Tikkipala (51 page)

‘Don't cry,' said Nirmal.

‘I never cry,' said Devi.

They lay silent for a while, listening to Tikkipala's even breathing.

Devi whispered, ‘He's asleep at last.'

‘We'll have to be very quiet,' Nirmal whispered back.

Later she asked him, ‘Feel my stomach. What do you think?'

‘It's much too early,' said Nirmal, but all the same put a great crusty palm across her navel.

‘Ouch,' said Devi. ‘You hands are scratchier than ever.'

Nirmal twisted round and put his ear against her belly.

‘There, is that better?' he asked.

‘Much,' she murmured.

‘Why is Papa doing that, Ma?' Tikkipala's voice came piercing through the dark.

‘Tikkipala, go back to bed. I thought you were asleep. Go back this minute.'

‘I'm getting into your bed.' He scuttled across the room, clinging to his falling pajama bottoms, bare feet smacking on the marble.

‘Why?' asked Devi.

‘I'm scared,' said Tikkipala.

Sighing, Devi and Nirmal moved over to make a place for him.

‘But why was Papa listening to your tummy?' the little boy persisted when he was tucked in between his parents.

‘To see if Papa has made a baby sister for you,' said Devi.

‘Can he even make statues inside your tummy?' Tikkipala became silent for a moment, then said sadly, ‘Do I have to have a sister? Will she look like the Tikki?'

Nirmal put and arm round him and gave him a hug. ‘Of course not. She'll be pretty, like your mother.'

The Raja sighed when, coming down for breakfast, Devi said, ‘We are going back to Parwal.'

Khan, bringing in the post, heard too and groaned aloud.

‘Why?' the Raja asked. ‘Haven't enough terrible things already happened there?'

‘I am going to create a new Tikki,' said Nirmal. ‘This one will really live. She will be black and her gleaming skin will glitter with amthyst and agate, opal and beryl.' Nirmal was so excited that his breathing was coming fast.

‘That shows he knows nothing about minerals,' said Devi. ‘None of those are found there, but I am going too. Who knows, there might be another Ama stone up there.'

‘My grandson can stay here. We will care for him till you come back,' the Raja said. ‘The child has been through enough already. He will be afraid.'

‘Of course I won't be afraid,' cried Tikkipala, ‘because I'm not afraid of anything.'

‘Also we need him,' explained Nirmal.

‘Rubbish,' snapped the Raja.

‘He is the son of Maw, so knows things that ordinary people don't,' explained Devi, a little incoherently.

‘I am a bit of a magic boy. That's why I've got to go,' explained Tikkipala grandly.

‘You and I have much in common,' said Sangita to Devi. ‘Both of us sold our child, I for a kiss and you for a stone. And we were both lucky to get our children back again, though you should have listened to me. From the first time I set eyes on him, I knew that tribal boy would bring trouble to you. Now, here is a list of the minerals and crystals I want you to bring back from Parwal.'

The daughter of novelist Anita Mostyn, Sara Banerji was born in England but spent part of her childhood in the African bush. She later moved back to England, where she met her future husband, an Indian-born undergraduate studying at Oxford University. After they married, the pair moved to India; they spent the first seventeen years of their married life in the South Indian Hills tea planting and bringing up three daughters. During that time Sara rode as a jockey on the flat and held exhibitions of her paintings in Madras and Delhi. She and her family now live in Oxford.

Discover books by Sara Banerji published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/SaraBanerji

Absolute Hush
Cobweb Walking
Shining Agnes
The Tea-Planter's Daughter
The Wedding of Jayanthi Mandel
Writing on Skin

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This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader

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Copyright © 2014 Sara Banerji

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eISBN: 9781448215058

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