Jigsaw Puzzle : Part 1
Story By Thiyam Ningol, Africa

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Helen looked at the pictures with horror. She could not believe it. She felt fainting, dizzy and nauseated. Rushed to the toilet sink and vomited. All her energy was drained.

She sat down on the toilet floor and cried like a little baby. She cursed her late husband, her late mother in law. She even cursed God for allowing it to happen to her. She could no longer sit; she rolled on the floor and continued sobbing.

All of a sudden she stopped, something occurred in her mind. She stood up. Tied her hair which had been flying naughtily around her face. Wiped all the tears. Washed her face and came back to the living room again, very poised, ready to crack the jigsaw puzzle.

To her own surprise, she was very calm and confident. She collected all the pictures, spread them on the table. Pulled the chair and sat down. She started looking at the pictures and analyzing the meaning of the pictures one by one.

Mercy became a widow when she was only 22 years old. She herself was an orphan. She met her late husband in a camping trip. The orphanage where Mercy grew up, organized a fund raising camp. They were provided with police protection. Her late husband was one of the police constables who were on duty at the campsite.

Their friendship grew and eventually they got married.

Mercy had the happiest days of her life with her husband. That was the time when she had somebody to love her, only her, take care of her, and fondle her. At last she found somebody whom she could call as her relative.

After two years of marriage, she gave birth to a handsome baby boy. They named him Martin. They were very happy; they considered themselves to be blessed by God. But their happiness did not last long.

One day when her husband was on duty, they had an encounter with a gang of armed robbers. Her husband died in the encounter as a hero; got himself killed while trying to protect the victims and his colleagues. He was buried with honour and Mercy was provided with supporting pension, life long, unless she gets remarried.

After the death of her husband, Mercy was left only with her 2 years old son. She was afraid of loosing him too. She did not allow her son to be lost from her sight even for a moment. She spent sleepless nights watching her son sleeping. She slept with him on the same bed.

Martin grew up knowing his mother as the only woman in his life and he, as the only man for his mother. He was very protective of her. He would not allow anybody to raise a finger on her. Sometimes he would become very jealous when he saw her mother with another man.

When Martin was about 8 years old, Mercy had an admirer. They had met several times but not really involving seriously. Martin hated him with all his heart. The man tried to be kind and concern to Martin. But he knew the hurdle would be tougher than it looked, stronger than he thought.

One day they were traveling to a village to meet his relatives. They got a lift from his friend, a lorry driver, carrying building materials. When they reached the outskirts of the city, the traffic thinned considerably and the lorry picked up speed. It was moving at about 80km/hr. There was not much of a space to sit comfortably in the lorry.

So they were sitting on the iron railings. When Mercy and the man were engaged in talking, all of a sudden Martin stood up and pushed the man. He lost balance and fell off the lorry. Mercy clearly saw what happened. She screamed in horror. The driver heard and stopped the lorry. When the driver came to enquire about the noise, Martin quietly told the driver that the man was sitting on the edge and fell down. He pointed his hand towards the crumpled body lying about 50 meters behind from the vehicle.

Around the crumpled body, there was a pool of blood and the skull was cracked wide. Through the open skull, brain particles mixed with blood was oozing out. Mercy cried hysterically, screaming, banging. But Martin was very calm. He tried to console his mother but Mercy went wild. She was not talking any word understandable, only babbling.

Passing by vehicles stopped and helped to get police to the scene. The only witness giving statement was Martin, a minor. Mercy was still in shock. She simply stared at the surroundings, unable to speak a word. When the police read out Martins statement and asked Mercy whether anything to be added, she simply shook her head.

The police interpreted as Mercy saying "no addition", but Martin knew his mother was shaking her head denying the statement. They did not even know the name of the relative whom they were supposedly visiting. Mercy was classified as just a casual friend of the deceased.

The case was closed as a road motor accident and the driver was fined for carrying passengers in a lorry.

Martin was not bothered with the incident. But Mercy was affected very much. She was frightened of her son. She could not talk about it to anybody. The guilty conscious tormented her day and night. She became very aloof and could not think straight. Slowly, her son became the commander, she had to follow whatever Martin said.

Martin was a sportive boy. In the school, he took active part in all the athletic activities. He was ruthless to his rivals. But it was considered normal in the field of competition. He was not particularly interested in any subject of the studies. He was a student who needed a push, passed exams with low marks.

To be continued...