Short story
The henpecked husband
by A.F. Dawood
Jane Nona was a dominant figure in the house, henpacking her husband
day in and day out. Married for 20 years, the couple had no children.
Like a monarch surveying all the things within his power, corpulently
built Jane Nona involved herself in everything giving little chance to
her husband, a fish mudalali, to dispute or disagree with her acts of
omission or commission.
Seated in a sofa in the verandah of the house with the betel tray on
her lap and the spitoon by the side of the sofa, she was in a belicose
mood berating her husband incessantly for her sewing machine which had
broken after having been repaired recently by a mechanic. The bone of
contention was that her husband had not summoned a particular mechanic
whom she had wanted.
A rickety Morris Minor car entered through the gate. It was her
husband. He was a bulky, moustached, bespectacled man clad in sarong and
coat. The verbal diarrhoea started.
“That man is no good. I told you not to bring him. Did you listen to
me? If you are a man, you must listen to what I say. Now what has
happened? Do you know what has happened?” “Hamine, what are telling”, I
don't understand anything.” Jineris said not knowing head or tail of
what his wife was speaking.
“My sewing machine is not working again. Simon can't repair that.
Only three weeks and again it broke. I told you to get a good mechanic.
Did you listen?” Jane Nona berated him once again.
“Don't worry hamine, I'll call him to repair it again.”
“Ah! You're going to call Simon again? Fine thing.
Look here, you're not to bring him here again, I'll chase him away.
Why don't you call Carolis? Last time also I told you to call Carolis.”
“Carolis is not here, he has gone to his village”.
“So, go to his village; should I tell you that? Aney, aney, what a
brain?”
“All right hamine, don't shout for this; I'll go to his village next
week.” Jineris pacified her.
“Next week? No, no, you must go tomorrow itself. Otherwise don't say
I'm a bad woman.”
“I told next week because the car is not in a good condition. I
thought of taking the car to the mechanic. It will take two to three
days to do a good service.” Jane Nona spat red saliva into the spitoon
and looked up with her mouth full of betel at Jineris.
“All right, you give the car to the mechanic and go to meet Carolis
by bus.”
“Hamine, where's my tea? Very tired.”
“Your tea is in the flask. Today Kusumawathi didn't come to work and
the unwashed crockery are in the kitchen sink. Drink your tea and wash
them.”
Jineris mudalali kept his accounts books on a table in the sitting
room. He removed his coat, put it on the peg and began to sip tea.
Having finished the washing in the kitchen, he went to the bathroom to
have a shower.
“Here Jine, can you hear me? My skirt and nightie are in the
bathroom. You wash them and put them on the line behind the kitchen.”
While he was in the bathroom, Jane Nona took the accounts books and
went through them. She was not happy, when she discovered that Jineris
had given fish on credit to some people, and their loans had been
outstanding for the past six months. She came across names such as
Lucina, Alice, Muriel and Wimal.
Clad in a pyjama sarong and sleeveless banian, Jineris mudalali sat
on a sofa and lit a cigar. Then he began to go through his accounts
books. The night was silent except the pendulum of the wall clock that
went on ‘tick-tock, tick-tock'. Then she noticed that the gold chain
which Jineris had on his neck was missing. She became surprised.
She observed him minutely; she wanted to talk but he was buried
deeply in the accounts quite unconcerned of her presence.
“What happened to your gold chain?”
Fully immersed in the accounts, Jineris was oblivious to the
question.
“Here, did you hear me? “She raised her voice. “What happened to your
chain?” He stopped his work and peered at his wife over the spectacles.
“What did you say?”
“I asked you where's your gold chain?” Jineris came to his sense. He
looked here and there and felt his neck. “Go and check in the bathroom,
it should be there.” She went to the bathroom to retrieve it but finding
it not there, she became furious.
“To whom did you give your chain?”
“I didn't give it to anyone; now only I remember, the chain should be
in the table drawer in the market.” “Now I understand what's happening.”
She mumbled.
“Hamine, what're you telling? Don't start a quarrel now. It's eight
now, shall we have dinner?”
“I told you Kusumawathi didn't come today, so I didn't cook. Go and
buy two parcels.” “It's past eight, I don't think nearby shops will have
rice and curry now.” “If not go to the junction, then you'll get good
food packets.”
They ate their dinner silently. For the next few minutes they were
silent; only the wall clock made the tick-tock sound. Jane Nona was
eager to know about the names she came across in the accounts books. So
she broke the ice with her question.
“Who is Luvina?” Jineris continued to eat without answering.
“Do you hear me? Who is Luvina?”
“Who is that? I don't know”. “Ah! Fine thing, you don't know
anything. Don't pretend.” Jane Nona rattled on in one breath.
“So are you telling me to meet Carolis tomorrow?” He asked as if he
wanted to change the topic.
“I don't want to repeat what I have told you already. Now tell me who
is Luvina, I saw this name in the accounts book?”
“Ah! Lucina. She is my customer. She buys fish from me.”
“She buys fish from you? But I saw you have given fish without
money.”
“No hamine, Lucina buys fish from me on credit.” Jineris explained.
“Credit? Nonesense, she has not settled the loan for the last six
months. Aney: Rs.60,000 on loan. Now I know where your gold chain has
gone.”
“Hamine, you can't do business without giving on credit.”
“For how many people you give fish on credit-Lucina, Alice, Muriel,
Wimal. And they have not settled the money, the total amounts to Rs.
1,25,000. My father was also a fish mudalali but he never did a foolish
thing like giving fish on credit.” “Hamine, don't worry, I can get the
money; I know how to get the money.”
“Yes, yes, I know they'll pluck from the tree and give you the money,
when you ask. Look here, I'm warning you; you have to stop this credit
business.
This is why you don't have money to buy a decent car. I really don't
know to how many others you have given fish on credit.”
Just then there was a tap on the front door. “Who is that?” Jane Nona
raised her voice and directed her glance at Jineris. “Why can't you
close the gate after coming inside? Now see, because of your
carelessness someone has come to the verandah.” She went to the
verandah.
“Why did you come at this time?” “Urgent hamine, I want to meet the
mudalali.”
“Why? What's the matter?” She was becoming impatient.
“Tell mudalali, Muriel's husband has come.”
“All right, tell me what you want? Why did you come at this time?”
“Hamine, I came to get some money; for an emergency I'm Wimal,
mudalali knows me.”
“You think mudalali is a bank to give you money at any time you
want?”
Hearing the uproarious voice of Jane Nona, Jineris came.
“Why at this time, Wimal? What's the urgency?”
“Muriel is not well; she was waiting for you today. She asked me to
get Rs. 2,000 from you”.Jane was listening to the conversation. She was
furious and bawled out. “Muriel has to give you Rs. 60,000.
And again she is asking for money without settling the loan. You're
not to give any money to this man. If you give, you'll find your
mistake.”
Then she grabbed the two accounts books. Seeing the commotion in the
house, Wimal left without any money.
“Hamine, don't take those books, I need them to recover the loan.”
“Don't worry, I'll take care of the loan. Tomorrow, you put the car
in the garage and then go to meet Carolis. I want to see Carolis
tomorrow. You hear that? Until then don't go to the fish market.”
On the following day he left home to fulfil Jane Nona's errand. On
the way he dropped in at the fish market. Seeing him, Wimal came
running. “Mudalali, your hamine was like an atom bomb.”
“That's how she is.” Jineris replied.
“Mudalali, you're a coward in front of her.” Muriel, Alice and Lucina
who had arrived there guffawed on hearing Wimal's remark.
“Mudalali you're henpecked” Muriel said and smiled coquettishly at
Jineris.
“Alice, where's my gold chain?”
“Mudalali, I mortgaged it.”
“Hamine is asking for my gold chain?”
“Mudalali, say you lost it.” Then the three women broke into peals of
laughter.
Just then Jane Nona made her appearance.
Jineris was frozen with fear. She was carrying the two account books.
“It's 10 in the morning and what are you doing here?”
“Hamine, I'm about to go”. Jineris fled to the car parked on the
other side of the street. And Jane Nona stared at the three women
resting the books on her bulky hip. |