Read Online On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman - Free Book Online
Authors: Ru Freeman
Tags: General Fiction
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hittin’ Raju, don’ forget that!” Rose said.
Their conversation drifted on to other things and before long they fell into the pattern of all children, sharing secrets unabashedly, secure in the knowledge that what was told would remain confidential.
Rose revealed that her greatest fear was that Sonna would pick a fight with their father and be beaten to death, and that her big dream was to break the Guinness World Record for standing on one foot on a stage in Viharamahadevi Park, a task that she felt was well within her sights.
Dolly said: “I don’ like the Silvas nex’ door, but I like Jith. But I never get to talk to him because Mrs. Silva won’ let him come and play with us. An’ Mohan too, he won’ let Jith talk to us either. I like Jith. I like him a lot.” Rose giggled at this “secret,” with which she was obviously very familiar, and Dolly pinched her arm and told her to stop it. “Also, I wish Sophia would come back to stay,” Dolly continued, “but since she’s not there I’m happy to be a twin,” for she did not like her brother, no, she did not like him at all.
Suren’s statement was so clear that nobody asked him to explain: he wanted his life to begin and end each day with music and nothing else, and not maths not chess in between but more music.
Rashmi said with great confidence that she intended to rise to the rank of head prefect at her convent, go to university to become a doctor, then get married and raise a family of two boys and two girls with her engineer husband, who would make sure her house would be big enough to include her aging parents, whose senility and deaths she would nurse and mourn accordingly.
“Someday, I’m going to play cricket for the first eleven at Royal,” Nihil said into the silence that followed Rashmi’s words, which were more revelation than aspiration. “Also, I want Devi to grow up to be fifty soon so I can stop worrying about her.” And as he said this he avoided looking at either Suren or Rashmi, but he put his arm around Devi, who was now seated next to him, and those words and that gesture made the Bolling twins feel as though they had been let into a very private club and so they said they, too, would look after Devi since she obviously needed it, being the youngest and all.
“I have three notebooks, one for flowers, one for pictures torn out of the Kiddie Page in the SatMag that comes on the weekend, and one for writing, but it’s still empty because I don’t know what is important enough to write,” Devi said, followed by a confession that came out in a rush: “I once ate the whole bag of hoonu bittara that Aunty Saddha gave me to share with all of you but now I have been sorry about it for two whole years so you shouldn’t be angry,” and she flung her head into Rashmi’s lap, making everybody laugh.
While these stories were shared inside the girls’ bedroom, Mrs. Herath, feeling herself elevated slightly upon the prospect of future merit, sang an old love song as she gardened, Kamala, the servant woman, busied herself washing the teacups and, upon the insistence of his wife, Lucas prepared to venture forth and introduce himself to the new arrivals.
The Keeper of Sal Mal Lane
Sal Mal Lane was named for the trees that surrounded the neighborhood and collected in a grove at the closed top end of it. At the time the Heraths moved in, the grove was visible but not accessible. It was cordoned off by a barbed-wire fence while the local authorities debated the possibility of turning the road into a throughway, a discussion that would be decided favorably for Sal Mal Lane thanks to those trees, whose beauty and religious significance ultimately stopped the plans for expansion, though it would be quite a while before the fence would be taken down. It was located a half mile away from the Pamankade-Dehiwela bridge, which placed it within the capital city of Colombo, but just barely. It was a quiet, residential neighborhood, made even
Their conversation drifted on to other things and before long they fell into the pattern of all children, sharing secrets unabashedly, secure in the knowledge that what was told would remain confidential.
Rose revealed that her greatest fear was that Sonna would pick a fight with their father and be beaten to death, and that her big dream was to break the Guinness World Record for standing on one foot on a stage in Viharamahadevi Park, a task that she felt was well within her sights.
Dolly said: “I don’ like the Silvas nex’ door, but I like Jith. But I never get to talk to him because Mrs. Silva won’ let him come and play with us. An’ Mohan too, he won’ let Jith talk to us either. I like Jith. I like him a lot.” Rose giggled at this “secret,” with which she was obviously very familiar, and Dolly pinched her arm and told her to stop it. “Also, I wish Sophia would come back to stay,” Dolly continued, “but since she’s not there I’m happy to be a twin,” for she did not like her brother, no, she did not like him at all.
Suren’s statement was so clear that nobody asked him to explain: he wanted his life to begin and end each day with music and nothing else, and not maths not chess in between but more music.
Rashmi said with great confidence that she intended to rise to the rank of head prefect at her convent, go to university to become a doctor, then get married and raise a family of two boys and two girls with her engineer husband, who would make sure her house would be big enough to include her aging parents, whose senility and deaths she would nurse and mourn accordingly.
“Someday, I’m going to play cricket for the first eleven at Royal,” Nihil said into the silence that followed Rashmi’s words, which were more revelation than aspiration. “Also, I want Devi to grow up to be fifty soon so I can stop worrying about her.” And as he said this he avoided looking at either Suren or Rashmi, but he put his arm around Devi, who was now seated next to him, and those words and that gesture made the Bolling twins feel as though they had been let into a very private club and so they said they, too, would look after Devi since she obviously needed it, being the youngest and all.
“I have three notebooks, one for flowers, one for pictures torn out of the Kiddie Page in the SatMag that comes on the weekend, and one for writing, but it’s still empty because I don’t know what is important enough to write,” Devi said, followed by a confession that came out in a rush: “I once ate the whole bag of hoonu bittara that Aunty Saddha gave me to share with all of you but now I have been sorry about it for two whole years so you shouldn’t be angry,” and she flung her head into Rashmi’s lap, making everybody laugh.
While these stories were shared inside the girls’ bedroom, Mrs. Herath, feeling herself elevated slightly upon the prospect of future merit, sang an old love song as she gardened, Kamala, the servant woman, busied herself washing the teacups and, upon the insistence of his wife, Lucas prepared to venture forth and introduce himself to the new arrivals.
The Keeper of Sal Mal Lane
Sal Mal Lane was named for the trees that surrounded the neighborhood and collected in a grove at the closed top end of it. At the time the Heraths moved in, the grove was visible but not accessible. It was cordoned off by a barbed-wire fence while the local authorities debated the possibility of turning the road into a throughway, a discussion that would be decided favorably for Sal Mal Lane thanks to those trees, whose beauty and religious significance ultimately stopped the plans for expansion, though it would be quite a while before the fence would be taken down. It was located a half mile away from the Pamankade-Dehiwela bridge, which placed it within the capital city of Colombo, but just barely. It was a quiet, residential neighborhood, made even
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