vanished into millions of reddish ripples as the stone struck the surface. The boy cried out in joy. He took another stone and tried. The stone fell only a few feet away. He tried again. Trina laughed at him.

Trina led her brother back to the house after the sun had gone down and it was almost dark. Their father was sleeping soundly on the cot, facing downward, as saliva trickled down his open mouth. A bottle was lying beside him and some crumbs of stale bread. She overturned each and every utensil in the house and shook her head. Rana was looking blankly at her. Eventually she led him out of the house and into a dark slimy lane. She held her brothers arm tightly and strode carefully along the lane. She could hear loud music coming from where the lane ended. The road ahead could be seen now. Light filtered in from the market place that was bustling with customers on their evening errands.

Trina told her brother to remain in the darkness of the lane.

“Don’t try to move,” she said putting a finger on her lips indicating him to keep quite. He only nodded his head in affirmation. She came out of the lane and started panning the market place. Then she slowly walked towards a heavily crowded shop. She could see the showcases filled with different kinds of sweets and fried eatables. She didn’t know all the names. Then she marked it and her heart leaped with joy. There were lots of hot samosas kept in a bamboo basket on the top of the self, and there were so many people there. “Perfect chance,” she muttered. But, just as she was about to pace towards the shop, an old man with a basket of biscuits on his bicycle stopped her.

“Take this,” the old man said to her showing a small piece of hand baked biscuit. She looked at him and turned away. He tried to grab her but she ran away. 

Trina stopped short of the sweet shop looking everywhere at a time. A customer was taking samosas in a packet from the shopkeeper. She made a dash for the packet, snatched it away and bolted from the scene all in a matter of seconds. The customer hadn’t seen her. He was completely awestruck by such an incident. The shopkeeper started yelling. The crowd thinned away looking for the thief here and there. Nobody was sure who took the parcel and ran away.

She was approaching the lane where her brother stood transfixed by the deft at which she executed the operation. Just then the biscuit seller caught her by the neck. The packet of samosas were in her right hand and the old man held her left. He was too strong for her to escape and was completely blocking her way. She spit out at him in disgust. The old man caught her hair and pulled her towards him as he tried to grope her buttocks. Then he looked at her with mischievous eyes, his mouth wide open exposing his dripping tongue. Suddenly the old man cried out in agony as someone bit his hand. Trina stared at her brother in disbelief. She didn’t have much time. She yanked Rana away and into the dinghy lane.

As they both emerged out of the lane on the other side panting for breathe, they saw their father walking unsteadily along the road. They stopped in the shadows till their father was out of sight. The door to their house was left open. They entered inside and sat on the cot to get some breathe. When their heart beats normalised Trina opened the packet. Trina’s heart sank in despair when she saw only two pieces inside. Her brother looked up at her. He said, “I saw him packing so many in.” “Even I did,” she lamented. “May be, some of them fell off when that oldy was holding me.”