The Sea Singer

by Shome Dasgupta

  ‘You can take her home. Try singing lullabies to her. Rock her in your arms. Give her a tablespoon of cough syrup. See if that helps. If you see any signs of ill health, bring her back at once.’

  The Faccinises took her home. That night, Jonas and Maria sat next to her crib and sang lullabies to her. After the fourth lullaby, Jonas and Maria sang each other to sleep. When Maria woke up the next morning, she heard March singing.

  ‘How can this be?’ Maria asked. ‘She is a few days old and she can already sing like the Maestro.’

  ‘Soul,’ Jonas said.

  ‘It is the song of the sea,’ Maria said.

  March and Jonas sang along with March.

  ‘She must be hungry,’ Jonas said.

  ‘This must be her cry,’ Maria said.

  March continued to sing with her eyes wide open. She never tired. For three hours, March hummed and sang, not knowing what the words of the song meant.

  As soon as the Faccinises’ friends heard about the newborn, they came and brought gifts for March.

  Their neighbour, Faunna, brought cereal grains. ‘Cereal for the cerebral,’ she said.

  When she walked into the dining room and saw the baby singing, Faunna gasped and coughed at the same time.

  ‘Is this a prank?’ Faunna asked. She looked around the room.

  ‘She can’t sleep,’ Jonas said. ‘But she can sing the tune of the Sirens.’

  ‘She never kicked when she was in my stomach,’ Maria said.

  Faunna told them that she must go home and bathe the shivers off the back of her neck.

  ‘She is beautiful,’ Faunna said.

  She rushed out the door. Soon after she left, the Aurianas came over with orange juice and pears.

  ‘Let us see the newborn, so we can celebrate her birth tonight,’ Joseph Auriana said.

  They brought shiny metallic wind chimes that would hang above her crib. When they heard her sing the song of the sea, they screamed.

  ‘What is wrong with her?’ Rona Auriana asked.

  ‘She sings a sad song,’ Jonas said.

  Rona backed away from March.

  ‘You must take her to the City Council and see what they want to do with such a baby,’ Rona said.

  ‘She is too young to sing,’ Joseph said. ‘She is too young to do anything. She needs to learn how to sleep and start from there.’

  Maria picked March up and cradled her child in her arms.

  ‘She has a gift,’ she said.

  ‘Who has ever heard of a baby who cannot sleep, but can sing?’ Joseph asked. ‘This is not right or true.’

  ‘I will have nightmares,’ Rona said.

  ‘Something this baby can’t have,’ Joseph said.

  ‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ Jonas said. ‘She hasn’t done anything bad.’

  ‘If you do not take her to the Council, then I will tell them to come here,’ Rona said. ‘Something must be done. Joseph, we must go.’

  Rona’s eyes were narrow – her eyebrows were tilted towards the floor. Joseph stared at March with his mouth open. He had stopped breathing, until Rona tugged at his arm and led him out the door. March looked at them and continued to sing in perfect pitch.

  ‘These words are magical,’ Jonas said.

  Maria turned to Jonas.

  ‘What should we do?’ Maria asked. ‘They will take her away from us if they think that something is wrong with her.’

  ‘No matter what we try to do, they will find her,’ Jonas replied. ‘We’ll take her to the Council and see what they have to say.’

  ‘She is our daughter,’ Maria said.

  She picked March up and looked into her eyes. March waved her hands up and down and wiped the tears off her mother’s face.

  ‘We will take care of her,’ Jonas said. ‘But we cannot live in constant fear that the Council will take her away.’

  That night, Maria was trying to teach March how to close her eyes. As Jonas walked into their room, he saw Maria on all fours next to March, who was on her back with her arms were stretched out towards Maria’s head.

  ‘Like this March,’ Maria said.

  She put her hands over March’s eyes and then moved her hands away. She did it again, but March’s eyes were still open. Maria closed her own eyes and opened them repeatedly, but March didn’t follow. She sang.

  ‘She already has a stubborn mind,’ Jonas said. ‘Like yours.’

  Jonas and Maria slept on the floor next to March’s crib. March had sung them to sleep with the song of the sea, a sad song of longing and loneliness. She looked around the room, like it was a universe full of stars and comets and moons.

  5

  THE FACCINISES TOOK MARCH TO THE Council. When they walked into the meeting room, they saw eleven people sitting around the long rectangular table. The room was filled with cigar smoke. Rinja got up and opened a window to let the smoke out, but the clouds stayed in the room.

  ‘We have come for you to see our baby, March. I am sure you have heard about her unusual abilities through the town’s gossip.’

  ‘We’ve been expecting you,’ Rinja said. ‘Show us these talents.’

  ‘She cannot sleep,’ Maria said. ‘You can all see that just by looking at her eyes. They do not close.’

  As Maria placed March on the table, the smoke left through the window and the clouds inside the room cleared up. The eleven faces, including Nirana’s, looked down at March. Nirana, because of his contribution to the hospital, had been named an honorary member of the Council. He had not heard about March. He stood up from his chair and rubbed his eyes. March was on her back.

  ‘She does nothing,’ one Council member said.

  ‘Please put your cigars out,’ Nirana said. ‘There is a baby in the room.’

  The members stubbed their cigars in the ashtray, still keeping their eyes on the baby.

  Rinja went up to her and tickled her stomach. ‘Sleep,’ Rinja said.

  March started to sing.

  Rinja stepped back. The Council members stopped talking and listened. They bowed their heads, some had tears in their eyes. Nirana mouthed the words March was singing, moving his head from side to side, his hands moving in rhythm to March’s song.

  ‘This is unnatural,’ Rinja said. ‘Why would she do such a thing?’

  ‘This is beautiful,’ Nirana said.

  ‘She has done nothing wrong,’ Maria said.

  The Council members wiped the tears from their faces with handkerchiefs. One of them, Zuben, crouched and looked at March.

  ‘She has done nothing wrong,’ he said. ‘But how can we trust a baby who can’t sleep? How can we trust a week-old baby who can sing the song of the sea?’

  ‘The city will be in unrest,’ another Council member said.

  Rinja asked the Faccinises to leave the baby with them while they discussed what to do with her. But Jonas and Maria would not let them keep her.

  ‘We just wanted to show you that she is perfectly normal and there is nothing evil about her, that was all,’ Jonas said. ‘We are not leaving her with you.’

  ‘We understand your love for your baby,’ Rinja said. ‘Please take her home, but the matter will be discussed. The first signs of any wrongdoing and she will be taken away, if not before, as a precaution.’

  ‘What wrongdoing?’ Maria asked. ‘She’s only a baby.’ Rinja looked straight into Jonas’s eyes. March continued to sing. Half the Council members were already asleep.

  ‘She’s hungry,’ Jonas said.

  The Faccinises went back home. The Council members discussed the matter over lunch.

  ‘She must go,’ said Zuben. ‘I sense that she will bring trouble.’

  ‘The only thing you sense is your hungry stomach,’ Nirana said.

  The others laughed, then they became serious again.

  Except for Nirana, they all agreed that the baby must leave. The vote was ten-to-one in favour of exiling March from Kolkaper.

  ‘How can I sleep if there is a baby
like that here?’ a Council member wanted to know.

  ‘Everyone will stop singing,’ another said.

  They wanted to take her to the Organization of Scientists to let them figure out what to do with her. There they would perform tests and observe her.

  That night, Nirana and Francesca visited the Faccinises, who had just finished eating dinner and were putting March into her crib. They were still hoping she would fall asleep.

  ‘We have cake,’ Jonas said by way of greeting.

  ‘Could never say no to cake,’ Nirana said. ‘My mother would eat all kinds of desserts when she was pregnant with me. I was born with a craving for sugar.’

  Nirana turned to Maria and introduced his wife and himself to her. Jonas and Maria realized that this was the couple whose baby had died so soon after she came into the world.

  ‘Our condolences,’ Jonas said.

  ‘As quick as a sneeze,’ Nirana said.

  ‘May I please see the baby?’ Francesca asked.

  ‘We were just trying to put her to bed,’ Maria said. ‘Let’s see what she’s up to.’

  They walked into the bedroom. March lay in her crib. Her eyes widened when she saw Francesca and she started to sing. Francesca yawned and closed her eyes. Her head drooped. Nirana tapped her on the shoulder, but his head drooped as well. March stopped singing, and the Medallions lifted their heads and opened their eyes.

  ‘A lovely song,’ Nirana said.

  ‘She knows what we don’t know,’ Francesca said. ‘Already, at such a young age.’

  With tears, Francesca kissed March on top of her head. March stretched her arms out toward her. Francesca picked her up and whispered into her ear. March made a laughing sound and tugged on her ear. Francesca handed her back to Maria.

  ‘She doesn’t sleep because the world has too much to offer,’ Francesca said. ‘She is eager to see what the world has to offer.’

  ‘Let’s take her into the living room,’ Maria said.

  The men stayed behind. Nirana, in a quiet voice, spoke to Jonas, who folded his arms and nodded. He kept looking at the crib as Nirana talked. He started to walk back and forth and then in circles around the crib. After a while, the two men joined Maria and Francesca in the living room.

  ‘We are going to have problems,’ Jonas said. ‘Monsieur Nirana has important information.’

  Francesca and Maria sat down. March lay in her mother’s arms.

  ‘The Council has decided to take the baby away,’ Nirana said.

  ‘It is not their decision,’ Maria said.

  ‘They want to take her to the Organization of Scientists, located near the Cave Forest, and study her.’

  ‘The forest?’ Maria asked.

  ‘Cave Forest is for the unusual – it’s where people go when they feel shunned.’

  ‘Or because they are shunned,’ Jonas said.

  ‘The Organization of Scientists is nearby,’ Nirana said. ‘If the Organization can’t help those who are trying to change themselves so that they fit in with the normal crowd, they are taken to the Forest.’

  ‘What do you think?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘I think that they are talented people who are seen as outcasts,’ Nirana said.

  Maria held March in front of her with her arms stretched out and looked at her eyes.

  ‘Hey you,’ she said.

  March giggled.

  ‘They come to town sometimes, though they mainly live in the Forest,’ Nirana said. ‘A whole new world in the Cave. I’ve talked to them before. Real shy, timid. They are just misunderstood.’

  ‘Can they just take the baby away from us?’ Maria asked.

  ‘Legally, no,’ Nirana said. ‘But the town will scorn this house. It won’t be a pleasant life for March. As you know, the Council has strong control over the city. It wouldn’t be healthy for the baby to stay here.’

  ‘What do you suggest?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘You know about the death of our newborn baby,’ Francesca said. ‘We know the feeling of a child being taken away, no matter who takes it away. It is arthritis of the soul.’

  ‘We have an alternative to sending March to the Forest,’ Nirana said.

  He looked at March lying in Maria’s arms. Nirana had come up with a plan to send her overseas to Koofay, which was not too far from where Jonas had had to travel for his work with metals. He had friends living there who would look after March until Jonas and Maria could move too.

  ‘You will all be able to live safely,’ Nirana said ‘As a family.’

  He put his hand on Francesca’s shoulder.

  ‘It’s a beautiful rural area,’ Jonas said. ‘Filled with ostriches and orange trees. It’s at the end of the Bay. I’ve travelled through it a few times.’

  Nirana talked about his Koofay friends, the Armers, whom he had known since his college years.

  ‘They have a daughter and a son, both grown up now and living their own lives. They would love to have a new baby. They would treat her right and teach her to live as a kind person.’

  ‘How much time do you think we have to decide?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘Until the end of the week . . . about two days,’ Nirana said.

  ‘We will make a decision by tomorrow then,’ Jonas said.

  He looked at Maria. She nodded.

  ‘Thank you for your visit,’ Jonas said. ‘We appreciate your kindness.’

  After they had left, Maria and Jonas discussed what they would do about March.

  ‘She can go to Koofay and live a good life,’ Maria said.

  ‘So you do not want her to go to the Cave Forest?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘Koofay sounds like a better place,’ Maria said. ‘And she would have to go through the Scientists first, before going to the Forest. I wonder if we can just take her directly to the Forest and live with her there.’

  Jonas told Maria about his conversation with Nirana – about how the Organization of Scientists act as a filtering system: anyone who goes to the Cave Forest must go through the scientists first, so they know exactly what is going on in the Forest.

  ‘They are constantly observing them,’ Jonas said. ‘There is never any peace.’

  ‘They are probably too worried that the inhabitants will run amok and take over,’ Maria said.

  ‘Are you ready to make the move and leave our lives here?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘I’m ready to live on the ocean bed for March,’ Maria said. ‘And you?’

  ‘I would live on the sun and sweat for the rest of my life for her,’ Jonas said.

  ‘Besides,’ Maria said. ‘If she moves to Koofay, we can definitely be with her. Who knows if we will be able to live with her, or even visit her, if she goes off to the Organization of Scientists.’

  ‘True, just imagine if the Centre gets hold of her. There is nothing wrong with her, but the scientists will insist on running tests on her. It’s a pretty scary situation.’

  Maria clasped Jonas’s hand with her own free hand, the one that wasn’t holding March. Their daughter yawned and blinked. They hoped that she would close her eyes and sleep. But she started to sing instead, only not as loud as before. It was quiet – it was a lullaby. Maria had to put her in the crib because the song was making her sleepy. The parents slept peacefully under March’s crib with their arms around each other, dreaming of their daughter. When they woke up the next morning, she planned to sing the song of the morning birds to them.

  6

  THE FACCINISES WEREN’T ABLE TO DREAM about their precious March for too long because there was a loud knocking on the door. They didn’t hear it at first, but the knocking kept up for several minutes, getting louder all the time. Maria woke up first and shook Jonas. It was early morning and the sun hadn’t come up yet.

  ‘Who can that be?’

  ‘Hide March,’ Jonas said.

  They looked around the room. The knocking was getting louder. Jonas picked March up and hid her in the armoire.

  ‘Please don’t sing,’ Jonas said.
r />   They went to the door. There were two scientists, both wearing black top hats and matching long lab coats.

  ‘I am Larry.’

  He had a thin moustache with its tips curling, pointing towards his glasses, which were black.

  ‘I am Rezna,’ said the other man, the one with a goatee and a gold watch that shone under the porch light.

  ‘Scientists,’ Maria said.

  Larry and Rezna nodded, looked at each other and shook each other’s hands.

  ‘How do you do?’ Larry said.

  ‘How do you do?’ Rezna said.

  They turned back to Jonas and Maria and spoke simultaneously: ‘Baby.’

  ‘What baby?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘The one with the eyes,’ Larry said.

  ‘The one with the voice,’ Rezna said.

  ‘Not here,’ Maria said.

  Larry shuffled his hand around in his coat pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He held it up to Maria’s eyes. ‘This paper says there is a baby.’

  Rezna pulled out his own piece of paper. ‘This paper says we can search your house.’

  ‘A warrant?’ Jonas asked.

  Larry and Rezna pushed Jonas and Maria aside and walked in. They looked around the foyer and the living room. They checked under the cushions and behind the curtains. They looked at the ceiling. They went to the kitchen and looked in the fridge and in the cabinets. They went to the Faccinises’ bedroom. They searched the mattresses and the closets. They went to the four other rooms and searched carefully and then they went to March’s room. Jonas held his breath. Maria was trying hard not to look at the armoire. She whispered to Jonas.

  ‘Please don’t sing,’ she said.

  March started to sing. Her voice was muffled, coming from the armoire, but the tune made it through the wooden doors and into their ears. Larry and Rezna stopped moving and looked around the room, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Both Maria and Jonas started to sing to drown out March’s voice, but the scientists walked towards the armoire and pulled out March.

  ‘Beautiful,’ Larry said.

  ‘Stop,’ Jonas said.

  Rezna held him back. Maria too made a move towards Larry, but with one arm holding March, he held off Maria with the other. Maria, realizing that the baby could get hurt, stopped trying.