Page 24 of Pillow Talk
The lake wastheirplace. Where others saw overgrown grass and a neglected lake, they saw adventure. The lake was on the outskirts of town, but with Rally being a small town, it was within walking distance of Anni’s house, his house and Shah & Sons. It was also close to where they would meet every morning during their summer holiday: in front of the big, ugly statue. They were about nine when they’d first discovered the lake – or at least he did. It was closest to his grandfather’s house and one afternoon he’d peeped over the high perimeter wall and seen the lake. He told Shona and Anni about it the next day and they went exploring. They returned to the lake every day that week. Hisgrandfather decided to tag along one afternoon and immediately hired a gardening service to clear a section of it for them. That had angered Ricky, the caretaker, because it made him look bad to the city officials. His grandfather had then made Ricky an offer: he would pay him extra to keep the grass short, remove the litter in the lake and keep an eye on the three of them. Ricky agreed and the lake looked nothing like it did when they first went there. The grass was well-maintained. Ricky even planted trees and flowers – supplied by his grandfather. Before, the lake had looked dirty, but once the area around it was landscaped, it was a place of beauty. It was only then that his grandfather allowed them to swim.
His mind went back to that day when he was 13 and Shona and Anni were 12. His grandfather’s housekeeper had packed a picnic basket for them to take to the lake. Anni was horrified; somewhere in her awful childhood, someone had told her that she didn’t deserve to eat good things or enjoy life, but Shona had talked her into joining the picnic. They had a swim, gulped down the sandwiches and chips and were lying on their backs, basking in the sunshine.
‘Senthil, will your wife buy her wedding dress from my shop?’ Shona had asked.
Anni giggled loudly.
‘Knock it off, Shona. If you keep talking about your bridal shop and wedding dresses, I’m leaving,’ he’d said.
Years later he was sleeping next to the same girl.
Sen smiled when he remembered that she used to call him Senthil.
When did she stop calling me Senthil?He tried to remember…He was ??. It was the summer he’d desperately wanted to travel with his friends but his mother had ordered him home. Shona and Anni were 16 and had already caught the attention of many guys in their town. But they stayed clear of theattention. Anni was too shy and Shona was too busy and really wasn’t confident.
His grandfather had bought him a Jeep to sweeten the deal – to get him to stay for the summer. He’d picked up the girls and headed to a bonfire at the beach. Everyone was invited so they weren’t really crashing anyone’s party. Anni was staying over at Shona’s and their curfew was 10pm.
When they arrived at the beach, Avi sniggered. But Sen was different. He was becoming a man and no longer afraid. He looked Avi in the eye: ‘What’s your problem?’
‘Why are you hanging out with those two losers, pretty boy?’
Hunter whispered to Avi to leave it alone, but Avi continued passing remarks.
Sen attended one of the country’s strictest boarding schools. His life was planned out. He followed rules and he had self-discipline. So he walked away. The girls followed but they didn’t seem enthusiastic about being there.
He was just about to ask if they wanted to leave when Andrea, a 17-year-old local girl, who’d set her sights on him the previous summer, appeared.
‘Oh, Sen. I hope you’re not leaving. I was hoping we could catch up.’
Sen was a teenage boy with raging hormones; Andrea was annoying but she still appealed to his idiotic teen self.
Naturally Sen looked at her with adoring eyes. He’d completely forgotten about Anni and Shona and about leaving the bonfire.
‘Say you’ll stay,Sen,’ Andrea cooed.
‘Yes, why don’t you stay, SEN,’ Shona pressed, eyes narrowing at him.
That was the first time she’d called him Sen and it stuck. The girls went home and he hung out with Andrea.
He left for boarding school the following day. He’d never got to say goodbye to Anni and Shona and, when he came back to Rallyfor Christmas, they avoided him.
Now he turned to look at Shona. She always seemed tough as nails to him. She would go on and on about how she would have a popular bridal store and design dresses for the stars. She seemed to have it all planned out. But now he wondered if he’d simply overlooked her vulnerability. He hadn’t looked closely enough back then. Now he could see that although Shona was surrounded by people, somehow she felt alone.
And that was his last thought before he drifted to sleep.
‘We look ridiculous. There are only kids here!’
Sen looked around, pretending that this was news to him.
‘Sen, what are you not telling me?’
He looked down at Shona and hid a smile.
She wore short, pink tights, a sporty tank top, running shoes and a visor to shield her eyes from the sun – clearly dressed for a marathon.
He also looked like he was going to take on a race in blue running shorts, a T-shirt, grey trainers and trendy sunglasses.
The other participants were in their school sports kit.
