The Scandal

"Now I'd like to see you try it," she said to Thoma.

Thoma was reluctant. None of his cronies looked him in the face. "Come on, Thoma. Are you going to let a woman beat you?" someone shouted. Others started motivating him, saying things like, "You can do it, Thoma", and "Show her, Thoma." People started applauding and whistling and Thoma bristled. He bared his teeth at Shanta and got into the squat rack.

The applause got louder. Shanta wondered if it was genuine or whether they were mocking him. Thoma wondered too. If it was the latter then he had to burn the houses of everyone present here. Thoma lifted the barbell off the rack. The plates rattled as he took a few steps back. Everyone was watching him. He had to do this.

Thoma went down, squatting as deep as Shanta. That was the easy part. As he tried to stand up, his legs began to tremble and his eyes bulged. Shanta was watching him with an arrogant smirk on her face. He had to show her. But no matter what he did he couldn't stand up. Unwittingly, he passed gas silently and spittle dribbled down his chin. "Help," he muttered at last, and his boys took the weight off his shoulders. He had lost... to a woman.

xxx

"You really showed him, Shanta. I knew you were strong. But I didn't know you were that strong." Shibu was saying as they walked alongside the river under the flickering streetlights. He had followed her out of the gym without completing his workout.

"Do you always walk home after your workouts?"

"No. Usually, someone gives me a ride."

"I don't think I can give you a ride now. I'm exhausted and you weigh like a ton." Shanta was coasting her bicycle alongside the giant man.

"I'm just glad that today wasn't leg day. Why don't we stop over there?" Shibu pointed to the toddy shop ahead. "We could get something to drink."

"I'm not going in there."

"If you don't want to go inside, then I can get us the drinks. There's a spot behind the shop. We can rest there."

The toddy shop was a little shack pieced together with coconut leaves. There was a fence of wooden stakes around the shop, and behind it was a thick grove. Shanta sat on the bark of a fallen tree. She thought she heard hissing. This area was supposedly infested with snakes. Before she thought to worry about that, Shibu returned soon with their drinks. Lemon juice for her and a glass of toddy for himself.

As they sat enjoying each other's company, they talked more about what happened at the gym. Shibu was of the opinion that Thoma would try to get revenge but Shanta merely shrugged it off. His stories were not going to hurt her anymore. Their conversation soon drifted into other topics, and it landed on one that Shanta was expecting.

"But how could she just leave me like that?" Shibu said, sniffling. "I was a good husband. I took care of her."

"It's not your fault, Shibu. What she did was immoral. She does not deserve you."

"No. It was something that I did. I just know it. I was not enough for her somehow." Shanta didn't know how to comfort him. She could see the tears welling up in his eyes and she patted him on the back. "I should have just married you. If it wasn't for my mother... damn her."

Shanta remained quiet. This was the second time he was bringing this up. She wondered whether he had plans to propose to her in the future. I have to nip this in the bud.

"I'm no better, Shibu. Your mother was right. I'm a dirty woman."

"No. You're not. Because you lost your virginity to that city guy? I don't mind that. I'm not like the prudes in our town."

"Not just that. I've done... worse things." The streetlight flickered like it was having a stroke, then it went dark.

"What do you mean?"

"Something happened a long time back, between me and... Das."

"You and Das?" Shibu was glad that it was dark. His face took on an expression that was a mix of shock and disgust.

"Asha was pregnant then. Das returned from the toddy shop drunk as a sailor. He was in a bad mood, shouting, cursing... you know Das. So Asha didn't let him sleep in their bed. I don't remember when, but sometime in the night, Das entered my room. I was not asleep. He climbed onto my bed and hugged me tight, calling me 'his love'. I told him that I'm Shanta, not Asha. He said he knew that. You have to understand that he was really drunk when he did this. So then he tried to lift my skirt. I didn't let him. He started cursing me, calling me all sorts of things. I was worried that my sister would hear. But then, he stopped. And I thought he had fallen asleep. It must have been half an hour later. I don't know, I fell asleep for a while. But I saw that he had already lifted my skirt. Before I could even come to my senses, he put it inside me. I could have resisted, but I feared that my sister would hear. Or maybe it is like Thoma says. That I am a desperate woman. So I pretended to be asleep while he did his business. I just wanted it to be over." There was a brief silence. Shibu crossed one of his legs over the other, trying to hide his erection. "When I woke up the next day, he was not in bed. And to this day, we haven't spoken a word about this."

Shanta had tears in her eyes. She had begun telling the story hoping that it would be a good deterrent against Shibu's advances, but in the process, it had brought up a lot of pain that was buried inside her. The pain of betraying her sister. Shibu gulped before speaking. "That sounds like assault, Shanta. You are not at fault here." Shanta nodded and wiped away her tears.

"But you can't assault a desperate woman," came a familiar voice from behind Shanta. She turned her head sharply to look, her heart beating like a drum. Phosphorescent white teeth.

Thoma stood up from behind the bushes. He had seen Shibu go behind the shop with some glasses and followed him. And how glad he was that he did. What Shanta had hoped to be a deterrent was the nuclear warhead he needed to finish her.

"Thoma? You?" asked Shibu. Shanta was too stunned to speak.

"Yes. Me. That was a really hot story. Wait till your sister hears about this."

Shanta opened her mouth to speak, but her breath got stuck in her throat. Thoma came and stood by where she was sitting. She could see the bulge in his shorts and there was a bottle of soda in his hand. Shibu was the one who spoke. "Don't humiliate her any further, Thoma. She has had enough."

"Who are you to order me, you dull bastard?" he stepped up to Shibu, taking a fighting stance. His eyes were still bloodshot from all the squatting, giving him a terrifying, demonic look that made Shibu look away.

"Come on, Shanta. Let's just leave," said Shibu. A slap resounded in the grove. The murmuring ambiance that was a constant from the shop behind them stilled. The slap caught Shibu by surprise and he almost lost his footing as he was pushed back.

"Don't you see me standing here, you stupid fuck?" said Thoma, his hands itching for another slap. "Now go away. I need to talk to your father's mistress alone."

Shibu tilted his head at Shanta as if to say he was sorry, the fear of a rabbit beset by a lion in his eyes. Thoma feinted another slap which made the big man flinch. "Get lost, loser." And Shibu walked away. Shanta covered her mouth with a hand and stifled her cries. Her eyes were on Shibu's back until he turned a corner and disappeared.

Thoma stood before her. Man with granite-like skin. Phosphorescent white teeth gleaming. Soda bottle in hand. The radio in the shop turned on. Christmas was approaching, so the first song that played was 'Jingle Bells'. Someone had begun to sing a bastardized version of the song.

Laying in the snow

Between a whore's open legs

Letting her take all your pennies

And fucking all the night

Thoma gave her the soda bottle to hold. Ice-cold bottle. There was an understanding between them. He knows her secret. He has the leverage. Do what he says, otherwise, he will spill it. Her secrets. Not the soda.

He pushed his shorts and boxers down in the dark. And Shanta was thankful that it was dark. Thoma handed her his penis. Black snake in her hand. More venomous than the ones hiding in the grass. Soda bottle on the other hand.

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

Between a whore's open legs

Thoma's hand closed around Shanta's. His nails were dirty and had grime under them. He moved Shanta's hand up and down. Slowly at first, then fastly. His penis began to twitch already. Hot, hard, veiny.

He stopped moving her hand up and down. He let out a single breath, slowly. Shanta counted. Seven heartbeats. He took his penis out of her hand. Hot meat struck her cheek. A hand tightened around her face, crushing her teardrops, and opening her mouth. His black snake slithered into her mouth. Thick fingers closed around the bun of hair on her head. Pushed it in and pulled it out. And one more time and another time.

A day or two ago

I went to see a flick

And seated next to me

Was Shanta, the horny chick

Her ears filled with wet sounds. Of a snake sliding up and down her mouth. Musky, rotten smell filled up her nose. But still, Shanta heard it. Her name in the bastardized song. She looked up to see gleaming white teeth. He smiled for a second and moaned for three. Already dripping white pearls on her tongue.

Thoma pulled his penis out of the woman's mouth. Like a dolphin breaking the surface of the water, it glistened in the moonlight. He gave it to her to hold. Slippery, hot, hard and veiny. Hand closed around hand again. Hands moved up and down. Shanta's head turned to the wall, behind which was the toddy shop. She swallowed the bitter taste and the hair.

Oh, jingle cheeks, jingle cheeks

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to plow

Shanta's elephant cheeks

His hand closed tight over Shanta's. Tight and sweaty. And faster still. Then his cunning face contorted, his breath quickened, and he spilled it. His seed. Not her secrets.

Hot and sticky like quarter-boiled egg-white. His spillage covered the length of her hand. He wanted to do more. But he had to plan two arsons. Tomorrow, at nine, at my place, he said and left. Shanta cleansed her mouth with the soda and used the rest to clean her arm. So Das is a liar, she thought. He lied to her about the meaning behind the name Elephant Shanta.

xxx

Shibu was waiting at the front of the toddy shop. The song was disgusting, but it was catchy. He hummed unwittingly, then cursed himself and spat. But the actions described in the song would not leave his mind.

Thoma came out of the grove, smiling. "Look after her, Shibu. We have a lot planned out for tomorrow." He wondered what they were doing there all this time. Shibu got on his motorbike and left. Shanta came next, holding a soda bottle. There was no life in her steps. She walked like she was detached from the world. Her eyes were on the ground, and one of her arms was hidden by her saree.

"What happened, Shanta?" he asked, running up to her. "Thoma said you had planned something for tomorrow."

Shanta stirred like she was just waking up, and she looked up at Shibu. "You left me there." Her voice was flat.

"You saw what Thoma did. He just slapped me. I'm not going to stand there and take that beating."

"So you run?" she was incredulous. "I don't understand you. Your first instinct is to run? You don't care about what happens to me? Look at yourself. You are the size of a house. How can you run?"

"Sorry, Shanta. Did he... do something to you?"

"There you go with your sorries. If you tell me sorry one more time, I'll choke you to death. You know what? Now I understand why your wife ran away. You deserved it and she deserved better." That was like a slap in the face for Shibu. "Say what you want about Thoma. At least he is a man. He isn't going around telling people sorries. And he knows to take what he wants."

Shanta walked away. She couldn't bear to look at Shibu anymore. And to think she had to praise the man who blackmailed and assaulted her to drive her point home. She felt disgusted with herself. She rinsed her mouth with soda and dropped the bottle.

xxx

Shibu did not feel like working out. He could not complete his sets, and at times he even forgot what rep he was on. People were watching him curiously, sensing that something was amiss.

His heart was heavy. But his gym buddies probably thought that he had the flu or something. Cause he's always been miserable. And that never stopped him from working out. But Shanta's words had truly wounded him. Shocked him into waking up. Had he always been such a bloody pushover? Is this why his wife left him? Shanta certainly seemed to think so.

He left the gym and started walking home. It was a long walk. And he had a lot of time to think. And Shanta was the only thing worth thinking about. Even after all her painful words, thoughts of her still managed to turn him on. The things he would do to that woman if she ever let him.

It was at that moment, with a rock-hard erection, that he passed by the remains of the toddy shop. Shibu had no doubt in his mind that Thoma was behind the burning of the toddy shop. Shibu's father had said as much to the police but they wouldn't listen. The rumors that Thoma had connections at the police station appeared to be true.

Shibu lingered at the spot where Shanta had berated him yesterday. Even her angry face seemed to turn him on. But then, remembering her words, he shook his head sadly and moved on. His mother had given him a grocery list that morning. Which he had, of course, completely forgotten about until then. He wouldn't hear the end of it if he returned home empty-handed.

To get to the grocery store he had to go by his father's theater. That's strange, Shibu thought. The theatre was completely dark. His father usually leaves the lights by the entrance on. Shibu went in to investigate.

Someone had smashed the lights by the entrance. Shibu wished he had a gun to pull out of his boxers like his father. He padded silently along the western side of the theatre. He could hear someone pouring something in the vicinity. Slosh! Slosh! Slosh!

The closer he got to the sound, the more he began to panic, frantically looking around in the dark. He still couldn't see anything, or anyone. But he was getting dangerously close to wherever the sloshing sound was coming from. And now he could smell it. Gasoline.

xxx

Thoma's minions must have set the theatre on fire by now. He grinned at the thought. That bastard's precious reels now ashes in the wind. Now that was over with, he could proceed with the evening's entertainment, for whom he was waiting.

Thoma's house was more of a hut, with mud walls and a thatched roof. It was surrounded by his father's fields. A square of brown in a sea of green. Into this square came the spinster, when it was almost a quarter past ten. Thoma's manhood stirred in his breeches. It's been a long time since he'd been with a woman, and dressed in a yellow blouse and a brown lungi with a white shawl across her breast, Shanta looked like a divine nymph to him.

Thoma let the woman inside. His father was lying on a cot, coughing as they walked past him. He continued his phlegm-filled coughs until Thoma shut the door to his bedroom. Shanta stood near the bed with her back to him. His eyes went to her huge rump, and her tiny waist.

"You act all shy and scared. But I know you want this badly," Das cackled, to which Shanta flinched. "Don't just stand there. Say something. Beg me to let you go."

"My sister shouldn't find out. About me and Das. That's the only thing I beg of you."

Thoma grinned at that. He had already sent a letter to Shanta's sister Asha, exposing her husband's infidelity, and her sister's betrayal. Even now his gang was making new posters and by tomorrow morning the whole of Chattakood will know the story. But Shanta doesn't need to know that. Maybe he will tell her when he is done with her.

Thoma grabbed her firm buttocks with both hands and began kissing her neck. She stiffened to his touch, but Thoma did not care. He led her to the bed and pushed her into it. As she lay there, her belly taut and rising up and down, he took off his lungi and underwear. She did not plead. She did not try to flee. Her eyes were on the ceiling fan, but she was looking at nothing in particular.

He threw away the shawl that covered her chest. Getting on top of her, he groped her breasts. They were small, but he could tell they were really perky. She grimaced, at which point Thoma kissed her on the lips. She resisted, but Thoma didn't back down. He sucked her lips and pushed his tongue inside her mouth.

His father's coughing resumed again, and Thoma clicked his tongue at the interruption. "What's up with that old man? Won't even let me fuck in peace."

Thoma sat up and was about to wrap his lungi around him when the old wooden door to his room cracked into two. Shibu barged in, his eyes livid with rage, shirt streaked in blood.

Thoma had never seen this side of Shibu. Didn't even know he had such a side. He stared right at Thoma and was about to rush him, but then he saw Shanta sit up on the bed, covering her chest with her hands.

Taking advantage of those few seconds of confusion, Thoma pushed his window open and jumped out buck-naked. Shibu went to the window and peered out, but Thoma was nowhere to be seen. The night was black like granite.

"Shibu?" called Shanta. "What are you doing here?"

Shibu looked back at the bed. His eyes were blood red, and he was breathing loudly. Shanta thought he looked like an angry bull. He began walking to the bed, slowly, like he was considering something, a lot of things. His attention was on her, and Thoma was completely forgotten. Shanta smelled gasoline, and she noticed that Shibu's shirt was cut in places.

"What happened to you?" she asked, gulping as she watched the big man come closer. There was something different about him. He was quiet as usual, but there was a confidence in his steps that she had never seen before. His eyes were unabashedly running over her body. Shanta covered her blouse with the shawl and gulped again.

The yellow blouse made her skin glow a brilliant brown. Seated with her hips to one side, she had never looked so womanly. Shibu could not figure out what Shanta was doing there. There was the fact that she was in Thoma's bed. She was forced to do something, maybe. But Shibu did not want to think too much about that now. His head was filled with rage and lust. The events of the last hour had changed him. He was now a man reborn. A phoenix born from its ashes.

That mammoth of a man towered over Shanta, casting her in his shadow. He reeked of gasoline like there was a thick cloud of it around him. The cold night air from the open window made her shiver, but he stood strong, unflinching like a statue. The air filled the room, slithering around the bed, giving her goosebumps.

Then, like a great wave had crashed against her, he pushed her down on the bed.

"Shibu? What are you doing?" she struggled as he got on top of her. "Stop this." But he wasn't listening. Drool dripped on her face. The man was slobbering like a dog. He reached down and opened her lungi. It was then that she slapped him.