The Black Australian -Chapter 12

An old foe is the new friend!

After Rajini's separation, Siri began working late and one evening he bumped into Frank at the staff lounge room. Frank who was in charge of an urgent and important project had been working late to complete his task.

"Hi, why are you still here so late? Newly married people should go home early and have meals with their partners!" Frank said innocently. Frank saw a dark shadow of grief when he looked at his colleague who was hesitant to respond to a casual question.

"Is everything okay? What's wrong Siri? I noticed that you were very quiet during the last few days! Why? How is Raji?" Is she okay?"

"I dunno!" Siri said without showing his face. It's over, Frank! There is no Raji anymore. She has left me! I have to go. I'll speak to you later," said Siri as he attempted to hide his tears.

Siri felt the usual ten minutes drive home as a journey of a lifetime. There was an indication of a late rain. Siri stopped the car near the old Swan Brewery and gazed at the sky and found fading stars dancing despairingly over the Swan River.

He recalled stopping by the same place when he drove Rajini to Fremantle after their first encounter in Perth almost thirteen months ago. The drivers and passengers in cars who passed him in hurriedly drove as he did not exist. The world, like the cars on the Mount's Bay Road was moving forward and leaving him behind.

- What am I doing here? Where is Rajini?

He tried to recall the lyrics of a Sinhala song but he could not remember the words in its original form. The last line of the song suggested, "the love is like a drop of a tear settled on a lonesome heart."

- Did I ever love Rajini?

The following day, When Frank approached Siri's windowless office and said: "Siri, do you have a minute?"

What first came into his mind was their first encounter and the unproductive arguments and debate with Frank on his second day at work. That was now water under the bridge as Siri and Frank have mended their differences.

Frank was an old foe but now a new friend.

"Hi, I'm sorry to hear your news last evening. We were very pleased about you and Rajini. Have you contacted her to sort things out?"

"No Mate, it's over! I have nowhere to contact her! I think she has moved back to Melbourne and staying with her parents. I never had any dealing with them. So what can I do?"

"Ann wanted me to tell you that she would be happy to speak with Raji, if you want. We thought that she was living somewhere in Perth."

"No she has no connections with Perth any more. Her communications with me are through her lawyer!" Siri said sadly.

"Oh, then things are so bad?"

"Yes, she is trying to grab the house and my car for only having lived with me for a few months!"

"Didn't you buy that property on your own long before you got married?"

"That's what I thought but her lawyer's letter of demand tells me another story!" said Siri with an angry tone this time.

'Don't worry Mate; we have a few connections with a good bunch of lawyers in Perth. Ann's first cousin is a good divorce lawyer. I am happy to speak to him and put you in touch."

"Oh that's good. I never had contacts with lawyers in Perth. Never thought that I had to split my house with someone I got married to, in a far off land!"

"This is not a far off land Siri! This is your home unless you go back to Sri Lanka. Perth is where our homes are," Frank said with confidence.

"I'll finish this time-consuming project by tomorrow. Come for a meal and have a chat. I told Ann that we need to take care of you until you get back on your feet again!"

Frank and Ann lived in a quite old street in Bayswater. As Siri drove and parked the car on the verge near their gate and entered the front yard, Siri felt as if he was entering a familiar place. Well grown red and white frangipani trees were surrounded by various types of roses in the large front yard. The house looked new from outside but it was a renovated property built in the 1950s. Before Siri rang the door bell, Frank opened the door and greeted him. Siri realised that Frank saw him through open windows.

"How are you young fellow", Frank greeted Siri and shook hands.

"What did you gaze at in our front yard?" Frank asked curiously. An aroma of cooked meat filled the house.

"Ann is making a roast lamb and she will be here in a minute. I hope it is okay. As you know, we are not curry eating people," smiled Frank.

"Sit where ever you feel comfortable," said Frank directing Siri to the lounge room. Two of the walls were filled with bookshelves with various kinds of books. As Siri approached a bookshelf, he saw a large collection of books by several western authors and a few Australian writers. One bookshelf contained books on Asia that Siri was previously unheard of. Apart from travel guides and books on various countries, one shelf was filled with books from Malaysia and Singapore. Another shelf contained a collection of English poetry and there were large volumes by Byron, Tennyson, and Shakespeare.

Siri remembered his Sinhala poetry books and novels stacked on the shelves at home. He had bought them from various book stores where he had worked.

When he worked in Kurunegala, every evening he sat in his room and had read each and every poetry book that was published. On some occasions, Siri recited his favourite lines to himself as a means of consoling and to chase away loneliness and to push away the old memories of his love affair with Anula.

"So what do you think of my collection?" asked Frank without knowing Siri's reveries of his own Sri Lankan book collection that he had left behind.

"So you are an avid reader?" said Siri gazing at Frank's large collection of books covering many subjects from travel guides to English poetry.

"Yes, both, Ann and I are book lovers. As you know she is a professional librarian. We buy and collect books. You can see our efforts in this collection. These in a way are substitutes for our decision for not having children," confessed Frank.

"If I may, why did you decide not to have kids?"

"Well we want to enjoy our lives and I have seen my parent's sufferings by raising us in Johor. Ann has also got a large family. So we thought of adding books, travelling and living instead," explained Frank.

"So home libraries are the reflection of people," Siri interrupted as he was not interested in poking into Frank's personal life any further. He changed track, "If I didn't come here today, I wouldn't have known your interests in books at all."

"Books have taught me many things, Siri. Good books are like windows to the world." Frank said as a sermon and continued, "do you like poetry. Frank recited:

"I hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all."

"Do you know this stanza by Alfred Lord Tennyson?"

"I have heard the last two lines but don't know much about English poetry."

"I did two English units at UWA and it was all about Aussie poets, Les Murray and all that," Siri responded defiantly.

Frank pulled out a volume of Tennyson's collection in which "In Memoriam" appearing.

I also like Lord Byron's work and he pulled another volume. This time he read a verse from Byron:

"O TALK not to me of a name great in story;

The days of our youth are the days of our glory;

And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty

Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty."

"You must study Byron not only because of his poetic achievements but also for his interest and work on the east! You must try and find time and study his four Oriental tales," Frank advised and continued:

"Before Byron completed these Oriental Tales he wrote to his friend John Murray I think somewhere in 1812, and said; 'some ideas which one day may be embodied.' Byron later developed his ideas into four Oriental tales: The Giaour, Bride of Abydos, The Corsair, and The Siege of Corinth. So with all your creative impulses you may write your tales from down under! Now you have experience after having one marriage in down under! Why not? Anyway why not you take this volume just to read and perhaps develop an inspiration to write ..." but Frank couldn't continue his oration on English poetry.

"Hi, Siri, have seat. If you go on discussing poetry with my Frank, you will never have dinner," said Ann who came out from the kitchen. You didn't come today to discuss Frank's book collection. What would you like to drink?" Ann enquired politely.

They left behind poetry books chatted over a few bottles of good Australian wine about what Siri should be doing to protect his wealth from Rajini during their impending divorce case.

When Siri left Frank and Ann late that evening he felt as if he was carrying a database of information about good books, names and telephone numbers of divorce lawyers, and above all with a great understanding and respect for Frank who was a very different person when he met after their first meeting.

How can we form opinions about people? I first thought Frank was a racist but I was wrong! Did I judge Rajini because of her interests in the Tamil cause for whatever the reason?

Siri's thought process continued until he entered the Mount's Bay Road.

The sky above was clear and he felt as gleaming stars were smiling at him.

Siri began humming a song and thought how good it would be, if he had more miles to drive along the Swan River before he goes to sleep.

Arriving home after the midnight, Siri wanted to read The Bride of Adydos.

He opened the section on Canto the First and recited the first few lines calmly.

"Know ye the land where cypress and myrtle are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime, Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime? Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine..."

A seductive sleep grabbed him silently as he read the first stanza.

Perth's warm summer breeze entered the room through open windows and settled down in his sleeping lungs.

(Disclaimer: All the people's names and places appearing in this chapter are fictional and they do not represent anyone living or dead.)

(For reader's response and feedback: [email protected])

Footnotes:

The references to English poetry cited in this chapter are based on the following:

1. "I hold it true, whate'er befall ..." (From Alfred Lord Tennyson's "In Memoriam,"

2. "O TALK not to me of a name great in story ..." (From Lord Byron's All for Love)

3. " Know ye the land where cypress and myrtle ..." (From Lord Byron's The Bride of Adydos.