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| Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
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Short story - Sanctuary
by Prasadini Nugawala Sepali came out of the prison gates with her bundle of clothes under her arm. There was no one to meet her at the big gates. She looked up and down the great roadway, not knowing which way to go.
She had been only about twenty years when she had been brought to a large bungalow in Colombo as a housemaid. As her mother had died, her father had remarried. Her stepmother had thought Sepali a burden, as she grew up to be a young girl. With the consent of her father, her stepmother had handed her over to a person in the village who provided housemaids to houses in the big city. The house she was assigned to, was very large, and there were two children in the family. The boy had been about twenty years and the girl about eighteen. There was another older woman too, who came daily to cook the meals. Sepali had to sweep and clean the house and garden, and wash the clothes. No problems The occupants of the house would go out in the morning and come back in the evening. Sepali went about the work she had been assigned to, for about one week without any problems. It was a Monday, and it was the second week of her coming to Colombo. The gent of the house had not gone out that day. The lady of the house had told Sepali that he was sick, and to lay his meals on the table at the specific times. The lady had told her that the daily woman too would come to cook the meals. After the others had left, Sepali had gone about her work. She started to dust the chairs. Then she started to sweep. She was so intent in her work that she did not feel somebody come from behind, till a hand touched her shoulder. She turned around and saw the gent of the house standing in front of her. He was large and hairy and had a balding head with the remaining hair dyed pitch black. He reminded her of an ape she had seen on TV. He started to come towards her telling her something incoherently. She started backing towards the wall, but he did not stop his advance. Her womanly instinct told her to get away from him as soon as possible. Dodged She dodged under his arm and ran to the kitchen. The first item, which caught her eye, was the kitchen knife. She took it and as she turned she saw the 'ape-man' just a few feet away from her. She tried to scream but no words flowed from her mouth as she tried to dodge away from his clutches. But only a few seconds passed, and he was able to grasp her. She tried in vain to untie herself from his clutches, which was impossible. There was only one thing to be done though afterwards she could not think that she had done what she did. With all the force she could muster, she pushed the knife into the man's body, while closing her eyes tightly. She heard him groaning. Then his body became limp and fell away from her. She did not want to open her eyes, but she had to. She saw the man in a pool of blood and he was still groaning. She did not know what had happened to the knife - whether it dropped on to the ground or whether it still clung on to his body. Ran She did not wait in the house even for a second. She ran out of kitchen door, then opened the front gate and ran down the road. She did not encounter anybody, down the narrow lane. But as soon as she reached the main road, she could see vehicles and people moving about. She saw a bus-shelter and went towards it and sat down on a small stool under the bus-shelter. She was perspiring and there were beads of sweat trickling down her face, and she could taste the saltiness of the sweat when it reached her mouth. The palms of her hands too felt wet and soggy. She could see drops of blood plastered on her hands. She tried to wipe them on her dress. Though her dress had drops of blood on it, they were not so visible as her dress too was of dark brown colour. She knew that somebody would find her soon. She was correct as by the next day evening, she was taken to prison. She told the truth to the Courts. She told that she had to kill for self-defence. They believed but nevertheless she had to serve a term in prison. Kill She was now free but she knew that she could not go back to her father and stepmother. They may even think that she had been foolish to kill the 'ape-man' rather than pacify him. She slowly went down the wide road. She reached a row of boutiques as she walked towards Borella. People were hurrying up and down Baseline road. Vehicles were choc-a-block on this large street. There were men standing near the boutiques, smoking and staring at nothing. A trishaw came and stopped beside her. The driver who was about fifty years leered at her and asked whether she was getting in. She quickly went forward to avoid him. A woman by the roadside came near her and whispered something to her. She pushed her and went away. She could hear the woman scolding her in filth. She wished she were back inside the prison, as it was more of a home to her than this huge roadway and the immense freedom outside. At least when inside the prison she was sure of her meals she thought to herself, and also then she had a roof over her head. But most of all she would not be harassed by unsavoury persons. She encountered many episodes of this nature and by evening she felt so worn-out that she knew that she had only one thing to do. She traced her way back to the big iron gates of the prison. She spoke to the guard near the gates and told him to allow her to go inside. He refused saying that he would fall into a problem. He called the other guard and told him that "this woman wants to join the prisoners again, what shall we do." The other answered him, saying "must be some loony nut, drive her away." Sepali placed her bundle of clothes on the ground and sat down near the gate stubbornly, and thought that she would not move away from that place till morning. Sepali thought that she would not be daunted by what the guards said. She knew that she would be safe near the gates of the prison rather than in the open streets, which were supposed to be free. But then the younger of the prison guards who had spoken to her first, came to her and requested her to move away from that place, saying that they too would fall into trouble if she did not go away. Sepali knew she had no choice but to move away from the prison gates. She crossed over to the other side of the road where there was a thicket of bushes. She slowly pushed her way into the thicket and lay down to sleep. She was so weary that she immediately went to sleep. Sepali woke up the next morning to the sound of vehicles and came out of the thicket. She decided what she should do. She slowly walked to a boutique and had a breakfast of bread, dhal and plain tea with her remaining money. As she wandered out of the boutique, the same trishaw that had stopped for her yesterday, came again and stopped near her. She smiled at the driver. The driver looked at her from her head to toes with a sneering smile, and said "Sister, I knew you will not refuse to come with me today. I will take you to a house where lots of young girls like you have a gala time. You will be very happy there." Sepali nodded her head and got in. The trishaw turned away from Baseline Road and was going through a smaller road. Sepali knew this was the opportunity to do what she had planned. She took out the large stone wrapped around one of her dresses. From behind she aimed well and struck it hard on the trishaw driver's head. He lost control of the trishaw and it went and struck another oncoming vehicle. The vehicle driver got down and came near the trishaw. The trishaw driver was holding his head with a blood-drenched hand. He could hardly speak. But he stammered, "this mad woman struck me with a huge stone, please take her to the Police and please take me to the hospital." Sepali was again inside a Police Station. She did not utter anything. She confessed that she had struck the trishaw driver for no apparent reason. She could hear them telling that she would be put into prison, and that she would be given psychological treatment. She smiled smugly to herself and looked forward to going back to her haven! |
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She was not sure of the way to her village. She had some money from the
sewing she had earned while in prison. Sepali was only about twenty-five
years of age. She had been taken into prison about five years ago. She
recollected the incident, but did not feel sorry for what she had done.
