Short Story

A terrible dream

by Padmasiri de Silva

Siripala had more than his usual share of drinks that night. Usually on their pay day, Siripala, Subramaniam his best friend, and their fellow workers at the construction site made it a habit to drink and enjoy themselves.

Siripala was celebrating not only the pay day but also his birthday. The next day being the election day Siripala hoped to go to his home town to cast his vote. Siripala has not gone home in three months and was longing to go to his village specially to see his wife who is now three months pregnant.

Siripala and his co-workers were employed by a contractor in the Northern Province to build a multi-storeyed building complex for a tourist hotel. After the terrorism ended four years back, a steady stream of tourists was flocking to the north and this needed more hotel rooms.

The site was in front of the sea, and the cool breeze wafting from the Indian ocean cooled the effect of the scorching heat which prevailed mostly during the day. From his open window in the second floor Siripala could see the ships and fishing boats far away in the sea.

Siripala only had a vague recollection of coming back after their drinking session and remembered Subramaniam holding him. He remembered that he sang his favourite Jothipala songs and his Tamil friends sang Tamil songs. They all had a good time and everyone wished Siripala a happy birthday.

Happy group

Siripala, a skilled mason, had worked at this site for nearly nine months and the contractor expected to finish the work in three or four months. Altogether 25 workers worked at the site out of which 10 stayed in the premises while others commuted to work on a daily basis. They were a happy group getting on well with their work and enjoying the evening, playing beach volleyball and at times sharing a drink.

Usually after drinking hard liquor Siripala slept soundly and never woke up in the night. However, on this day Siripala woke up and looked at his wristwatch. It was nearly 2 a.m. It was a dark night, but Siripala looking at the sea from his open window could see some activity on the beach.

Suddenly, a strange sight made his sleepy stupor to vanish and he peered at the happening on the beach. He saw large frogs jumping on to the beach. Siripala was born in a coastal town in the east, but never saw such a spectacle. He now looked keenly and realised that they are not frogs but humans bent double. They were coming from the sea and hiding in the bushes.

Siripala thought that they are smugglers, as this area is known to be a well-known smuggling area before the LTTE terrorism. However, the type of clothing they wore; dark trousers and pullovers were never worn by smugglers. The type of men too were not locals. There were big-built negroes and some looked like Somalian pirates.

Siripala had seen them on television. One big-made man stood up and from a bag in his shoulder took a gun and was fiddling with it. There were about 200 to 300 men who had now gathered on the beach, lying down.

Mercenaries

The people are not smugglers, thought Siripala. They are definitely mercenaries. He had seen such things in films and knew that their motives are sinister. Perhaps they were coming to attack the army camp which was about two kilometres away.

He looked for his friend Subramaniam who usually sleeps on a mat in the same room. He was missing. The others had left after the party to go to their villages to cast their vote. Some had motor cycles. Some went by bus.

Siripala knew that many army personnel were posted to other areas for election work and only a skeleton staff was left to man the camp as it was peace time. Siripala wanted to alert the authorities and looked for his mobile phone. It was missing.

Could he run to the army camp? That too would be dangerous as there may be accomplices who could stop him. Siripala thought hard. How could he stop these people attacking the army camp? He did not have any weapons. Siripala was from a border village which was frequently attacked by LTTE terrorists.

His father was hacked to death by the LTTE when they attacked his village. His mother and his sister were away attending to a function in a village close by and were saved. His only brother a plumber was working in Colombo.

Siripala was working at a construction site in Anuradhapura. The entire village suffered and were hiding in the jungles at night to escape the LTTE onslaughts. Siripala was trained by the Army and was a member of the village civil defence force. He was trained to handle arms and also was given training to act in situations when the village was attacked.

Now this is a situation where Siripala had to act quickly. There were two options. One is to do nothing. He could hide and later in the day could make his escape. The other is to alert the camp and then, they could get help from other camps and the Air Force. Suddenly, a plan came to his mind. There was a beehive on the path to the beach. This is the route these people will have to take to go towards the Army camp. Siripala used to tell his friends not to shout loudly when they passed the beehive, lest the bees get disturbed. He remembered how he was attacked by bees in the jungle when as a young boy he had gone with his friends to pluck fruits.

Beehive

This is the answer he thoughts and without thinking twice he ran down the stairs and towards the beehive. He aimed a stone at the beehive and saw some bees coming out.

He aimed a second stone and ran towards the unfinished building and watched what was happenings. The angry bees were coming out in large numbers and as the men in a single file were advancing towards the village, started to attack them.

Siripala tied a rope at knee length covering the open entrance to the building and with an iron rod waited for the men to run for shelter. Siripala knew that there were no other houses or buildings in the vicinity and the men will definitely try to enter the building.

As the attack by the bees intensified the men started to run towards the building. Siripala saw a big negro man running much faster than the others outpacing them coming towards the building.

He tried to enter the building and fell heavily in front of Siripala. Within seconds Siripala smashed the skull of the man and took his gun. The gun was a T56, a weapon Siripala had handled before when he was trained by the Army.

He aimed the gun and fired killing a few of those approaching the building and saw the others running back bewildered as there was no cover.

Siripala saw the bag which the fallen man carried and looking at he saw a few grenades. He took two grenades and removing the pin threw them towards the retreating marauders. There was no answering fire as they were contemplating on their next move. Now Siripala saw some lights coming up in distant buildings and knew that Army will be alerted.

Crossfire

His next move was to get out of the building and escape. He knew that there will be crossfire and he did not want to be in its midst. Siripala hurriedly put on his trousers and shoes and ran towards the rear entrance. The entire building complex was in a land about 20 acres in extent and Siripala could get to the village by passing the rear entrance.

He did not want to take the gun as he may be mistaken for a terrorist by the Army. Satisfied that he had done a good job Siripala found the rear entrance and turned towards the village.

As he did so he nearly bumped into a man standing there and looked hard at him. His friend Subramaniam was standing there with a pistol in his hand.

"Where are you going my dear friend", asked Subramaniam looking hard at Siripala. "I heard the commotion", Are you the one who is responsible?" asked Subramaniam "Yes" Siripala replied. "There are people coming to attack the camp.

We must alert them" "No way my friend" Subramaniam said. "You are not going anywhere" "You have created unnecessary trouble. I am in a group who planned this, You are not going to stop us." Siripala knew that Subramaniam was a former LTTE cadre who was rehabilitated and trained as a builder.

Now he has become a traitor and trying to create another upheaval on the election eve. Siripala being a brave man did not wish to die without a fight. "I have killed many of your mercenaries and I will finish you as well". Shouted Siripala and sprang on Subramaniam.

Subramaniam stepped back and fired twice. Siripala felt cold and was wandering whether he is in hell or heaven.

He faintly heard his name being called. Opening his eyes he saw Subramaniam sprinkling water on him. "My god, Siripala, you were crying so loud and throwing up your hands and kicking. "I thought you are having some sort of attack. Subramaniam told Siripala who realised that he had a terrible dream.