Sunburnt Home - an Australian-Sri Lankan novel:

Our daughter is on the move!

Chapter 22

By Sunil Govinnage

Jayadeva took the pearl necklace from its hide-out and contemplated about going to a pawn shop on the following day. The conversations he had with Malini and Sunitha an hour ago was still reverberating in his mind like a cyclone to an afflicted town .

That evening, Jayadeva came home from work with a headache realising his inability to meet deadlines due to overload of work. He knew that with ageing, the energy he had carried in his fragile body was fading fast.

As soon as he arrived home Malini said: "Sunitha got selected for a scholarship!"

Jayadeva who was not aware of any background to Sunitha's "scholarship news" said innocently,

"Oh what a great thing, so we can now save some money from her school fees!"

"No this is not a scholarship for school fees! It's a scholarship to study the next semester in Ontario... Canada!"

"Canada, Ontario? What for?"

"Oh she wanted to go there and I helped her to write a statement of purpose."

"I don't know anything about any of these things! What's the statement of purpose?"

"That's a statement for the selection committee who looked at her application. They have selected Sunitha as one of the two girls from year 11 classes. Even Annabelle was out though her mother comes from Canada!"

"What is this scholarship, and how can we let Sunitha go for a week or two to another country?"

"This is not a week's trip! I told you that it's a whole semester!"

"What? A full semester? Then who will look after her? Canada is a long way from Perth! Who is going to drop her at school?"

"She will be a boarder there!"

"Who is going to pay for all the expenses?

"That's the question!" Malini laughed.

"I've used all the savings I had to buy my new car! As I'm only working two sessions at Maylands for my doctor work, I can't give her money now. My income is just enough to buy food and pay electricity bill."

"I don't know! I have enough headaches at work, and I'm broke", Jayadeva said loudly.

Sunitha who was listening to the farther-mother conversation came into their room with a long face and said:

"I don't want any of your money! I'll tell the principal that I'm not going to take up the scholarship. Mum, I told you not to tell him. He even didn't want me to go to MLC as it was an expensive private school! And you don't have money to give me, because you bought a new Benz car! Please don't bring it to my school to pick me up!"

She banged the door and left the room and both of them heard her sobbing.

Malini gave a blank look at Jayadeva.

"There is a house on the market that I'm planning to sell. I could get my commission over five thousand dollars, but money will come after the settlement. It will take at least two months!"

"If you didn't start your silly little Real Estate job, you would be getting a regular income!"

"This is my life and I don't want to put my fingers into people's backs and fronts everyday! That's the female GPs' work in Australia!" Selling houses is easy and money comes in big chunks!" Malini laughed weirdly.

Jayadeva controlled his anger and said: "How much money she needs?"

"We need at least three thousand dollars! Nearly two thousand for the ticket and another thousand to buy clothing, new school uniforms and books. I can send her pocket money, two to three hundred dollars. She is not leaving next week as she will be there in October! This is still June and she will leave on the twenty seventh of August."

"Why I was never told anything about this 'scholarship'," Jayadeva shouted loudly and Asela came and gazed at them with a sad face.

"It was Sunitha's decision and she said Dad wouldn't let me go, and don't tell him anything!"

"So I'm not told anything about my daughter; when she became a big girl, no one told me about it. Now, she is going to another country and I have been kept in the darkness. Why?"

* * * *

Jayadeva switched on the light in the lounge room, but he felt as a plague of darkness growing inside as if an incurable disease has invaded the house.

Malini disappeared into the kitchen and he could hear the sound of sad sobbing coming through the closed door of Sunitha's room.

He felt as if her sobs are like a sharp knife going through his heart. After a while he decided to speak with Sunitha and tapped on her door.

"Duwa, may I come in?"

He heard the sound of sobbing reaching a climax and subsidising quickly. He felt the few minutes he waited outside Sunitha's door as a couple of hours waiting to see a busy doctor in a clinic. He had a recent experience of waiting to see a consultant physician when he developed high blood pressure, last month.

After a few minutes he heard a "click" noise from inside when Sunitha unlocked her door.

"Why? What do you want?" Why are you here to trouble me?" Sunitha nearly shouted at him.

He calmed his anger and sadness and took a deep breath as a Buddhist monk meditating with determination.

"Duwa, please don't tell the principal that you have decided not to go to Canada! I'll give you money to buy a ticket and thousand dollars for clothes and other things you need. We can save money to give you by August. We have three months to sort things out!"

Sunitha didn't say a word or look at Jayadeva's face.

He slowly stepped out from the room without any noise and watched his steps as if he is leaving a scred shrine room to which he had permission to stay only a few minutes.

Jayadeva went and opened his drawer where he kept the gift his mother had given Sunitha to be given at her puberty ceremony. He gazed at the pearl necklace that Malini didn't want Sunitha to have as she didn't believe in puberty ceremonies in Australia.

Jayadeva felt the world around him blurring and he realised that tears have flowed into his ageing eyes.

He touched the pearl necklace and felt an electrifying effect going through his hands.

* * *

Jayadeva entered the pawn shop with some hesitation. He looked around to find whether there was anyone around the shop who knew him. When he got his call from the shop keeper, he opened his brief case and kept the pearl necklace on the counter as he is placing a rare item on an exhibition table.

The man looked at the necklace and touched it instantly and lifted it towards his mouth and bit a few pearls quickly, and Jayadeva gazed at him with an angry face.

"You need not bite the pearls and here is the valuation certificate! Jayadeva said sadly and continued,

"The conservative value is seven thousand dollars, and that's the amount that I have insured this for."

The man looked at the piece of paper and Jayadeva thought that he would try and eat that as well.

After touching and reading the valuation certificate carefully, the man asked,

"How much do you need?"

"I need at least three thousand dollars!"

'Well", said the man who hesitated for a moment. He cleared his throat and said:

"I can give you that much, but the compound interest is twenty-two percent!" He cleared his throat again.

"You have to settle the capital and interest within six months and otherwise this will be ours!" He said greedily, touching the necklace again.

Jayadeva counted fifty dollar notes twice before he placed them in his wallet.

Jayadeva left the pawn shop, feeling as if he had left a part of his body inside. He felt the world around him blurring, but was unsure whether it was due to parting with a valuable treasure or due to the sadness of Sunitha's decision to go away from home even for a few months.

He went to the car and sat inside for a few minutes and looked for a tissue to dry his eyes.

As soon as he went to office, Jayadeva rang Sunitha's school principle and said, "I want to thank you for selecting our daughter for this scholarship to Canada!"

"It's not just a fun trip Mr Gumm-mage! She had to study there, and will act as a student ambassador."

"A student ambassador!" Jayadeva realised that he is still in the darkness but didn't want to ask details as his wife and daughter had not revealed anything about Sunitha's decision to go all the way to Canada."

"Will keep you posted, and send information via Sue", the principle said in a friendly tone.

"All the best, and we are also very proud of Sue. She is also doing very well as the Captain of the English debating team!"

Jayadeva instantly realised the growing silence between him and Sunitha as if he and daughter had built a wall between them.

--What have I done to them for not telling anything about Sunitha's school activities?

When there were flowers began to bloom around the city, Jayadeva realised that August had arrived and Sunitha would leave for Canada in three days' time.

Though the flight was in the evening, Jayadeva took a whole day leave despite his busy schedule at work. Sunitha stayed at home though it was a school day, but she kept her doors closed and he heard her singing an English song that he was not familiar with.

Malini arrived at three-thirty with Asela. When Sunitha heard Asela's voice, she came out and said: "Mallie don't worry, I'll write to you every other day. Don't feel sad that I'm going!"

--So there have been a lot of conversations in the family that I'm not aware of!

Malini drove her Benz car with ease and Sunitha and Asela were whispering in the back seat.

As the airport came into the visibility Jayadeva felt as if his heart is freezing despite the warm weather outside.

"Duwa, please send us emails and we'll also telephone you. The time difference between Perth and Toronto is twelve hours!" Jayadeva said sadly.

"I know the time zones Dad!" Sunitha laughed happily looking at her classmate, Julia who greeted him.

Sunitha gave a warm hug to her brother and mother and looked at him with disinclination before giving him a hug that lasted only for a few seconds.

Jayadeva touched her shoulder like a traditional Sri Lankan and said, "Thurunwange phitai mage duwata!" and looked away to hide his tears.

-When can we hear from her, and how long we have to wait to receive a letter from her?

Footnotes

Mage duwata Thurunwange pihitai !- "My daughter, May you have the blessings of the Triple Gem!"

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Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.