A Garland of Marigolds

by Isobel Chace

  I was standing in the middle of the street, watching her, when Gideon came up behind me.

  “All alone?” he asked.

  I turned quickly. “Why, yes,” I admitted. “But I don’t mind. It’s so colorful that one would almost spoil it by talking.”

  “Is that a hint?”

  I was afraid I had hurt his feelings.

  “Of course not! Are you all alone, too?”

  “At the moment, but not for very long!” He could scarcely hide his contented grin.

  I waited for him to tell me what was happening but he didn’t. He stood there, propped up on his crutches, and grinned straight into my face.

  “You look very pleased about it, anyway,” I said crossly.

  “I am,” he chortled. “Julie is coming to stay at the end of the week!”

  I could feel my face tightening into a social smile and my eyes went blank. The last thing I wanted was for him to know what I was really feeling. That would have been disastrous!

  “Coming here?” I said hollowly.

  He looked quite pleased with himself.

  “At my express invitation!” he announced proudly.

  “She’ll have to stay with you and Camilla in the small house, but she’s very adaptable.”

  “There isn’t any room. There only are two bedrooms.”

  His grin appeared again, not one whit put out.

  “Yes, I know,” he said, “but Camilla says she doesn’t mind doubling up with you for a week or so—”

  “Or so?” I repeated faintly.

  His eyes twinkled mercilessly.

  “Oh, come now,” he said, “I know you two girls blame the whole Burnett family for my accident, but it really had nothing at all to do with Julie—”

  “Even if her father did trip you?” I put in pugnaciously.

  “It still wasn’t her fault,” he went on reasonably. “She was very upset and wept on my shoulder to show just how sorry she was. It will do her a lot of good to see exactly how and where I work. It isn’t the same when she comes over for the day, because nobody does anything very much on those days, we’re all so busy entertaining her.”

  “Exactly!” I said bleakly. “Now nobody will do anything for a week or so!”

  He laughed out loud.

  “Don’t be silly!” he said. “With the monsoons only a month away we’ll all be working flat out. Julie quite understands that. She won’t get in your way at all, so don’t look so worried!”

  I gave him a look that was meant to put him in his place, but it seemed that nothing was going to wipe that smile off his face. “I’ll bet Camilla was pleased!” I said viciously.

  “As a matter of fact she was ... quite,” he retorted.

  But I didn’t believe him! For who in his right mind would welcome Julie Burnett into his house? It just didn’t seem possible!

  The feverish pleasure of the evening was beginning to die down. The old men had gathered beside the well, smoking and yarning to each other. Even the oldest of them was able to squat for hours without the slightest fatigue. In India people queued for buses that way, had their hair cut, mended their fishing nets, and they found it quite natural. But somehow the presence of the old men put a restraint on the younger villagers. The young men dropped the hands of veiled young girls and returned to the pretense that they didn’t know them. I looked around for Lakshmi, but she was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was tired and happy and they smiled as Gideon and I went slowly up the street.

  “Well, your dam has been well and truly sent off,” Gideon observed. “I hope we can live up to their expectations.”

  “If they’ll dig—” I began.

  “They’ll dig if you get out among them and keep them going,” he said.

  I nodded seriously. “That’s what I intend to do,” I said.

  The old men called Gideon over to join them. He hitched himself on to the edge of the well and put his crutches down on the ground. Then he patted the ledge, inviting me to sit down beside him, but I shook my head. The old men were well launched on their stories and they wouldn’t want a woman sitting among them. Instead, I walked back down the street and gathered some of the colored streamers into my hands as memento of the evening. The whole air smelt of joss-sticks and gunpowder. If Julie hadn’t been coming for a visit, it would have been the end of a perfect evening.

  Camilla was undressing when I got back.

  “Have you seen Lakshmi?” she called out to me.

  “Not recently,” I replied.

  Camilla appeared in the doorway, clad in a light chiffon robe. “That’s the trouble with this country,” she said. “One can’t do anything by oneself. I thought I’d have a bath, but if Lakshmi isn’t here who will scrub my back for me?”

  I laughed.

  “I will if you like,” I offered, knowing that it involved a great deal more than that. It was a question of finding the bath and heating the water.

  “Do you have the time?” Camilla asked me. “It’s terribly late!”

  “Never mind. It will be soothing after all those hectic crowds,” I said.

  She giggled and padded back into her room, leaving the door open for me to follow.

  “I’ll go and find the bath,” she began.

  I took one look at her.

  “Not like that! I’ll go and get the bath and arrange for some hot water. You can be thinking of a good story to explain away your sudden enthusiasm for Julie!”

  She sat on the edge of the bed with her mouth half-open and a look of consternation on her face.

  “But it wasn’t like that—” she started to assure me.

  “Oh, wasn’t it?” I said grimly, and set off slamming the door behind me.

  Lakshmi still hadn’t returned when the water was boiling happily and I had dragged the bath down the corridor to Camilla’s room.

  “Whatever makes you think I want Julie here?” she demanded when I returned.

  “Your brother! He told me quite positively that you didn’t mind doubling up with me for a week or so!”

  “Well, I don’t!” she said, still puzzled.

  “So that Julie can have your room?”

  “Certainly not! What is all this about Julie?”

  I swooshed the hot water into the bath with such energy that it very nearly went over the edge on the opposite side.

  “Gideon has invited Julie here. He thinks it will do her a lot of good to see the sort of conditions that he works under. Besides,” I added maliciously, “she’s very upset!”

  From the look on her face it was easy to see that Camilla shared my revulsion.

  “He couldn’t want her here!” she said faintly.

  “He seems to,” I said bluntly.

  She shook her head. “I just don’t believe it! I’m sure he has some ulterior motive and is just not telling us.” She giggled suddenly. “I’m not at all sure that I can’t guess what it is!” she exclaimed.

  I helped her into the bath and poured some water down her back.

  “Aren’t you going to share the joke?” I asked with some asperity.

  She looked around at me, her eyes alight with mischievous laughter.

  “No, I’m not,” she said. “You wouldn’t appreciate it anyway!”

  With some difficulty I recovered my good humor and doused her with a spongeful of water.

  “Oh, wouldn’t I?” I said. “And why not?”

  But she only shook her head.

  “I think I’ll ask Joseph what he thinks,” she said.

  Just then Lakshmi came into the room. “Will I bring you more water?” she asked. Her eyes never quite reached mine and she looked suddenly shy.

  “Why, Lakshmi,” I said, “it’s happened, hasn’t it?”

  She nodded. “It is very bad! My family will never agree!”

  I sat on the end of Camilla’s bed.

  “Isn’t the King of the Monkeys good enough?” I asked. Lakshmi giggled. “You saw me!” she accused.

  “Uh-huh!” I
teased her. “Was it to be a big secret?”

  Camilla looked from one to the other of us. “Lakshmi has fallen in love!” she concluded. “Oh, how lovely! Tell us all about it, Lakshmi. Is he tall and brave and handsome?”

  Lakshmi giggled again. “That’s all you think about, Miss Camilla!” She sighed. “But yes, he is very beautiful. As Krishna must have been when he walked the earth. He has the softest eyes!”

  “Who was Krishna?” Camilla asked.

  “One of the gods,” I told her. “He was a great one with the women!”

  Lakshmi frowned. “Who is human and who is divine?” she asked in a puzzled voice. “All I know is that he is beautiful.”

  Camilla watched her with eyes gone soft. “I know what you mean,” she said. “And I can tell you that I’m strictly human when Joseph is around.”

  “Camilla!” I exclaimed.

  “Oh, nuts! I know what I mean!”

  “I wish I didn’t!” I said, putting on my most disapproving face. “Don’t worry, Lakshmi,” I said. “I’ll tell the Sahib Wait all about it in the morning. He’ll probably be able to sort it out for you.” Lakshmi’s weariness fell away from her with a rush and her dark eyes gleamed with excitement.

  “Do you think so? It would be so wonderful! The Sahib knows all my family, so perhaps he could persuade them.

  Camilla pulled the sheet more closely around her shoulders.

  “Of course he’ll help,” she said sleepily. “He’s my brother, isn’t he?”

  It was already the early hours of the morning when I went back to my own room. If I were sensible, I thought, I’d make the most of the few remaining hours of darkness and get some sleep. It was going to be a long, hard day and yet I couldn’t go to sleep. When I shut my eyes the fireworks zipped and zooped once more and the smell of gunpowder and the spicy odor of curry mixed with marigolds assailed my nostrils. It was something to write and tell Timothy about, I thought suddenly. Something to show him that I was making a life for myself without him, that I didn’t give a rap.

  I got out of bed and found pen and paper and started my letter. It was all so easy once I had begun. It was no trouble at all to tell him that I didn’t want two years of waiting, that I wanted to be free. I knew perfectly well that he wouldn’t care, on the contrary he would only be mildly relieved to know that at last I had come to my senses and knew finally that we were not made for each other.

  I finished the letter, sealed it and affixed the stamp. It was only then that I realized that I had done exactly what Gideon had told me to do. I had written to Timothy.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The digging progressed at a great rate. I spent most of my time with the workers, trying to ignore the frantic heat, and doing my share of breaking up the concrete-hard surface of the earth. The sun burned my skin a dark brown until I was almost as dark as Lakshmi.

  Camilla, with far more subtlety than I would have expected from her, began a systematic campaign to divert Joseph’s attention to herself. Sometimes I wondered if Gideon had noticed, but I was far too tired to do anything about it. Besides, Camilla seemed capable of looking after herself so I buried myself in my work and let the world pass by me.

  Until Julie arrived.

  It began as a day like any other. I didn’t see Gideon at breakfast because I had taken to eating as early as possible to get as much done as possible before the crushing heat of midday. In fact I had very nearly forgotten that Julie was coming. So it was a shock when I came in to lunch and found her sitting on the verandah.

  Camilla made a face and I gathered that she was not being a very easy guest as far as she was concerned, but I was too weary to care. I flung myself into the nearest chair and stared moodily out at the sun.

  “How long before it rains, do you think?”

  Joseph laughed.

  “You don’t have to mind her, Julie! She asks the same question every day at lunchtime. The trouble is that she’s obsessed by this dam of hers.”

  “So would you be, if you were breaking your back on that ground out there!” I grumbled good-naturedly.

  “And how you’d hate it if he were!” Camilla put in. “Perhaps Julie would like to help you while she’s here?” she added with deliberate malice.

  Julie shook her head, summoning up a smile.

  “I don’t think I should be any help at all!” she said hastily. “Why, dear, I hardly recognized you! You’re burned to a crisp!”

  “Yes, I know,” I said wearily.

  Gideon had practically mastered walking with his homemade crutches, I noticed, as he came down the verandah toward us. He grinned at Julie and gave her an affectionate look.

  “Settled in?” he asked her.

  “Oh yes, I’m completely comfortable!” she sighed. “I’ve brought some of my things with me, so the room wouldn’t be too bare, you know, and they look just lovely!”

  Camilla giggled and choked. Gideon gave her a severe look, but nothing could muffle her complete glee over Julie’s possessions. “What sort of things did you bring?” I asked.

  She colored prettily, turning the palest shade of coral. “Well, you know I’m not tough like you,” she said, making me feel like the strong woman at a circus. “I couldn’t possibly sleep on one of those charpoys, so I had to bring a bed with me, didn’t I?”

  “I suppose so,” I agreed, a gurgle beginning at the back of my own throat.

  Gideon put out a hand and patted Julie’s consolingly. “Nobody would expect you to sleep on a bed of nails,” he teased her gently.

  “Certainly not!” I added dryly. I was surprised by the quick flash of amusement in Gideon’s eyes, equally quickly suppressed.

  I went off hastily to wash my hands before I succumbed to open laughter, too, and, like Joseph and Camilla, openly derided Gideon’s most feminine guest. It was a temptation that had to be overcome because somehow I had to show Gideon that I didn’t care whom he invited here.

  When I saw my room, however, most of my resolution failed me. It was piled high with suitcases and household furniture. And, sure enough, a brand new bed had been imported and was taking up most of the space in the center of the room. An apologetic Lakshmi came running as soon as she heard my footsteps.

  “I thought Camilla was moving in with me,” I said bitterly. Lakshmi’s wide eyes rested on mine for a second.

  “This room is bigger,” she explained.

  “Ridiculous!” I exploded. “Have you ever seen anything like it?” She said nothing, and after a while my anger changed to laughter as I thought how ridiculous the situation was.

  “You’d better get my bed moved out to give her some more room!” I said weakly, and was rewarded by a quick giggle.

  “I have already taken all your clothes and things,” she told me apologetically. “There was no room to leave them here.”

  “None at all!” I agreed. It came as a wrench to leave that room, though.

  The long chain of homemade buckets hesitated and then came to a halt at a signal from the foreman. The men threw down the buckets and went over to the bank they were creating to lounge in the pitiful shade it provided. One of the older men had brought his sitar, a much-loved musical instrument, and started plucking at the strings, catching at a melody here and there.

  I sat on the bank beside them wondering if the reservoirs would be large enough to hold the tremendous volume of water necessary for the village’s needs through the dry season. I wished I were a proper engineer, but it was obvious that any water would be better than none and sol knew that even the small amount that we were doing would transform the local crops.

  “We’re almost ready for the P.V.C.,” Joseph commented from his perch above me. “When’s it coming?”

  “Any time now,” I replied. “Gideon received the dispatching order some days ago.”

  Joseph grunted.

  “It’s probably down at the station waiting for someone to go and collect it. I’ll take the jeep down and make some inquiries.”

&
nbsp; “Oh, would you?” I was pleased that he was taking an interest. “Why don’t you take Camilla with you?”

  “How about my own true love?” he asked.

  I frowned repressively. “I have work to do here,” I said. “And anyway, why do you have to use such facetious expressions?” He shrugged. “Ever thought that they might be true?”

  “Never!” I said firmly. “Please hurry, Joe. I’ll need that material this afternoon. The welder too. They promised to send it at the same time, so make sure that it’s arrived as well, will you?”

  “I can be trusted to do some things right!” he grinned at me. I grinned back at him. “Yes, I know. Camilla knows it, too,” I added, and then wished I hadn’t. Camilla was very young still, and what would Gideon say if he knew I was encouraging her friendship with Joseph?

  Joseph only looked puzzled, however.

  “Does she, though?” he said. “May I take your jeep?”

  I gave my consent easily enough, though I did wonder what had gone wrong with his own. For a mechanic, Joseph was surprisingly haphazard when it came to the combustion engine, but then who was I to complain? After the first day he had kept mine going for me and it went well, I had to admit that.