Rosemary, my first love
by Saffiya
 Some of my friends did not
believe me, some did, my cousins say this is typical of me, my
girlfriend at times feels that she could have had a better suitor and at
times feels a little insulted because she was the second person I gave
my heart to. But I was only nineteen and desperately wanted to have a
girlfriend. I called it love at that time but now I wonder. I still feel
embarrassed when I think of it. Anyway, you may or may not believe me
but it is true....
As I am from Galle I was staying at my aunt’s house in Colombo for
the convenience of attending college and thereafter university. At that
time a lady by the name of Mrs. Bernard moved to a house on the next
lane with her beautiful daughters and a very vicious dog and an equally
vicious maid.
We were made to understand that this lady’s husband was a planter and
owns an estate. The lady and the daughters live in Colombo only on
weekdays for the convenience of schooling and leave to the estate on
Friday nights and return late on Sundays or Mondays. They keep to
themselves most of the while and are never around during the day as Mrs.
Bernard works as well.
None of the neighbours seems to move with them much but I was very
curious of them. I wanted to desperately get friendly with them for the
sole purpose of getting to know Mrs. Bernard’s older daughter. She was
very beautiful and seemed to be my age, the other daughter seemed very
young.
I tried my very best to be nice to them and smile at them whenever I
pass their home or see them on the road but they did not seem to like me
the same way. This includes the maid and the dog as well they would both
snarl at me whenever they see me maybe knowing my intensions.
The dog tried chasing me whenever I loitered around their house to
glimpse at the love of my life. I noticed that Mrs. Bernard’s daughters
were highly amused by this and would smile and giggle the way girls do.
I tried so many ways to get friendly but never succeeded maybe
because they were well guarded by the dog and the maid who did not like
my company. One day I got lucky as I saw Mrs. Bernard speaking to her
elder daughter who was in the garden at that time and heard the name
‘Rosemary’ being mentioned several times and they should call the vet. I
obviously presumed that the elder daughter’s name was Rosemary and that
they had to take the dog to the vet because it was sick. I was thrilled
and it was the best day of my life because now I knew her name!
I acted fast, I wrote a letter to Rosemary first saying how I liked
her and attracted to her and the way she makes me feel. I also told her
how I like roses and because her name begins with ‘rose’, I am more
attracted to her. Remember I was only nineteen, foolishly and madly in
love.
I started by giving these letters to a gardener who tends to the
neighbourhood gardens and gets paid for the day’s work. I paid him
double! He got food, old clothes and anything he wanted. I got around
him and tried to get information about the people living in the house,
mainly the elder daughter but to no avail.
He was an ignorant and unconcerned person who was only bothered about
money, stomach, and the bottle of liquor I see him carry, the
seriousness of my intensions or probing never concerned him. I managed
to send around three letters through him; two with roses attached on the
envelopes, but did not get a single reply. Later I told the gardener to
secretly tell Rosemary to reply my letters and he came back and told me
that ‘the dog was recovering - ballata dhan tikak saneepalu’.
I was stunned but wondered what was really meant by this comment. I
felt she tought that I knew about their dog’s illness and I should know
its condition. I wrote two more letters expressing my feelings to her. I
did not get a reply of any sort from Rosemary.
 The final blow was when I met the old maid at the grocery store about
a week later. She came up to me and related her tale of woe with tears.
She told me how I too was concerned about Rosemary and how I have been
sending ‘loku baby - the elder daughter latters inquiring about Rosemary
and the way she had been ill for the past few months. Then! and only
then! did I realise that Rosemary was the dog and not Mrs. Bernard’d
eldest daughter! At that point my love for her vanished into thin air
and I never felt more embarrassed in my life! I was ashamed for myself
for being so ignorant and vouched that I would never to look at Mrs.
Bernard’s daughters for the rest of my life.
I also decided that I would not go pass their house because I knew
that she had not taken me seriously. But the most difficult part I had
to face was the trouble I had to take to avoid Mrs. Bernard’s house.
I had to take a longer route than necessary every time I go out,
including school as the bus stop was a little away from their house. The
nicest part was that the old maid seemed to miss the dog and was more
courteous towards me, maybe she felt that I was a substitute. One day
she even told me that the loku baby had gone abroad for higher studies
and volunteered details of the podi baby - the younger daughter, which I
really didn’t want to know!
Now ten years later, and a long time after I left aunty’s and
returned home, I still remember the trouble I took to pursue this girl.
I know that she knew that I had mixed up the names. I wonder if she was
insulted about it because she was genuinely not interested in me and
only amused by the whole episode. But who in god’s name would think of
naming a dog Rosemary!!
(All names are fictitious)
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