chapter XIII

Shilpi looks beautiful in the morning. Her long, raven-black hair is still wet from her shower and I want little more in life this very moment than to run my fingers through it. The tight salwaar suit accents her full figure nicely and I feel a pang of raw lust run through me as I know it is just a matter of time before I will have her.

I take Shilpi out to the verandah and have her pose for me. Her hands are attractively decorated with henna and I want to record them on film before they fade away. While setting up my tripod she tries to make small talk with me. As I focus my camera on Shilpi‘s face, I notice that her lips are naturally more beautiful than any I have ever seen. I thought that she’d been wearing lipstick but I can see now that there is no need. Make-up would only destroy the natural beauty of what God had given her.

Shilpi breaks the ice by asking if I was angry because of what had happened last night. I respond by saying that I am only a little upset. She passes it off as amar dusthumi, “my naughtiness.”

After performing my morning puja, Shilpi and sit in the deities’ room and talk a bit. She tells me that she loves the sea but doesn‘t care for swimming. I tell her that I swim like a fish and have no fear of jumping off of a boat in the middle of the ocean. I try to relate a story of how my sister and I had been snorkeling in the Caribbean once when we saw a large jelly fish. My sister had panicked and while swimming away hurriedly, had knocked the fish into my face with her fins. Trying to explain what a jellyfish is in Bengali wasn’t easy and Shilpi misunderstood me;

Sei’to mach noi! Sei’to OCHTOPAS!

“That wasn’t a fish, that was an octopus!” she shouted excitedly, her whites of her eyes becoming so large they threatened to swallow the chocolate-brown centers.

Ma and Baba leave early this afternoon and won’t return until late in the evening. Soon, Shilpi and I are laying on the bed together kissing. Her strong arms are around my neck and her full lips are pressed hard against my own. Her scent is noticeable, but subdued. On any other day I would be excited past the point of no return, but this is the first day of our married life and there is much to consider.

please continue to
chapter XIV