by Iram Dana
Even if he didn’t care what happened to him, he should have taken her feelings and desires into consideration before doing something so risky. Besides everything else, she was also feeling extremely embarrassed. She was not just an object to be grabbed and mauled as and when he chose to, in front of everybody.
The wrathful thoughts kept tumbling through her brain and all through that day, the proverbial dark clouds shadowed Earth’s mood. To keep her mind busy, she requested Destiny and Rainbow to let her wash all of the clothes for that day, a chore that the two of them were only too glad to have off their backs.
She was still by the stream, viciously pummeling Rain’s clothes, when she heard the sound of male voices not far away.
Earth pricked her ears to listen carefully. Her first instinct was to be ready to flee in case this signaled any danger. There came then, the sound of booming laughter, and Earth gave a bored sigh. It was Angel. And with him, obviously, Rain.
They must have returned from their hunt and were now coming to the stream for a bath. Earth’s lips curved into an evil smile as an idea began to take shape in her head. What if she snuck over and surprised Rain with her presence? If she timed her entrance well, he might even be caught unawares without his clothes on. Would that embarrass him? Yes, most definitely. And it would be the perfect lesson for him, too.
Earth stood up, her mind made up. Rain was going to get a taste of what he had put her through this morning. More sounds of laughter floated by, along with sounds of water splashing.
Now was her chance. They were in the stream. Earth crouched down and crawled forwards slowly, towards the source of the merry sounds. She kept herself carefully hidden behind trees and bushes, moving along until the sounds were directly ahead of her. She spotted a large boulder ahead, beyond which she knew the two of them were splashing around in the water.
She took two cautious steps forward. Suddenly, there was a burst of laughter directly ahead of her and Earth almost jumped out of her skin with fright. This was madness! What had she been thinking, coming here to spy on him like this? What if he actually was naked? Would it really make any difference to him if she saw him like that? Not likely. On the contrary, she would never be able to look him in the eyes again without blushing to the roots of her hair. It was so petty of her to want to avenge herself, that she felt extremely silly now. She should never have come here.
Just as she was about to turn and beat a hasty retreat, her leg caught on a root and she went tumbling down into a large ditch she could not see. Earth closed her eyes and screamed.
The instant the sound left her lips, Earth knew she had just given herself away. She clamped her mouth shut, but it was too late.
They had heard.
There was ominous silence all around her now and Earth gritted her teeth and cursed her luck.
She heard a soft shuffle above her and closed her eyes, dreading the moment to come.
“Earth!?”
Oh no! It was Rain! Earth cowered deeper into the ditch.
“Earth?” he called again, and she shook her head in denial. No, it was not her. It was some other, very foolish girl. How she wished!
“You fell into Angel’s trap?”
Trap? What trap? Earth slapped her forehead. So this had all been an elaborate illusion set up by Angel. The boulder was probably covering the ditch and that is why she had not seen it.
“But how?” wondered Rain.
Earth covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head again, more vigorously this time.
In the brief silence that followed, she knew that Rain was working out the math of how she came to fall into the trap and what she could possibly be doing here.
“Oh…!” said Rain.
Darn, but he was quick!
“So you came here to see me… in all my natural glory?” inquired Rain.
Earth scowled. Cherries would appear pale in comparison to the color flooding her cheeks.
Her silence said it all to him and beside Rain, Angel gave a loud guffaw. What was he going to do now? Was he going to be mad at her?
“Well,” said Rain, “what are you waiting for? I’m here. Look all you want!”
Earth couldn’t believe her ears. Was he actually inviting her to see him like this?
“Are you crazy? Leave me alone!” snapped Earth, not daring to open her eyes.
“Nada! Not until you do what you came here to do.”
“I said, go away!”
Rain dug his heels into the ground.
“Will not!”
Earth clenched her jaws tightly. Stubborn, shameless specimen of the male species! He simply had to have his way! Well, he better not be naked for then, he would truly be sorry. She opened her fingers a tiny bit and peeped through them. He was not naked. He was wearing boxers.
Well, that was a relief, thought Earth, as her eyes took in the sight of him from the bottom to the top.
He was standing with his feet apart, dripping wet and glittering like one of those shiny new products they showed in television commercials. Her gaze traveled up to his glittering face which was turned to one side to show off his sharp profile. He flashed her a brilliant smile, and a large shine traveled the length of his teeth, stopping on one side with a ‘ting!’
Earth let her hands fall to her sides. What in blazes…? This was ridiculous. This was … so Angel. She spun around to face him. He was behind her, choking on his own laughter. Earth dug her fingers into the ground.
Barbed vines shot out and bound Angel where he was. He stopped struggling for fear of getting pierced. Next, Earth turned her malevolent glare at Rain.
“And you! Get me out of here!” she commanded Rain.
Rain held out a hand. Earth grabbed it, and lunged straight at him. Rain, who had not expected her to pounce on him the instant she was out, caught her out of sheer reflex, losing his balance as a result. The two of them went tumbling to the ground.
Earth began to beat her fists on his chest.
“You! How could you put me through that? Have you no sense of decency? And get your ruddy hands off me, you, you cad!”
She was kicking him and pummeling him while keeping up her angry tirade. It took her several minutes for her to realize that he was neither shielding himself nor fighting back. He, in fact, was very, very still.
Earth stopped fighting.
It took her another moment to collect her thoughts and figure out why he was behaving so. Because she was lying on top him and squirming there, to boot. His eyes were steadily focused on her face, drawing fresh blood to her cheeks. Don’t look at him, she warned herself, don’t look.
She looked. And stayed looking.
Once again, the air around them became heavy and charged. Earth felt a pang of fear in her chest. What if he kissed her again? What if they weren’t third time lucky? She closed her eyes, breaking contact with his, and scrambled off of him.
She snarled at the barbed vines holding Angel prisoner and the vines snapped, freeing their huge prisoner. Turning on her heel and she ran back to camp, leaving the unwashed pile of clothes right there by the stream.
Rain buried his face in his hands and let out a groan. “I need another cold water bath.”
Angel got to his feet, rubbing the spots on his arms where the spiky vines had been digging in. He took a glance towards Rain and shook his head.
“You sure do, pal. You sure do.”
*****
Earth’s mood had not improved much by night time. Rain had tried to put his bed next to hers but she had refused to let him do that, threatening to go back into the tent with Destiny if he ever slept next to her again.
That had fobbed him off but only for a while, because that night Destiny finally gave in to Heart’s repeated requests to come sleep outside with everybody else. Destiny had agreed on the condition that Heart would keep his distance from her, a condition that he had accepted gladly. To add to her woes, Earth found that she was having difficulty falling asleep. She kept hoping
that Rain would somehow ignore her threats and still come sleep next to her.
Late into the night, she heard him drag his sleeping bag next to hers and get in. Earth turned around and sat up immediately, pointing furiously at his bed and turning her palm upwards.
What are you doing here?
Rain pointed to himself, closed his eyes to indicate sleep, and then pointed to her.
I want to sleep next to you.
Earth shook her head adamantly, pointing to his previous position.
Go back!
Rain clasped his hands together and looked at her imploringly.
Please.
She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to glare at him. It was difficult, what with him looking so cute with his sleep rumpled hair. Earth sighed and gave up pretending to be angry with him. She wouldn’t let him sleep next to her, though. She shook her head once more at him.
It’s not safe.
He touched two fingers to his lips and then touched them to hers and shook his head.
I won’t try to kiss you.
Earth closed her eyes and gulped. Why didn’t he understand? He didn’t need to kiss her. Heck, he didn’t even need to touch her. He only had to look at her to make her insides melt.
Rain took Earth’s prolonged silence to still mean a ‘no’, and nodded sadly. Yes, he wanted to sleep here, but he wasn’t going to force her to let him. He got up and carried his sleeping bag back to where he was sleeping earlier.
Earth stared at his back. Where did he think he was going? She might have been saying no, but she didn’t mean it!
‘Come back!’ she wanted to yell. But it was too late. He had put his sleeping bag down and gotten into it. Earth slid into hers reluctantly and called her Geeya.
‘What am I to do now?’
‘What else? Bring him back.’ suggested her Geeya.
‘How?’
Her Geeya looked at her pointedly. ‘How else?’
‘You mean…’
‘I mean exactly that.’
Earth smiled. ‘Oh well, all’s fair in love.’
She dug her fingers into the earth from where several thick vines shot out. They traveled forwards swiftly and bound a shocked Rain, dragging him back to her side, sleeping bag and all. Rain sat up once the vines had released him.
“You could have asked!” he laughed.
Earth stuck her nose in the air.
“I just did.” She sniffed
*****
CHAPTER 30
Earth woke up bright and early the next morning. She had slept fitfully last night and now felt energized and refreshed. She washed her face and rinsed her mouth. The morning air was cool. Even slightly chilly.
She looked around herself at the sleeping camp. Her eyes stopped at Rain and a smile played on her lips at the memory of last night’s events. Rain always slept facing her. Then, somewhere in the night, he would turn onto his back and remain that way until morning.
Heart, who had slept at quite a distance from Destiny last night was now lying right beside her.
Somehow during the course of the night, he had traveled all the way to be near her. Whether this was intentional or not, Earth couldn’t really tell. Hopefully, Destiny, who was just stirring awake, wouldn’t mind that very much.
Earth looked at Rainbow and Angel, asleep with their hands loosely twined. Both had such peculiar sleeping habits. Angel would start to hum shortly after falling asleep. This would annoy and prevent Rainbow from sleeping, who would then slap Angel to silence him. A short while later she would fall asleep, too, and then the two of them would continue to softly hum together in their sleep with every falling breath.
Destiny was now yawning and stretching. Earth watched her discreetly from the corner of her eyes. Any moment now, she would notice Heart lying right beside her. What would she do then?
Apparently, nothing.
Destiny saw Heart beside her, stared at him for a long minute, and then quietly got up and walked over to where Earth stood.
“Good morning.” said Earth, scanning her face for any signs of displeasure.
“It certainly is a good morning.” said Destiny, with a smile and a wink.
Earth returned her smile. “If you say so.”
Soon, everyone in the camp was awake and getting ready for breakfast. Rain, however, was still fast asleep and showed no signs of waking up in the near future.
“Man, if that guy didn’t have to wake up for meals I bet he wouldn’t wake up at all.” said Angel, watching Rain’s sleeping form. Earth stood looking at him with her hands on her hips.
“Hmm,” she mused, “how deep is his sleep, I wonder?”
She pulled out a long blade of grass and walked up to him. She turned to wink once at the others, and then crouched down beside Rain’s face. Slowly, she inserted the blade of grass into his nostril and shook it gently. Rain twitched his nose and batted at it with his hand, then flipped over to his side and relaxed once more into a state of slumber.
Earth covered her mouth to stifle a giggle and then bent over him on all fours to insert the blade of grass into his nostril again. This time, Rain sneezed and sat up, causing her to lose his balance. Earth squealed and fell flat on top of him.
The instant Rain realized that the weight on his body was Earth’s, he caught her by the hips and swung her onto his lap, holding her there firmly.
“Let me go!” protested Earth, landing a sound thump on his shoulder.
Rain shook his sleepy head. “No. You woke me up, now finish what you began.”
Earth tried to wriggle free, saw the silly lopsided grin stretch across his face, and stopped moving.
“What exactly is the whole job, may I ask?” she said, irritably.
“Wash my face and help me rinse my mouth.” said Rain, his eyes still half closed.
Earth’s eyes widened into saucers. “Why, of all the preposterous …!”
A thought occurred to her then and she changed her demeanor to one of sugary sweetness.
“Actually, you’re right. I did wake you up so it is my responsibility to help you rinse your mouth.”
She turned to Heart. “Heart, will you bring me that container of water, please?”
Heart gave her a small pot filled with water seeing which, Rain opened his mouth wide.
“No, no.” said Earth, “we’ll do this my way.”
She tilted her head back and filled her mouth with water, then turned to Rain with her mouth full and sprayed the water straight onto his face.
“There! Now wasn’t that a nice rinse?” said Earth, her shoulders shaking with silent mirth.
Rain coughed and spluttered, grinning widely. To Rain, it didn’t matter what she was doing. All he cared about was that she was sitting on his lap, and he was actually holding her. Earth’s amusement disappeared and she made a face.
“Oh, so you liked that, did you? Then do tell me. What is my next duty?”
“Now wash my face.” said Rain.
“Wash your face? Of course.” said Earth, lifting the pot and emptying all of its contents over his head. He was still grinning.
Earth couldn’t help it. She started to giggle. From behind her, the sounds of everybody else’s laughter could be heard.
“What now, your royal Rainness?” said Earth.
“Now,” said Rain, “it’s time for a bath.”
Earth squealed as Rain looked skywards and the heavens opened up on them all. She tried to break free of his grip but he still wouldn’t let her go, holding her firmly and letting them both get soaked in the rain. Earth scooped up a handful of wet mud and smacked Rain on the chest with it. It worked. He released her to wipe the mud off his body.
Grabbing this slim window of opportunity, Earth scrambled to her feet and ran to where the others stood but not before scooping up another handful of mud and letting it loose in Rain’s direction. It hit him on the chest again.
Earth laughed and turned behind, only to find to her horror that Rain had
got to his feet and was now advancing purposefully towards her with a glob of mud in his hands.
He let the dirt fly. Earth ducked behind Rainbow, and the ball of mud hit Rainbow instead.
“Hey!” yelled Rainbow, wiping the mud off and turning it a pretty shade of blue.
“Whoops! Sorry!” said Rain.
Angel let out a bellow and picked up a handful of mud, flinging it at Rain. Rain jumped out of its way in the nick of time and the blob landed on Subodh’s face.
Subodh’s shiny scalp turned red and he reached straight for his stick.
“Uh, oh.” said Angel. “Now I’ve done it.”
Taking advantage of this momentary lapse of Rain’s attention, Earth took another shot at him. Rain saw it coming from the corner of his eye, though, and ducked. Unfortunately for Rainbow, he was close to her and when he ducked out of its way, the little ball of dirt went splat on the back of Rainbow’s head.
“Arrgh!” yelled Rainbow. “You two are so dead!”
Earth squeaked and ran into the forest. Rain chased after her, followed by Rainbow, who was followed on the heels by Angel. Behind all of them, waving a stick furiously in the air was Subodh.
Heart, who had been playing silent observer all this while, turned to Destiny. “Looks like we are the only two mature people in this camp.”
Destiny raised an amused eyebrow and glanced meaningfully at the small lump of wet earth in her hands.
Heart looked at her in disbelief. “You’re not …!”
The mud ball came flying at him.
He lunged for Destiny, who screamed and ran into the forest after the other five.
*****
Globs of mud were flying in all directions and in the ensuing chaos, Subodh went about striking blows to the heads of one and all with his stick. Before long, the girls had ganged up together to form a team against the boys. They would have been outnumbered but Subodh decided he had had enough and left for the clearing.
