Meeting Max (17 page)

The next morning, Rick walked to the fort to find a place for breakfast. When he was a short distance from the Jain Temple, he saw a small handmade sign:

Vidya Family Restaurant. Breakfast and Lunch.One flight up.

He took a leap of faith and walked up the long, narrow spiral of well-worn marble stairs until he reached an open door to an apartment. He walked in and was greeted by an elderly woman. She was small and frail with deep wrinkles fanning out beneath her dark brown eyes. She wore loose fitting white cotton pants and a matching white top. A blue headscarf covered her hair, and earrings made of small, gold antique coins hung from her ears.

“
Namaste
, I’m Mrs. Vidya,” she uttered in a low, scratchy voice.

“
Namaste
,
Ap kaise hain
,” Rick answered, practicing his Hindi.

“
Maim accha hum
,” she replied, verifying she understood his Hindi pronunciation of, “How are you?”

There were four tables in the apartment. Mrs. Vidya pointed to one of them. It was next to a window where he could sit and view part of the street below. She handed him a small pad of lined green paper and a pencil. She told him in her weak voice, “Write you want,”and handed him a well-worn card listing a few breakfast items. He printed his order and handed it to her.

Paratha with honey, small dish of apple curd, and Masala tea

Both her home and restaurant were part of Mrs. Vidya’s apartment. There was a small open kitchen where she prepared the food while sitting on a spotless, dark wooden floor. The splashes of colored spices were piled up around her in white ceramic dishes and showed deep reds, bright yellows, and golden browns. It reminded Rick of an artist’s studio. He watched her from his table as she prepared and cooked his breakfast, twisting and turning her aged body as she stretched for each ingredient.

She prepared the paratha by rolling the dough on her workspace into small balls with her wrinkled, experienced hands and dusted them with flour. She used a small rolling pin to shape them into a perfectly flat circular shape, then fried them on the stove in an oiled skillet.

Rick’s breakfast arrived forty minutes later, longer than expected, but understandable because Indian cooks respected the time-honored tradition of preparing meals from fresh ingredients, although he did see her take the apple curd from a commercially labeled jar in the small refrigerator.

The paratha bread was accompanied by a selection of honey, yogurt, apple curd, and pickles. He tried some of each on his bread. They all tasted fine, but the pickles were a bit much for him in the morning.

As Mrs.Vidya brought out his Masala tea, Rick heard voices coming from the small hallway below that led to the narrow circular stairway. He listened to their conversation. They spoke English in low tones, but he could tell from the man’s lilting voice that he was an Indian.

He heard them say goodbye, which was followed by the sound of high heels clunking their way up the marble stairway. The sound captured his interest until Mrs. Vidya distracted him by putting more paratha bread on his plate to have with his tea. Rick thanked her and watched her go off to the kitchen.

He sipped his tea, leaned back, and thought about his experience in the desert. It was an introduction to himself. A minute later, he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He turned to look and stared in disbelief.

“Elena!” he exclaimed as he crashed his teacup down on the table and stood up to face her.

“It’s been a while, Rick,” she said with a glowing smile.

“Yes! Oh my God.” He extended his hands. “What are you doing here? Never mind, it doesn’t matter.You’re here!” He stood silently and looked at her. “Am I in some sort of dream, because what’s happening is not possible.”

Elena took his hands in hers. “If it is, we’re in it together. Don’t I get a hug?”

Rick didn’t answer. His heart pounded as he took Elena in his arms and held her tight. He closed his eyes, pulled her closer, and felt all her luscious curves pressing against him.

“Thanks for meeting me here,” Rick said, shaking his head in disbelief and smiling.

“Meeting you?”

“Yeah, meeting me in this dream. I hope I never wake up. I missed you.”

“I missed you more.” Elena leaned forward to kiss him.

“I guess all my thoughts of you brought you here,” Rick said, taking her in his arms again. “I don’t believe this is happening.”

“It was meant to be,” Elena purred. “I love this dream. I guess we made it happen.” She laughed, took his hand, and held it to her lips.

“I always knew you were the dreamy type. Of all the breakfast joints, in all the towns, in all of India, Elena walked into mine. Just like in
Casablanca
. So, if you are but a dream, stay here. Dreams are where the impossible take place. If I can’t have you in real life, I can at least have you here.”

“Stop babbling, Rick. What kind of tea are you having?”

“Masala.”

“Great!”

“I’m still a little numb, Elena.”

“Are you going to get me some?”

“Some what?”

“Tea, of course. Masala.”

“Oh, sorry.” He was still in shock. “What else would you like?”

“Just tea for now.”

Rick couldn’t take his eyes off her. He even forgot to order her tea. They sat and held each other’s hands across the table.

“Rick, I have to tell you, I’ve been here for breakfast many times, and I know Mrs.Vidya quite well. She’s a very nice woman. She used to own a restaurant with her husband a short distance from here for over forty years. Their restaurant was the highlight of Jaisalmer. She did the cooking and he was ‘Mr. Personality’. They shared a deep love for each other all those years, but he died recently and she moved to this apartment to live and cook breakfast for people. I don’t think business is great for her. There’s hardly anyone here when I come in. Everything she cooks is delicious, though. The naan and tikka masala are the best.”

“Something must have drawn me to this place today,” Rick said, shaking his head. “It was destiny. What a wonderful surprise. I’m still halfway in the dream.”

“A beautiful surprise,” Elena said, glowing. “I’ve thought of you so much. I never expected to ever see you.”

“Well, there must be some reason our paths haven’t crossed after we left each other at the airport. I couldn’t figure it out. I thought about you a lot. Why we didn’t meet in Delhi…Was there any reason that—”

“We have now, Rick. We have now.” She glanced away, sighed, and bit her lip.

Rick felt something was troubling her. “We can get to the reason another time. I’m not in a hurry. Maybe I thought of you so much that the universe
conspired
to bring us together. I read about that somewhere.”

“We must have been thinking of
each other
a lot in order to get the universe involved.”

Rick looked at her. The circles under her eyes were new. She looked tired, stressed, but still beautiful. Mrs. Vidya arrived with her small green pad and Elena wrote:

Paratha bread with butter, masala chai.

“I know so little about you, Elena. Yet it doesn’t matter. We’re so much alike. What matters is you’re here.”

“We can share some time together in Jaisalmer. Will you be in town for a while?”

Rick thought for a moment.
She said that too casually
. He wasn’t sure what she meant by
some
time. Was she going to disappear again?

“I’ll be in town, and you better not run off on me,” Rick said.

“I won’t. I promise. I need you in my life right now, especially now.”

“I can tell there’s something going on. I feel it.”

“Yes, there is,” she said with a serious expression. “Maybe the universe put you in this spot for a good reason. I’ll never think of the universe the same way again.”

“Neither will I. We came to India for reasons of our own. We should be more open.”

“We will. Where have you been?” Elena asked.

“Delhi. That was the culture shock of the century for me. I stayed with Rohit and Lubna, had my meals with them, and learned a lot about India. We talked about the problems between Muslims, Hindus, and partition.”

“Well, you can skip those topics with me.” Elena crossed her arms. “I just want to relax. Something brought us together again. Some force—something. I mean, India is a big country with over a billion people, yet here we are.”

“Whatever the reason, we’re together. Nothing is going to change that.”

“Nothing will. I promise you. Trust me this time,” Elena said.

“I will. One more thing, I don’t know why I’m bringing this up now, but I did have somewhat of a spiritual experience since I’ve been here.”

“You? Mr. Atheist? Tell me.”

“You’ll have to wait. I want to make sure to keep you interested so I won’t lose you again.”

She laughed. ”You won’t, I promise. We’ll keep your spiritual experience in mind for next time. I may have to leave soon, so tell me some of the things you’ve done since you got here.”

“I made friends with an auto rickshaw driver. He was young and has a great sense of humor. We went everywhere together in Delhi. He helped me search for the person I briefly mentioned on the plane. I’d like to talk about it when we can.” Rick leaned forward, taking Elena’s hands in his. “I won’t be so cryptic about it. I want to tell you the whole story. Maybe you can help me.”

“I want to hear it,” Elena said, squeezing his hands. “It’s first on our list when we meet again. Where did you go after Delhi?”

“I went to Agra and stayed at Colonel Mehatra’s homestay, went to the Taj, of course, then to Jaipur, where I met my friend, Lalit, who I knew from the States. We drove to Ranthambhore, then...”

“Hey, slow down again. Sounds like a travelogue. I’ve never been to Ranthambhore. Put that on our list too. I want to hear about it in slow motion.”

“We better be seeing a lot of each other so I can take a long time telling you about it.”

“We will, Rick. Stop being so worried about me going off again. Trust me. So, you haven’t found the person you were searching for?”

“No, not yet, but I get the feeling something is bothering you. Something deep down inside.”

Elena stood up. She made it seem casual, but Rick could tell it was anything but. “I have to leave now, but maybe we can meet for dinner and talk.”

Rick shook his head slightly from side to side. “I’m going to lose you again.”

“You won’t. I will give you my mobile number.” She wrote it down on a napkin and handed it to him. “You can call it now, right
here,
while you’re still with me.”

“Okay, I believe you. I’m just sorry we didn’t connect in Delhi.”

“There was a reason for that.” Elena lowered her head. “I lied to you. Did you ever lie, Rick? Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that. Knowing you, you probably never did. Trust me when I say it was for a good reason and I give you my word I will explain everything when we meet later. Just be patient with me. You won’t lose me now. You have my number.

“Where would you like to meet tonight? Trust me, I will be there. I’m staying at the Fort Rajwada hotel.”

Rick squeezed her hand. “You have my trust. Why don’t you come to my guesthouse? Two brothers run it and there’s a rooftop restaurant with good food. It’s called Jalmir House. I can pick you up if that’s better for you.”

“Is the place you’re staying outside the Golden Fort?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. I’ll meet you there. Jalmir House?”

“Yes, the driver will know where it is.”

“I’ll find it. Seven o’ clock, okay?”

“That’s great. I’ll meet you on the rooftop. You have my mobile number. Don’t lose it.”

“I promise I won’t. Would you mind if I left separately now, before you?”

“Of course not,” he said, wondering why.

They kissed briefly and said goodbye. Rick felt the warmth of her lips linger on his cheek like soft velvet.

He left Mrs. Vidya’s place shortly after. He was beaming.

Did luck bring us together again? How could that be? What was the likelihood of that happening? True, India is a large country, but she did mention Jaisalmer when we first met.

Rick took the fifteen-minute walk back to Jalmir house and stopped to look at a large ceramic image of the Hindu god, Ganesh, that filled one side of the entranceway. Ganesh was portrayed in a very colorful manner with four arms and the head of an elephant.

Rick turned his head to see Jalish pulling up on his motorcycle. He asked Rick if he could take him somewhere. Rick said he just got back from breakfast at the fort.

“Where is it you went?” Jalish asked, talking over the engine noise.

“I don’t remember the name of the place. It was in a woman’s apartment. Her name was Mrs. Vidya.”