The 'Quake

THE 'QUAKE
(Short listed for the BBC International Short Story Competition 2000)


"Don't stick to me Thomas," said his mother. "It's hot and sweaty as it is."
The boy sidled to the right.
"Don't jerk the camera," reminded his father.
There wasn't much place on "Elephant's Head", the promontory that looked down on the plains below. Alfred stepped back, put the camera to his eye, and zoomed until the landscape narrowed to a pair of silvery lines bouncing the sunlight. He turned the polarizing filter and cut off the glare. He shook his head. It wouldn't make much sense unless he included a part of the foreground, a bit of Lily and Thomas looking down as the train shot into the tunnel. But that was impossible unless he climbed up the Jambul tree at the edge of the cliff. He looked at it wistfully. Lily wouldn't allow him that little adventure. She had said that she was not too keen to see him fall a thousand feet on to the roof of a speeding locomotive.
He ran up the hillock to the right but there the sun was against him. He ran back and positioned himself at the railing. If his wife didn't allow it, he would have to be content with a dumb shot. Fortunately he had got a good picture of the Head as they were climbing up the mountain. When he projected his slides he would point out the tree and make his admiring guests understand the great photographic opportunity that had been denied him. He would make good the loss by a vivid description of the glorious scene. He was already beginning to arrange the words in his head.
Thomas seized his mother's wrist.
"Look!" he cried.
His keen eyes had spotted a black blob on the distant horizon.
Lily pulled her hand away.
"Thomas! I told you!" she expostulated in a shrill irritated voice, wiping the perspiration off her wrist on her dress.
His father had knelt down, and pushing the camera between the bars of the railing was watching the scene through the viewfinder. Thomas brought his hands together and folded his shoulders into himself.


They had come to Tilleri for the weekend. Up in the lap of one of the folds of the Sahayadri Mountains, it was a little-known jewel of a place during the monsoons when the hills and the countryside around turned a lush green. The Rest House at Tilleri had only two cottages and they had been rather happy and excited to have got reservations, when Lily's uncle had telephoned to warn them that the place was 'infested' with tribals, Katkaris and Phardis, who could break your neck with a flick of their fingers and a twelve year old boy, someone not much bigger than Thomas, could slit your throat. The Manager had reassured them and insisted that they walk up to Elephant's Head in the morning and do the Lake View Point in the evening.
The winding road to Elephant's Head went up a densely forested hill slope and more than once Lily wanted to turn back but Alfred had coaxed her on. It was hot and humid and she was exhausted by the time they reached the top. They had arrived the night before and she had tired herself getting the cottage cleaned and the sheets changed all over again. The Manager had frowned and grumbled but had let her have her way.
Thomas could clearly see the train that now seemed intent upon smashing into the mountain. The warm air carried the hoot of the train as it plunged into the bowels of the earth, and the clackety-clack, clackety-clack went on in a strangely disjointed manner even after the train had disappeared.
They turned back. On the way up Lily could keep her eyes on only bits and pieces of the road. Now she could see the entire path, desolate and sinister, snaking its way through the dark forest. They went their different ways. Alfred, full of photographic opportunities missed; Lily, thinking of slimy black bodies; Thomas, taking care to keep his sweating skin away from hers. For a long time nobody spoke as they hurried down the incline.
A sudden swish startled them. First one, and then another Katkari parted the leaves and stood on the path, ten paces in front of them. Lily's mouth went dry. She grabbed Thomas by the sleeve of his shirt and drew him near. Another figure, with a load on the head, joined the two half-naked bodies that had already begun to walk past them. The wizened hag with the basket blocked their path. She squatted on the ground with the cane basket full of karvanda in front of her. She twisted a leaf into a little cone, filled it with the black berries and offered it to Lily. She took it with trembling hands and understood enough to realize that the woman wanted a rupee for that. Before Alfred could pay her she made ready another cone that he refused but she insisted.
"Take it!" hissed Lily. Her voice was desperate. "Take it! Take as many as she wants to give."
The woman gave one more to Thomas and taking the three rupees with a toothless grin, hurried after her men.
Alfred looked at the karvanda, big and black and luscious. Occasionally a cartload of these forest berries found their way to Bombay, but they were generally sickly compared to what he held now. Lily, her heart beating wildly stared at the berries, stained white with the sap of the tree, and flung them into the forest. Thomas chose the biggest, its purple flesh ready to burst through its skin, and brought it to his lips.
Lily snatched it from his fingers.
"Are you crazy?" she almost screamed. "How can you eat without washing them? Washing them thrice over!" She turned to Alfred, her voice shaking. "Once to remove the sap and twice to remove the touch of those horrid fingers!" She shuddered as she spoke.
Alfred looked for something to put the karvanda in. There was nothing handy except his camera bag and he did not fancy putting the berries next to his immaculate set of lenses. He tossed the packet away. Thomas held on to his leaf for almost an hour until they reached the cottage. He tripped as he ran up the steps. He was already sorry to have lost the best one and he now saw the rest roll away as well. He knew his mother would scream: "Don't touch them!" if he tried.
Lily took an Aspirin and a Valium and lay down with a severe headache. She told Alfred that she would not be able to walk down to the lake in the evening.
"It's all right," he said, thinking of some more photographic opportunities lost.




Thomas had been permitted to wander about without leaving the rest house premises. There was a mango tree bereft of fruit and a number of coconut palms but no karvanda bushes. He moved around the courtyard. It had rained the night before and the morning had been sultry. He went behind the cottage to look at the conical summit of Tilleri, but clouds had begun to gather and the top of the mountain was lost in mist.
Soon the entire mountain was eclipsed as the clouds descended, and crossing the valley rose upon the plateau on which Thomas stood. A few wisps floated past, then the mist became denser and soon the entire body of the cloud was upon him. The cottage, just by his side, turned a faint pink and the mango tree and everything else disappeared. Only the top of the palm trees stood out dimly, like drooping giants, against a pale grey sky. The swirling mist left the plateau as rapidly as it had descended. The sun shone through and once again painted the cottage a vibrant red.
Thomas thought he could see a karvanda tree down the courtyard behind the kitchen. He was correct but the tree was a few yards outside the boundary. One of the metal angles that supported the wire fence had been deliberately turned down and held against the earth by a concrete boulder. He hopped across the sagging wires and reached the tree. Somebody had been there before. There weren't many berries left on the bush and those that had remained were green. He plucked one, looked at it thoughtfully and tossed it away.
"Hey ghey!"
He turned around. For the first few moments he could see only the whites of a pair of eyes and a row of perfect teeth. As the figure moved out of the shadow, shafts of light filtering through the forest bounced off little patches of a glistening black skin and Thomas could see that it was a boy his own age. There was a string tied around his waist and it supported a rag that covered his genitals. He dipped into a leaf full of berries and held them out to Thomas. Thomas looked at the fruits. He knew what would happen if he ate them without washing - thrice. He stared self-consciously at the boy and shook his head. The Katkari popped one karvanda into his own mouth, shut one eye, opened the other wide and danced his head upon his shoulders. They were simply delicious! How could Thomas refuse? Thomas took the berries and held them in his sweaty palm.
"Ye!"
The boy turned and pointing south indicated that Thomas should follow him. Thomas let the berries slip to the ground and after a little hesitation took a few steps behind the boy. The Katkari ran up a small incline and beckoned urgently. Thomas climbed up the slope and on the other side saw the land fall away a few hundred feet before rising again to the perfect peak of Tilleri. From behind the edge of the mountain, Thomas could just see the blue lip of the lake in the valley below. But the boy was interested in the bare patch of sandstone between the two hills. It was riddled with craters and looked like the surface of the moon.
Thomas understood that the boy was trying to tell him that it was great fun to be on that lunar landscape. He shook his head. The Katkari caught Thomas's hand in a manner no one had held him before. A strange warmth flowed from the cold dark fingers of the boy into Thomas's vacant body.
They slid down the slope.
Some of the craters were quite large. There were a few that were three to four feet deep and partially filled with rainwater. The boy got into one of the hollows and called Thomas in. Thomas took off his shoes and socks and entered. There was just enough space for the two of them. Standing ankle deep in water they splashed about and laughed.
The boy suddenly held up a finger and was all ears. Thomas became slowly conscious of a nebulous presence and moments later felt the first vibrations. The ground trembled and a great terror seized him. He had never before been through an earthquake, but the memory of his ancestors was in him and his legs shook with fright.
The boy laughed and held him close.
The demon was now beneath their very feet and the air turned heavy with a great inaudible sound. Though Thomas could not hear it with his ears, he felt it with every fibre of his being. It pressed upon every square inch of his body before bursting out into the open. Even as the clackety-clack, clackety-clack hit his ears, the quake was over.
He found himself clutching the boy. The Katkari was holding him in an embrace and laughing away. And then Thomas understood and they laughed together. They held on to one another a little longer before jumping out of the crater and running to the edge of the cliff. The silver streak, racing across the plain, was already quite far away.
They clambered up the side of the hill and were back on the plateau. As they walked side by side, Thomas was about pass his fingers through those of the Katkari and hold his hand, when the boy ran off to the karvanda bush and brought out a clutch of berries he had hidden there. He chose the best one and gave it to Thomas. Thomas looked at the berry, bigger and more luscious than any he had ever seen. He put it in his mouth and as the delicious fruit released its flavour, Thomas shut one eye, opened the other wide and danced his head upon his shoulders.



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