White Knights
- Part 4 -

By N. Bobo Meitei *

Days go by they both travel through out the country. They are happy, acquiring the achievement that there is more to this place than to his low-profile life back in his stiffed-up country. She follows his enchanted footsteps as all she has is time, pleasure and the recognition by people around her.

Throughout the whole trips they arouse each other's temptation to prolong their togetherness, that attempt is sometimes elevated by futuristic talks. When that begins he realizes for one more time he should go home to make a public announcement. What has crossed his mind is abruptly announced to her. With excitement she hugs him and gives promises to love him, to bear his kids and to live with him forever.

A day to go before his departure her mood dwells in a gloomy state of mind, without giving him the slightest clue, leaving him doubtable guilt within. While efforts to communicate with her feeling proves are exhausted he finally he goes down to the counter looking for the lady manager whose English is better than hers. The lady manager readily comes up with him to the hotel room to be the interpreter between the two aroused souls.

The presence of the lady manager seems enlightens her, a smile break out of her gloomy face. In the presence of a people of her kinds she lets go of her unsaid words in her first language, which goes on for 20 minutes, when she ceases the lady manager translates all she has just explained to the departing man with a disapproving face "

She is alone and se has no one here. All she is going to do is to sit and wait for you right here till u come back. And how is she going to survive without a Satang in her pocket?" to which she adds "mister by the time you find her she will be a skeleton. Will you be able to look at that deadly human form of your love?"

"Skeleton!" strikes him so hard that it ferries him to the scenes he had seen in Africa; malnourished kids dying owing to lack of food. "No, I don't have the right to take the life of a person for whom I have inflammable desire."

Exaggerating his contemplation he pictures himself as a white man violating the existential right of some lady in a land afar from his hubris-laden nation. There is no trace of hesitation when he guarantees what he will do for her "Even though I have little money now, I ensure I leave enough money with you. When I get to England I make sure I send you money till the time I get here. Don't you worry my love; I'll do anything which is within my capacity."

Now guaranteed her, supposedly, smile glisten her gloomy face, transferring the smile from her to the lady manager then to the departing man. Happily she helps him to get a taxi.

At the airport there were so many of her kinds, wandering around laughing with their western bred fiancées, hubbies or would be ones. Contagious is so their happiness that the fatigue which has been grooming inside him takes its leave, understanding the gravity of the prevailing happiness. "Oh! My goodness they all look so happy.

No wonder people always recommend going to Siam if one seeks true brides." He thinks with envious feeling. To reconcile with his envy he tells himself "I 'm also going to be one of them. A cheerful lad accompanied by a lovely tanned lady."

What has taken hold of his mind is convincingly read by accompanying lady, as though she is happy for him she says " I love you" in her first language " I'll wait for your return." "It's no bullock mate" he tries reconciling with his dodgy doubt.

His sudden arrival satisfies his mother whereas his friends sense the upcoming of something ominous. People gather around him, people call him. At the mass he breaks the news of his proposition and his intention to go-ahead with the nuptial process. From a cheerful face her face turns crimson, unable to suppress it she starts sobbing at the same time making remarks of disapproval of her son undesirable conduct.

This brings the mother's contemptuous disapproval, by it she stands with without indicating any sign of flexibility, whereas, he stands next to his new-found love for which he wouldn't mind battling. Being one of the beings in a free world the understanding of differences and to value the magnitude of that difference is acceptably civil let alone the grudge which will be restored as a shaky bridge between the beings, they restore what has been a tradition in the family.

It's natural for motivated human to slave over things for which they are dead sure. Naivety could be the impression you may leave on people, however, the so-called naïve courage that one has mustered to reach out to the comfort zone could allow the rest to grab the liberty to describe the indescribable.

How could one change the paradigm of those who have set up their solid interpretation? The worse could be when one hears from the victim's mouth, telling you "for a bloody tart!" Certainly every coin has two sides, so how to look at things depends which side of the coin you are looking at.

Dragging beer crates, holding up five pints at one time, toiling 10 hours, if possible more than that James slaves over, and thinking every moment how he can minimize his expenses.

Crushed down by his toiling he appears like a slave who has been chained to his oars, at that soiled appearance his mother's stiffness manner has been changed into a stooping figure, like a mother who has been staring at her child who was once hers, without uttering a word, although her new appeared is more than enough to tell how she has been impacted.

" My lost son. My lost son. I can't stand it any longer." She bellows out. The strong wave of it touches everything and everyone as well in the crumbling castle. He is just about to leave for his hustling job by the time the wave strikes him. With concern he goes to check on his mother, who examines her lost son with melancholy expression to express her powerless desire to reclaim him.

At the transformation from an unnoticeable creature to an asset in the family he sobs follows by a yell-out at the top of her voice "I love you mother." This yell-out is the confirmation of his days of hustling of crates. Amid all these events he always reminds himself that he has an open mouth waiting to be fed on the other side of the world.

Every fortnight a chunk of his saving is dispatched to fill that open mouth, apart from that she have been communicating over the phone, sometimes he stands in front of the web camera exposing his body to the lady who has grabbed that honour at an internet café at late hour.

This month a larger chunk has been dispatched so that his afar woman can do breast implantation. She keeps updated about the attractive change in her appearance and how people have been staring at her new avatar. In the cold and moody country of far far away the once-toiler fantasizes while felling down his fingers, counting days.

This time his certainly going away for long and the question of his early return to England does not arise. A crowd larger than the last gathers in the same room to greet him luck and "Bon voyage."

Like a freeman he sets off for the destination where life will be, this time, so different and promising, wondering the shape and taste of the fruit, the imaginary pictures which have dawned in his mind bring him unconscious smiles, sometimes leaving the people standing around him at the airport and the passengers sitting next to him with jealousy. To him everybody is smiling, and anything gloomy has fizzled out.

Allowing him to walk as a conqueror with his luggage in his hands as if with bloody heads of the arch enemies who heads are to be spiked in front of the his gallant knights. His luggage laden body standing by a pay phone to make a phone call to announce the arrival to the silicon queen, something in Thai can be heard on the phone, he assumes the line has been busy. He punches the same number for numerous times in vain.

To be continued ....