Across the wall (554 words)

 

Suseela was not happy with the new tenants in the adjacent house. She was by nature helpful and non-interfering, yet something about them unsettled her.

It was a small family of a husband, his wife, and another woman younger than the wife. Soon after moving in, the wife came to Suseela’s house a few times to ask about the neighbourhood, but the younger woman never accompanied her. Suseela was never invited to their home either, nor did the man make any effort to meet her husband.

In their small municipal town, news travelled quickly and easily. Suseela learned that the wife’s name was Champaka and that her husband ran a small business. But Champaka was reserved, even evasive, especially when Suseela gently inquired about the other woman, whom she had assumed to be a relative.

Months passed by before Champaka gradually opened up. One afternoon, when her husband and the younger woman were away, she confided in Suseela.

Champaka’s voice trembled as she spoke. She had been married for seven years but remained childless, a fact her husband never forgave. He abused her constantly, both in words and blows, and made her toil all day like a servant. The younger woman, Nalini, was not a sister or cousin as Suseela had thought, but her husband’s mistress. When Champaka protested, he gave her two choices: to stay silent and serve them both, or leave the house.

With no family to return to and no means to survive, Champaka chose to endure.

Suseela’s heart ached for her. “But Nalini is not even beautiful,” she told her husband later. “Short, stout, with that loud voice… and poor Champaka, she’s so graceful and beautiful.”

Her husband only shrugged. “As long as there’s no complaint or law broken, what can anyone do?”

Life went on. Suseela noticed that Nalini often slipped into the house across the road, the home of a bachelor schoolteacher who also practiced homoeopathy in the evenings. She had heard Nalini tell Champaka that she was getting treatment from him for a stomach ailment, but the long visits made Suseela suspicious. The teacher, too, often seemed at his window, gazing toward Champaka’s house.

“Some secret romance must be brewing,” Suseela thought, sighing for poor Champaka, who remained confined in the house.

Every evening, Suseela prayed that God would make things right for her and that Nalini would run away with the teacher, leaving Champaka in peace.

And one bright morning, her prayer seemed to be answered. Her husband returned from the temple and said, “You won’t believe it. I learn that the teacher has eloped with a woman from the adjacent house!”

Suseela’s heart leapt. “Thank you, my God, Guruvayurappa,” she exclaimed, clasping her hands. Finally, Champaka’s suffering would come to an end!

But Champaka didn’t come by that day, nor the next. Growing anxious, Suseela went to her house to share the good news in person.

When she entered, she stopped short. Nalini was sitting inside : calm, composed, even smug.

“Where’s Champaka?” Suseela asked.

Nalini gave a small, knowing smile. “Don’t you know? Your dear friend Champaka ran away two nights before with the teacher.”

For a moment, Suseela stood speechless. Then, as she turned to leave, a quiet smile spread across her face.

“Good,” she murmured, “A good turn for Champaka, at last.”