Outlaw in India (6 page)

IT AMAZED ME TO NO
end that you could make an iron boat—heavy
enough to flatten a house if you were to drop it on one—fill it to the brim with
rocks and it would still float. But if you threw a single stone into the water
it would go straight to the bottom. This was the mystery of displacement.
Ziegfried explained it to me many times but I never truly understood the theory.
I could sense when something was going to float or sink; that was enough for
me.

The barge was as slow as molasses but it cut across the water to where the
harbour shrank from massive to small. As the barge disappeared up a river, like
a mouse into a hole, we were right behind.

Radji watched through the periscope and I watched on sonar. I
trusted him because he did everything with intense concentration. I was guessing
the river was flowing against us at a gentle three knots, which shouldn’t have
been much for a barge to plough through, especially empty, but it went very
slowly. Maybe they were trying to save fuel. Or maybe they were just not in a
hurry. I think we could have walked faster along the bank.

“Radji? Did you ever go to school?”

“No.”

“How come you speak English?”

“That’s what my mother spoke to me. And my friends. But I speak better than
them. I learned also at Kochi. I tried very hard to learn.”

“You did a good job. Did anyone ever try to teach you how to read and
write?”

“No.”

“Do you want to learn?”

“I am going to learn.”

“That’s good.”

“After I bathe in the Ganges my sins will be forgiven. I will be free and
everything in my life will change.”

“Oh. Can your mother and father read and write?”

“No. I don’t know anybody who can.”

“Really?”

“Except you. You can.”

“Yes. You will really like reading and writing, Radji. You
are very smart. I can tell. You will learn quickly and be amazed at how
interesting it is.”

“I know. I used to love reading before.”

“Before? What do you mean?”

“In another life. Before this one.”

“Another life?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

“In another life I read books and even wrote them.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I feel it. Sometimes when I’m sleeping I remember reading books and
writing them.”

“Cool. What about chess? Did you play chess in another life?”

“I don’t think so. I think this is the first time that I played.”

“Well, I think you are going to be very good at that too.”

“I hope so. I will try my hardest and give no quarter.”

I laughed. “That’s good. What do you see through the periscope now?”

“I see the barge. I see trees and grass. I see rice fields. I see people
working in the fields. I see . . . a temple.”

“Really? Let me see.”

Radji jumped down and I looked. It was a small grey temple, like a pyramid, but
box-shaped. The rice fields came close to the banks of the river. There were
ponds in some of the fields. In one of the ponds I saw something slither across
the top of the water. I was pretty sure it was a snake. “Are there snakes
here?”

“Yes. There are many snakes.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“Yes. Many people die.”

I opened my guide book and searched for information on snakes. It said that
there are four dangerous snakes in India. Every year about two hundred and fifty
thousand people get bitten by them and 20 percent die. Wow. That’s fifty
thousand people. Every year! Holy smokes! Most of the people who die are field
workers. It said that if you get bitten you must find the snake and kill it,
then take it with you to a medical centre so that they can identify it and give
you the right antidote before you die. Great. “Radji. These fields are
dangerous.”

“I know. I told you.”

“Then why the heck are people working in them? And they have bare feet!”

“There is no other work. They must work or they have nothing to eat.”

“But that’s crazy!”

“No. You only die when it is your time to die. If it isn’t your time, then you
won’t die. Nothing will change that.”

“Hmmm. I don’t think I believe that.”

“I do.”

We followed the barge for about fifteen miles, and that took the rest of the
day. We passed several barges going the other way. Loaded and riding with the
current they came down the river faster than they went up. The further upriver
we went, the narrower it became, and some of the turns were
tricky, especially when two barges met. Where our barge finally stopped and
turned around, there was a dock with trucks backing onto a ramp and unloading.
There were half a dozen barges in line in front of ours. I decided to continue
around the next bend, find a spot to surface in the dark, toss the anchor and
tie up to something.

I tied up to a tree in a dark corner, underneath some hanging branches. It was
out of the way of the barge traffic and a good place to hide. We tried to sleep
that night so we could get out and explore the next day, but since we had
already been sleeping in the day and travelling at night, it was hard to change
back. I was used to it but Radji wasn’t. Even though he tried hard to go to
sleep I heard him bumping around with Hollie, or thought I did, which told me
that my hearing was getting a lot better, which was good, except that I had a
lousy sleep. So did Radji. Then, with the early morning light coming up through
the observation window, I saw him sitting up with Hollie and studying the chess
board.

There are days when, if you knew what was coming, you wouldn’t get out of bed.
You’d pull up the covers and say, “No thanks.” But I always wondered: if you
avoided days like that, would they just come the next day anyway?

After a breakfast of porridge and tea and oranges, we climbed out of the sub
and left it tied to the tree, with the portal sticking up just a few inches
beneath the shadow of the branches. The only traffic on the river was the
barges, and there was no way they would ever notice the portal in that
corner, especially when they were busy navigating the turn.
Some barges went further upstream where there must have been other unloading
docks along the river, which meant there were other quarries too. In between the
quarries were rice fields, ponds and wooded areas. We had seen them along the
way. I figured we could walk in a wooded area and stay clear of the rice fields
and ponds.

I took along the tool bag for Hollie but he started on foot. Seaweed was
already out and gone. I sure hoped he would be careful around snakes. He had a
surprisingly aggressive nature when he was on his own. He would attack and rip
apart crabs of all types and sizes and didn’t seem to be afraid of anything,
except snowy owls in the Arctic. But snowy owls would chase wolves away from
their nests. Sometimes I wondered if Seaweed thought he was actually an eagle or
an osprey. I would never show him a mirror, just in case.

We left the river and entered a wooded area. The ground was dry and the trees
were dusty. Although it was hot already in the early morning, I loved the heat
of India. There was a faint smell of spice in the air but I didn’t know which
one it was. I kept a constant lookout for snakes. Hollie tramped around
cautiously. He was cautious when I was cautious. He sniffed with suspicion. He
zigzagged in front and behind us when curious items made it impossible for him
to resist; otherwise he tramped steadily at my feet. Through the trees I caught
sight of a nearby rice field, and the shiny brown limbs of workers there. I
wondered if you took an x-ray of the field
how many snakes you
would find, and where they would be. I supposed you’d have to have such an
attitude as Radji had about life and death if you were going to work there. I
wouldn’t do it. I’d walk to the sea and fish for a living instead, like my
grandfather.

We hadn’t gone far when Radji had a bit of bad luck. He tripped on a fallen log
and twisted his ankle. He said he was all right but I noticed he limped a little
after that. I wondered if he tripped because of the sneakers he was wearing, as
he was used to going barefoot. But he was attached to them and refused to take
them off.

The woods widened and narrowed and widened again before it reached a field that
was not a rice field, and we felt comfortable crossing it. Then we crossed a
road and entered another wooded area. Beside the road I saw a poster that showed
a father tossing a girl up in the air. The poster said, “Save the Girl Child.”
“What does that mean, Radji? What does it mean . . . save the girl child?”

Radji turned red and stared at the ground.

“What? What’s wrong? What’s wrong, Radji? Did I say something wrong?”

“No.”

“What’s upsetting you?”

“It means babies.”

“I don’t understand.”

Radji started breathing very heavily. I was starting to wonder if he had
asthma. He took a few deep breaths and spoke
with great
stress. “Sometimes . . . sometimes people kill their babies if they are
girls.”

“
What
?”

He was breathing so hard. I didn’t want to upset him anymore. “It’s okay,
Radji. We don’t have to talk about it. It’s okay. Let’s talk about something
else. Let’s talk about . . . chess.”

“Okay.”

And so we did. And I was astonished to learn that Radji had fixed the game in
his mind so well already that he could talk about the players and their moves
and the spaces as if it were all in front of him. Even so, I couldn’t stop
wondering what he meant about killing babies. But I wouldn’t ask him again. I
would ask someone else.

EVERY COUNTRY SMELLS
different, feels different, and looks
different. India was the most beautiful country I ever saw. If you think of a
country as being like an animal then India was the animal with the most colour,
the softest fur, the shiniest eyes, the sharpest claws, the longest tail, and
the prettiest face. She also smelled the nicest . . . and the
worst
. She
smelled like cinnamon and sandalwood and the heat of the ground and your own
skin. But she also smelled like the sewer, and you learned quickly which way to
turn your head. But that was only in the cities. In the country everything
smelled wonderful.

India was also the friendliest country to me, but the most
unfriendly to her own people, it seemed. She was the safest in some ways,
yet the most dangerous in others. She was dangerous because of the slithering
beasts that lay on the ground like shiny pieces of jewelled rope—hidden behind a
log or a bush—that would rush away from you like ribbons in the wind, or stand
up and strike you with deadly poison.

The snake caught us completely off-guard. We didn’t know it was there because
it wasn’t where snakes are supposed to be. It wasn’t in the field. It wasn’t
near water or rocks or any place to hide. We had stopped in the woods to look at
a beautiful bush with flowers on it, and the snake was there. But we couldn’t
see it. The colour of the snake blended in with the bush so well we thought it
was all one. Even Hollie didn’t know it was there. But when it came out of the
flowers and struck at Radji, I saw it. And even though it happened in an instant
I saw the black eyes of the snake as it went past. Then Hollie started barking
and the snake recoiled and struck at him. But Hollie jumped back. By then I had
raised my stick and I struck at the snake and hit it on its back. It dropped to
the ground and raced into the bushes so quickly all we saw was the thin tail for
an instant, and it was gone.

It happened so fast and unexpectedly we were all shocked. Two thoughts raced
through my head: had Radji been bitten? And, if he had, I must catch the snake
and kill it. Radji had jumped a couple of feet off the ground when the snake had
struck, but had it bitten him? He had cried out.

“Radji? Are you okay? Did the snake bite you?”

He was breathing heavily and his face was red and wearing a
very serious expression. He nodded his head with resignation. “Yes.”

“It did? Oh no! Quick!
Quick
! We have to find a clinic or a hospital. We
have to find someone to take us there, to drive us. Quick, we have to hurry
now!”

But Radji just sat down, crossed his legs and dropped his head. “No. That
doesn’t matter now. It is my time now.”

“
What
? No, it isn’t! Don’t be silly! We have to get you to a doctor
right now, and we’ll get you the right antidote and you’ll be fine. Come on,
let’s go!”

But Radji just sat there and shook his head. I bent down. “Let me see.” He
stretched out his leg and I saw the nasty red marks just above his ankle. I
couldn’t believe that those two little marks were where a snake had sunk its
poison to kill. What a dangerous creature. “Come on! Let’s go!”

Radji got to his feet reluctantly. I couldn’t believe how resigned he was. He
really thought he was dying, and there was nothing we could do about it. But I
would never believe that. I wanted him to run with me but he wouldn’t. He was
walking, but too slowly. “Come on, Radji! Please try harder!”

“But I am tired. And I am dying anyway. Why try harder?”

“Because you are not going to die. We will find a doctor. You are going to be
fine.”

Radji did not have the will to try because he did not believe there was any
point. But I thought he might also be tired because of the snake’s venom. And I
saw that his leg was al
ready beginning to swell. That
frightened me. “Okay, climb onto my back. I’m going to carry you.”

Radji dropped his face. He had no will to continue. I pulled off the tool bag
and left it on the ground. “Here. Climb up and hold on around my neck.” I said
it so firmly he obeyed me. I bent down, he held onto my neck, and I slid my
hands underneath his knees. Because he was so light I was able to walk quickly.
Hollie looked back at the tool bag, then joined us and trotted by my feet.

I walked as quickly as I could and tried to think positively. I would find a
road, stop a car and get them to take us to a clinic. Radji would get the
antidote and would be fine. By suppertime everything would be okay.

Well, it didn’t work like that. We had crossed three roads earlier, but I
couldn’t seem to find one now. I didn’t want to go back because it was so far.
There must be one very close to us now. I walked faster. As light as Radji was,
it was a lot of work carrying him. I was quickly out of breath and had to slow
down a little.

I couldn’t find a road! What a horrible feeling it was. There must be a road,
but where was it? Radji was growing more tired. His voice sounded sleepy. “Stay
awake, Radji! You have to stay awake.”

“But I am so tired.”

“Yes, but you have to stay awake.”

“Will you take me to Varanasi?”

“What?”

“Will you take me to Varanasi? When I die?”

“Radji. You’re not going to die.”

“Will you take me if I do? And burn my body? Please?”

“Yes, I will take you, but you are not going to die.”

“Do you promise?”

He sounded so sleepy now. “Radji!”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, I promise. Now stay awake!”

His face bumped against my back as we hurried along. It was getting very
difficult to keep walking, but I had to. Where was the road?

Finally I saw a sign and found a road. I waved to the first car to stop but it
wouldn’t. I waved to the next one too, but they wouldn’t stop. When the third
car came, I stepped in front of it and forced it to stop, but the driver yelled
at us and waved his arms angrily, then drove onto the shoulder and went around
us. I couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t anyone stop? Then a taxi stopped but was
filled with passengers already. I yelled to the driver that Radji had a snake
bite and asked if we could squeeze in too but he shook his head. He said that
there was a clinic just a mile up the road. Then he drove off. I kept walking
and trying to stop every car. But no one else would stop. No one.

Walking that mile was the worst experience in my whole life. Radji went to
sleep. I couldn’t wake him. I felt his leg with my hand and it was swollen. And
even though he was so very light, I became exhausted carrying him so far and
couldn’t
go as fast as I wanted to, as I needed to. I felt so
awful. And then something else happened that caused me even more anxiety. When I
looked behind me, Hollie wasn’t there. He was gone. I yelled for him but he
never came. Where had he gone? What happened? I started wondering if maybe he
had been bitten by the snake, too. I wanted so badly to go back and find him. He
would be expecting me to. But . . . I couldn’t. I had to get Radji to the
doctor.

That was the worst feeling—wanting so desperately to find Hollie but not being
able to. I was carrying a boy on my back who was dying. I couldn’t stop. I
couldn’t go back now. It would have to be later. I could only hope later
wouldn’t be too late. For now I had to keep going. That’s all I could do. It was
a nightmare.

The road crossed another road, and for a moment I didn’t know which way we
should go. They looked the same. But the taxi driver never said to turn off, so
I kept going straight, although I worried now that it might be the wrong way. It
was bringing us closer to the river. I didn’t see any houses or towns or
anything but fields and woods. My arms and legs were really tired now. Radji was
still asleep. I talked to him but he wouldn’t wake up. I tried not to think
about what might happen. I tried to think just positive thoughts. And then I saw
a house, and then I saw a clinic sign. I was so happy. I tried to walk faster.
“Hold on Radji! We are almost there.”

The clinic was in someone’s house. The house was fancy for being out in the
country. It was right next to the river and
there was a high
iron gate all around it. There was a shiny new car sitting in the driveway and a
new motorboat beside that. I went up to the gate but found it locked. There was
a bell, so I grabbed it with one hand, still holding Radji on my back. I started
ringing the bell and didn’t stop until an old woman came out of the house and
walked over to us. She opened the gate but when she saw Radji on my back she
shook her head. I pushed past her and rushed to the house. I banged on the door
with my foot until it opened and there was a man in a suit and a white doctor’s
coat. “What?” he said.

I pushed inside. “It’s my friend. He’s been bitten by a snake. Please help
us.”

The doctor looked at Radji and I saw his nose twitch, as if he were smelling
him the way an animal would smell another animal. He took a step back. Radji did
smell. His clothes smelled like old carpet, his hair smelled a bit like vinegar,
and his fingernails were black. He really needed a bath. I wondered when was the
last time he had taken one. But where would Radji take a bath?

The doctor’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. He frowned and shook his head. My
face fell. “Help us! You’re a doctor!”

“I cannot help you,” he said.

“Yes, you can! You’re a doctor.”

“I am a doctor but I cannot help you. Go somewhere else.”

“You mean you
won’t
help us. You can help us but you won’t.”

Without changing his voice he said, “I cannot help you. Go somewhere
else.”

I yelled at him. “
Where
? Where are we supposed to
go?”

He went to the door, pushed it open and pointed out. “Go.”

Funny the things we notice at times like this. I saw the very same
advertisement for Radji’s skin cream on the wall of the doctor’s office. On the
counter was an open box of tubes. The doctor was selling it here. “Go,” he
said. “Across the street there is another clinic. Maybe they will see you
there.”

He left the room. I rushed outside, went through the gate and looked down the
road. There was a group of buildings at the corner. It looked like the edge of a
small town. I grabbed hold of Radji’s legs tightly and hurried down the
road.

I burst into the clinic, saw several people waiting in chairs and a doctor
talking to a nurse. They stopped talking and stared at us. I was almost fainting
with fatigue now. “He . . . he . . . got a snake bite!”

The doctor put down her chart. “Quickly!” she said. “Come with me.”

I followed her to an examining room where she helped take Radji off my back and
lay him onto an examining bed. “How long ago?” she asked.

“Umm . . . about forty-five minutes, I think. We were in the woods.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. Down the road.” I pointed.

“No. I mean, where is the bite?”

“Oh. Here. Above the ankle. His leg is swollen now.”

She felt his forehead, lifted his wrist and started counting his pulse.

“Will he be okay?”

She looked at me very sympathetically while she counted his pulse. “We will
certainly hope so.”

“The doctor across the street wouldn’t see us.”

“He would see
you
. He wouldn’t see him.”

She took a magnifying glass and looked at the snake bite very carefully.
“Describe the snake to me.”

“It happened so fast. It was green and had black and yellow on it, I think. I
wanted to try to kill it and bring it here but never had a chance.”

“Were they blocks of colour or stripes?”

“Umm . . . I’m not sure. I think maybe they were stripes.”

“But you’re not sure?”

“I’m sorry. No.”

She felt the swelling on his leg, then compared it to his other leg. “Did he
fall? Did he hurt his leg in any other way?”

“Yes. He did. He twisted his ankle this morning. I saw him limping a little
bit.”

She nodded her head. “And was he maybe very tired?”

“Umm . . . yes, I think so. Our sleep had changed. We had been up all night and
sleeping in the day, then we changed back.”

“Yes. Well, I think I might have good news for you. I think this is not a
venomous bite. We don’t need to see the snake to diagnose a snake bite anyway.
We can tell by the bite. Not all snakes here are dangerous, although many are. I
think your friend was bitten by a harmless snake. Painful, yes, but not
deadly.”