A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 68

             They came upon a small bench that could just seat two, on the beach. They had to sit very close to each other to be comfortable and not fall off the seat! Both of them kicked off their sandals and dug their feet deep into the soft sand. The sky was a clear blue. They could look at the far-off horizon where the water shimmered like diamonds and the fishing boats bobbed about like small toys on the water’s burgeoning surface. Many people were sun-bathing on towels spread out on the sand; children were raucously making sand-castles that kept disintegrating while some lovers were etching their names on the sand with small sticks and stones, only to have them washed away at once by the spoil-sport waves.

            Both Martha and the Doctor were lost in their own train of thoughts. He was thinking about ways to keep her by his side forever, just like this morning and she was ruminating on the fickleness of life itself. When death was so certain why did people spend so much time and effort on material acquisitions? Why did people not take trouble to understand that life was ephemeral, transitory? Why was the King of Regina hell-bent on having a successor to his Kingdom? Could only one’s kith and kin rule ably over one’s estate and not any outsider?

             As she gazed into the glimmering distance, she remembered the shimmering waters of the pool at the shrine, a dip into which rendered one immortal. She got up as if in a trance and started walking into the sea. Bemused, Dr. Hussey watched, as the waves kissed her fair, dainty feet and as she waded further in to wet her frock’s hemline. She did not turn as he called out to her to turn back as the water was too tricky further ahead. “Martha, only that far please, please turn back.” His loud entreaty fell on deaf ears.

           She kept walking. Now she was waist-deep in water. Then she slipped in the swirling, wet sand. As he saw her sinking, he ran quickly towards her and scooped her up in his arms. She struggled to free herself from his grip. “Leave me Juan. Leave me. I want to be immortal. Let me stay in this holy water for a while. I want to be immortal.”

          He looked at her strangely and slightly slapped her cheek. “Martha, what the hell are you taking about?” he demanded worriedly, a frown crossing his brow. Her blue eyes were glazed and moist. “Juan, we will always be together. Aren’t we immortal, as we’d both plunged into that natural spring with mysterious powers at the shrine? We’ll always live happily in Regina till eternity. People will come and go. Invaders will attack Regina and be forced to surrender. No one will ever be able to harm us, isn’t it?” A tighter slap landed on her smooth cheek as she watched him with wide eyes.

            No, but this wasn’t Juan. Who was he? He had both his eyes intact. He wasn’t even blonde. She started struggling to shrug off the Doctor’s vice-like grip as he started dragging her towards the seat. “Leave me,” she shrieked. The revelers around them looked on stunned. Some came forward to tell the Doctor to leave that lady alone. He held Martha’s arm by one hand and told them, “I’m Doctor Benedict Hussey. She’s my patient, Martha. She’s having one of her panic attacks. Kindly leave us alone.” A woman came forward to vouch for his statement. “Yes folks, he is THE famous Dr. Hussey. We mustn’t interfere. Let him do his job. He’s obviously on duty even today.” As he winced at her insinuation, everyone left them alone and went back to their merriment.

             As their dresses were soiled and soggy, The Doctor realized that he had no option but to return home. He decided that he’d order home-delivery of pizzas and ice-cream. He led the by then sobbing Martha gently with his arm around her shoulder, towards his car. Her hat was lost, tossed about by the waves when she sank into the water. His was ruined for the time-being.

             Once back in the apartment, after suffering the queer looks of his pesky neighbor, he ordered Martha to change into dry clothes at once, lest she caught a cold. He too went to change in his bedroom. He changed quickly into his pajama suit and rushed to her room, to keep tabs on her. He didn’t want her passing out in her room with her door locked. He tapped slightly on her door and saw that it was slightly ajar. When she didn’t respond, he decided to wait awhile. Since the door wasn’t locked, there was no danger. He hovered there for around ten minutes and then grew fearful and restless. What was taking her so long?

              He was wary of barging into her room for fear of a repeat of that last time’s embarrassing episode when he had chanced upon her in her sexy undergarments. He felt the heat rushing to his neck at that thought. He didn’t want her to think of him as a lecherous and voyeuristic person. Again he tapped on her door. Tap, tap and tap. “Martha, are you all right? Have you finished changing? May I come in?” when he got no answer, he walked right into her room and was amazed by what he saw.

               Martha had changed into a soft-pink nightgown and was writing on her bed. She didn’t even bother to look at him. He decided to leave her alone. He would order the lunch and then disturb her. He left the door slightly ajar as he had found it and walked into the living-room, pensive and anxious. She was behaving rather strangely. It was a strange case of amnesia and delirium, hallucination and delusion. Her peculiar behavior had already prompted him to start writing a research paper on her case.

To be continued....

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.