That evening, the Doctor took
Martha for dinner. It was a very relaxed affair, with both of them in the best
of spirits. They had a splendid time, cracking jokes, gossiping and chatting
like two close buddies. Martha realized that the Benny was very good company.
She thanked him for everything that he had done for her and even declared that
she would be acknowledging his help on the first page of her novel! The others
who would find honorable mention would be Norman, Arnold and John D’ Costa, but
undoubtedly, Dr. Benedict Hussey’s name would top that list. “Thanks, Martha
that is very generous of you!” he had remarked, obviously pleased with her
gratitude.
The
next four days, Martha busied herself cleaning Benny’s apartment. She vacuum
cleaned each and every room, every nook and crevice; laundered all the curtains
and bedding items, polished the furniture till it gleamed as if new and bought
new exotic plants to place in the living room and the study. In spite of his
protests, she had given the help who cleaned the apartment, four days off so
that she could personally tend to the house. In fact, she felt that she owed
the benevolent Doctor, some kind of compensation, for his invaluable help in
getting her life back on track. As she knew that he would outright reject any cash compensation, she had decided to repay in kind! Little did she know that
the Doctor had an entirely different kind of compensation in mind! He wanted to
possess her and make her his forever, by hook or by crook!
When
Benny beamed and praised her efforts lavishly and remarked, “See, this is why
every house needs a woman to make it a home!” she blushed and shyly said, “Yes,
I see!” She dreaded what would come next. She just hoped that he wouldn’t
propose to her next! But of course, he knew that her heart beat for John, so he
wouldn’t do the unthinkable, but she couldn’t be sure. She felt vaguely uneasy
as she knew that the Doctor had been secretly having a soft spot for her! She
even knew that he found her to be very desirable and wouldn’t mind jumping into
bed with her, given an opportunity. Hence she always diplomatically kept him at
arm’s length but never gave him any indication that she could read his mind.
Two could play at this game, she thought wisely.
She
had deliberately kept herself occupied fruitfully for four days, to tide over
her excitement and anxiety over the forthcoming meeting with her beloved John,
in the presence of the Doctor. She just hoped that she had fully recovered and
didn’t faint on seeing him as she usually did. She had stopped having
hallucinations about her characters and now they seemed so distant that she
never remembered them. The novel had left her system and she could breathe
freely and sleep soundly once again. She felt that she had become the original,
contented and uncomplicated Martha again. Only her life continued to be
complicated and tangled due to her three suitors; Norman, John and Benny! But
Monday would clinch this uncertainty for her. Now she couldn’t wait for Monday
to dawn. But she had to yet suffer through the spoilsport Sunday! Never had she
hated Sunday so much!
Throughout the week, Dr. Hussey had been plotting his next move. His
plan of action was ready. He was waiting impatiently for Sunday night. His plan
would be implemented that night. Hopefully, he would get Martha all for himself
on Monday. He gleefully visualized Martha becoming violent and fainting on
seeing John at the meeting. He would see to it that she got agitated and
out-of-control. Only then would John get really scared and give up the thought
of marrying Martha. After all, which sane person would ever want to be saddled
with a mentally-disturbed person for the rest of his life! Norman too would
give up on Martha, again on his (Benny’s) well-meant advice and only he would
be Martha’s savior and guardian angel. She’d always need him and feel safe and
protected with him around. He could live with his beautiful patient all his
life.
After spending the Sunday lazily at home, both the Doctor and Martha
decided to turn in early for the night. Both couldn’t wait for Monday to come. And
when it came, all hell broke loose in the Doctor’s apartment.
As
soon as the alarm went off at 5 a.m. in the morning, Martha jumped up from bed
and excitedly went about her chores. She had already decided to take her
novel’s folder to the clinic to show it to John. After searching for it in vain
in her closet, puzzled about its absence there, for she was certain to have
placed it there, she tried to see whether she had kept it in her suitcase that
was placed near the closet. To her utter surprise, the suitcase opened without
her having to insert her key. She always used a combination lock as well as a
key for double-safety.
Besides, no one knew the combination numbers, apart from herself and no
one else had the key! So who could have opened it? She was horrified as she
wondered whether she had absent-mindedly forgotten to lock it, after all!
Hastily, she began rifling through its contents for the precious folder. Lord
please let me find it, she feverishly prayed. As more and more clothes and
personal effects poured out without any sign of the folder, she became
increasingly nervous and felt the hysteria bubbling within her.
Where
on earth could it have gone? She was cent per cent sure that she had kept it in
her room only. She was a very organized person and never carelessly left things
lying around! She suddenly felt guilty as she hadn’t even bothered to look at
the folder since the past five days. But there was no reason why she should
have! Hadn’t she been very busy!
Very distraught now, she started searching in each of the five rooms in
that spacious apartment. She systematically searched each drawer and closet in
each room. She had cleaned the entire premises hence knew the positions of all
the furniture by heart. She hadn’t seen her precious folder then so the chances
of its being found anywhere other than her room were remote; still she labored
on, as hope gave wings to her frenzied search. Ultimately, only Benny’s room
remained to be combed. But he was fast asleep. It was 6 a.m. and he woke up
only at 6.30 a.m.!
To be continued....
The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.
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