Tikkipala (24 page)

The thags laughed when they found him. ‘This kind of fellow is used to shitting anywhere in the jungle and does not mind lying in his own piss,' they jeered

And Khan told Devi. ‘In spite that he has these stones about him, you should not waste your time on such trash, Madam for he is not a civilised person at all, but some kind of barbarian.'

Because Maw could see no other way of protecting the sacred substances of his body from the touch and laughter of the Coarseones, he decided to stop eating and drinking, reasoning that if he put nothing inside him, nothing could come out.

Devi began to agree with Khan that the fellow was ungrateful and impossible to look after. She had gone to all this trouble to save the boy, and now, before her very eyes he was going to die of dehydration if she could not force fluid into him, for she knew that though the human body can live a fairly long time without food, it dies very quickly without water. The doctor was right, Devi decided. She should have Maw driven off to some kind of lunatic asylum for she was too busy to waste her time on a mad boy who was trying to kill himself with starvation.

‘This is the right decision, Madam. I know it is,' said Khan greatly relieved. He had not liked the idea of being cooped up in this remote place with a steadily maturing madman. ‘You never know what he might do when his health is returned and he gets back to strength.'

Four days later it was all arranged. A place had already been found for Maw in a rather expensive and very highly recommended mental institution in the city.

‘Even people with no mental problems at all would enjoy living there, the atmosphere is so happy and the carers so devoted.' Devi's city friend told her on the village phone.

It was going to cost a lot and the expense would probably go on for many years if not for the rest of her life, but her father was rich and anyway Devi knew she had to do it, for she had taken on the responsibility for the poor mad boy and could not now escape it. And who knows, she thought, the boy might get better. The doctors there might be able to find out what was wrong with him and cure him. They might be able to get him to eat, to drink, to pee. Because of her, she thought, one day a boy with long hair and fabulous beads round his penis and his waist, might be enabled to lead a
normal life and get a job. She dressed slowly, daydreaming of the day Maw came to see her, bringing his wife and children.

‘I will never forget how you saved me from the jungle, Madam, and now I am come to give you all my greatest gratitude.' Even then, in that distant future, thought Devi, he will be beautiful. He will become a beautiful man with beautiful children. She shut her eyes for a moment and tried to visualise him grown up, but still with that long hair. The man's face and woman's hair did not quite go together.

Khan called from the front, ‘You should bring him now, Madam, or he will miss the train.' Someone from the asylum was to meet the boy at the other end, when it reached the city.

When the car was ready, the thags, grimacing at the task, carried the boy out and set him down beside the car. A couple of thags were travelling with Khan to keep the madman under control.

When Khan saw Maw, he said, shocked, ‘He cannot travel like this, without wearing clothes. He must be put into trousers before departure.'

‘We have tried all that,' laughed the thags. ‘But we are unable to get clothes onto him. He is like a baby in all things and this thing also.'

‘I refuse to drive him unless his nakedness is covered,' said Khan firmly, and stood by the car with his arms crossed and his face tight with resolution.

In the end they had to call Devi.

‘Try to get a lungi round him at the very least,' she suggested. She felt a little shocked at how the boy had deteriorated. He was very thin and the lustre had gone from his skin and hair. He must be got to that mental asylum as fast as possible, or he would soon die, she realised.

But Maw snatched the garment off his body as fast as they tried to tie it on. He might have become thin, but he was still strong. In the end, as time was getting short, Devi persuaded Khan to take him as he was, with the lungi alongside. ‘I'm sure that by the time you reach the station he will have realised that people like us are all wearing clothes. By then he will see sense.' Unconvinced, but eager to get rid of the fellow, Khan finally agreed, thinking, ‘These two thags will be able to beat the fellow into submission as soon as Madam's eyes are off,' And saying aloud, ‘Otherwise I shall dump this fellow on the roadside and he can beg for himself like all the other naked madmen of India.'

The two thags who were going to go with Khan to the station caught Maw by the elbows and started to pull him, hopping along on his plastered leg, towards the waiting car.

‘Be careful with him. Not so rough,' said Devi. It was only at the moment that they reached the car that the boy seemed to understand what was happening. Wildly he pulled away, let out his shrill jungle scream and began trying to hop away from them.

The villagers burst out laughing while Devi shouted over the clamour, ‘It is not funny. Have some pity.' And to Maw she shouted, although she knew he could not understand, ‘It's all right, it's all right, you are going to a nice place. You are going to where people will look after you.'

Maw had understood, quite suddenly, that they were taking him away from the jungle where his people lived and that if that happened he might never get back and save them. And Pala. He was filled with fear for Pala now, for unless some terrible thing had overcome his friend, Pala the fearless, would have come down here long ago and taken Maw away. Maw knew that he must get healed as fast as possible and find where Pala was and what had happened to him. But the Coarseones were still
pulling at him, forcing him towards the car that would carry him away, perhaps forever, from the man he loved and the people who relied on him.

There was only one thing left for Maw now. Only a single hope. He called up the imprisoned Animal. He knew it was a small chance, for Animal had been trying to get out for days. Day after day he had heard it beating and crashing against its confining walls. But perhaps his call would bring one last and final effort from it. The call, which sounded in the ears of the thags like the shriek of the whooping crane, was followed by the sound of splintering wood, and a crash. Then a roaring growl and a thundering of heavy paws.

‘Oh, God,' shouted Devi. ‘On top of everything else, Animal has got loose.' The laughing onlookers stopped laughing in an instant as furious Animal came bounding, roaring, towards them. They shrank away as Animal thundered towards the youth who staggered on his broken leg.

Devi, with her heart racing with fear, looked round for help, but everyone had started running.

The creature rushed past Devi and went for Maw, while, round every pillar, and from behind every doorway, thags peeped, waiting to see the Animal tear out the throat of the mad boy from the trees.

When Animal reached Maw, it came to a skidding halt and looked up as though waiting for instruction. Then out of Maw's throat came a gurgling sound like water running through a narrow stream. As though he had given Animal some order and the creature had understood, Animal placed himself before Maw and glaring out at the huddled Coarseones, let out a long low snarl that seemed to go on for moments.

Khan leapt into the car and closed the doors and windows.

The thags shivered and shrank deeper into their hiding places. ‘This fellow with the broken leg is undoubtedly one of the monkey people and this is why the animal understands him. We have said this always and now everyone must see that this is so.'

Devi stood looking at the boy and the animal, afraid but interested because she thought, from the way he had behaved and instructed Animal, the boy's brain might not be damaged after all.

Khan opened the car window a small crack and called, ‘Madam, your Raja father has instructed me to protect you at all times, so kindly step into this car and we shall drive down to the village and bring up some armed policeman to put a shot into this dangerous animal which has now taken residence in your abode.'

A murmur of approval arose from the huddled thags. ‘Please do as Mr Khan says and get inside the car quickly, Memsahib, and go with Mr Khan to bring the policeman with his gun. Please do not stand there and risk your life, Memsahib.' What would they all do if the Memsahib was killed? Not only would the money stop being paid to them, but the police would, as usual, blame them for her death. Because they were thags, they were always blamed for every murder and robbing even though it was not their fault at all. They would have liked to rush in, seize the Memsahib and push her into the car before she was killed, but they were too afraid, so remained huddled and watched the Memsahib facing the snarling animal and the magic boy alone.

The boy balanced unsteadily, guarded by Animal, and gazed at Devi with calm eyes.

‘Is anyone willing to go and get that boy and put him in the car?' Devi asked at last.

‘No no,' cried the thags from their hiding places.

‘I thought you were all bandits,' called Devi. ‘Can it be that after all you are cowards, and afraid of a young boy and a single wild animal? Surely if enough of you come at the animal with stick, you will be able to overcome it.'

‘These are magic creatures. They will put a curse on us,' muttered the thags.

‘In that case, since there is no one here who is brave enough to put the boy in the car, we won't be needing the car after all, Khan.' Devi said.

‘But Madam, how will we get rid of this fellow otherwise?' asked Khan. He felt badly shaken and was more eager than ever to be rid of the dangerous monkey boy now that it was known that there was a conspiracy between the boy and Animal.

Maw still had his eyes on Devi and for a split second she thought she saw a tiny smile crease the edge of his mouth. It was gone in a moment, and she decided she must have imagined it.

Maw bent down and murmured something into Animal's ear, then putting his hands on the neck of the creature for support he began to hobble away. Animal, glaring from left and to right and daring anyone to challenge them, led the boy towards the lower jungle.

‘No, no,' Devi cried out to the pair.

‘Let him go, Madam,' called Khan as he began to get out of the car. He felt much relieved.

‘But he is only a young boy and his leg is broken,' protested Devi.

‘This fellow was living in the jungle when the tree cutting men found him so therefore he is accustomed to such places,' said Khan.

The pair had almost reached the trees. The villagers came creeping out and started to scoff and laugh again, softly at first and growing louder as distance was put between them and the dangerous ones. Someone cautiously spat a lychee pip after the
departing jungle creatures, though making very sure that it came nowhere near enough for either boy or animal to see it.

‘How will he survive in there, with the plaster on his leg?' protested Devi.

‘The wood cutting fellows say that they saw many others like this boy. He will soon be found by his people who will then look after him,' one of the thags said.

‘But even if such people really exist, they are in the high jungle. How will he get there with his broken leg? People must go and bring them back. I will pay you a hundred rupees each to go and get them.' A sturdy silence fell among the thags. They clamped their mouths shut. ‘Two hundred. Three. A thousand!' she cried wildly. At this there was the smallest shuffle of assent, but it was swiftly stifled.

‘Even for five thousand rupees we are not prepared to mix with this kind of creature,' said the thags. They were more afraid of the boy than ever because his power over Animal.

The boy and Animal had now entered the jungle and moments later were lost to sight.

There came a sigh of relief among the watchers and even Devi felt that, in spite of her worry about the boy's future, she had done her best, that her own responsibility was at an end, and she could now get on with her work. It was a fairly good solution to what had at first seemed like an impossible problem. Now she would not even have to ask her father to fork out for years, perhaps a life time, of fees to the mental institution, or have to arrange for Animal to be shot.

But all the same, as she went back into the palace, that was now blissfully free of the dreadful bumpings of Animal, she felt a sense of loss and failure.

After an hour, when he was out of sight of the mocking thags, and hidden among the trees, Maw stopped, staggering because of the thing the Coarseones had put on his leg. The sound of the wind singing in his hair and the smell of the mountain plants was joyful after the awful smells and noises of the palace.

If this thing on his leg was gone, he thought, he would be able to move about more quickly. But he did not know how to take the plaster off. Up there, unreachable, was the place where, two weeks before, had been a dozen subtle tools that he could have used. But the trees of his tribe lay fallen, their possessions lost or broken. And anyway he could not reach the place. He began to search among the trees for a splintered stone to cut away the leg bark. When at last he managed to open the thing they had put on him, he found that his skin had become white and wrinkled underneath. As he pulled away the gripping shell, he felt fierce scalds of pain. He had to hold back howls of agony as he started hopping, balancing himself against the Animal, going this way, that way, searching for the things he needed to cure the broken bone. It took him hours to find the bright, splintery crystal he required. Trying to ignore the pain, he began to grind the crystal, hammering it with a stone against a rock till he had turned it to powder. It took Maw more than an hour to do what the medicine people of his tribe could have done in ten minutes. Lacking the hard mineral tools of his tribe, he was forced to use softer stones to grind the grossular. When the powder was ready, he had to hop again, biting his lips so as not to scream, till he found a Kura tree. It was reluctant at first, and Maw stood stroking for half an hour before it would release a little of its cream for him. He added some of Animal's saliva and his own urine and the mixture was complete. The inferior stone he had been forced to use for grinding
had become mixed in with the paste and as Maw smeared it on his damaged leg, it scratched and hurt his skin. But straight away he began to experience the great scald of interior tingling that told him that the medicine was working.