Terra Firma

He pulled into a twenty-four hour highway ‘dhaba’ just down the strip from the fuel station and slid out of the car once more. River hesitated. Hanish leaned his frame over to peer across the seat at her. "You coming?" he asked.

She got out, still carrying her pack and followed him into the dhaba, her legs moving almost at a run to keep pace with his long lazy strides. They were shown to a booth in a quiet corner of the almost empty dhaba and the waiter brought a steel-cup of coffee then left to get the bottle of cola that River had requested. Hanish stirred a spoon of sugar into his black coffee and glanced through the menu. He watched as River didn't offer to open her menu-card but instead idly toyed with the cutlery and paper napkin. The waiter returned with the cola and River thanked him softly.

The waiter smiled and then turned towards Hanish. "I’ll be back with you in a moment."

He smiled up at the waiter and nodded his thanks. As he walked away he took a long swallow of the coffee. "Man, I needed that." he chuckled. Sky smiled shyly at him and took a tiny sip from her cola, as though trying to make it last a long time. He stretched his legs comfortably beneath the table and leaned back lazily in the booth.

"Better eat now," he told her. "I'm not planning on stopping except for fuel between here and the coast, it's gonna be a long night."

She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and toyed with her straw. He was about to say more but decided against further comment as the waiter approached them, a pad in hand. He guessed, correctly, that she did not have enough money to afford eating.'

"Can I take your order, Sir?" the waiter asked, with a tired smile.

"Yeah thanks," Hanish said. "We'll have two masal dosas, and two medu vadas, please."

"Alright Sir," he said, scribbling quickly and picking up the menus. River stared open mouthed at him as the waiter moved away. He grinned at her in mock shock.

"What? You do eat, don't you?" he asked.

"Hanish, I can't pay for this." she told him. "I'm kind of broke, you know?"

"Yeah, I kind of guessed, River." he answered her. "It's my treat okay? No strings, don't worry. You look like you could use a meal."

"Thank you." she murmured. She took another sip of her cola and lowered her face away from his again. He watched her hand as her fingertips brushed across her eyes and came away shiny with her liquid tears. 'She's crying.' he marveled. He stifled his first instinct to comfort her and instead changed the subject.

"Glad you like Shivkumar Sharma," he said. "There's a lot of cool stuff happening in music these days. I'm hoping I can get in with some players in Trivandrum and get a regular studio gig, you know?"

"You're a musician?" she asked.

"Oh, NO," he said "But I love music and am figuring out how to carve a niche for myself. It's something I do to keep myself engaged and make some money, on the side. How about you?"

She took another drink from her cola before replying. "I'm going to join my parents."

He considered that for a moment, wondering if her parents knew she was on her way and is now with some guy, whom they don’t even know. If they had any idea she was on the way to join them! He drained his coffee and caught the waiter with just a quick nod and smile for a refill. As he sweetened the coffee once more, he tried to draw her out more.

“That's cool, River.” Hanish smiled. "Bet they're happy you're going to join them. Must have been hard to be so far apart, wasn’t it?"

The waiter came back with their orders and River was silent until he had left again.

Then, as she took her first bite of the dosa, she mumbled a barely audible answer.

"They don't know I'm coming, exactly. But they'll be happy to see me, I just know it."
Hanish got the impression she was trying to convince herself. He took her lead and started on his own meal, letting the conversation slide for a while. In the light and face to face like this, Hanish guessed she could not be more than half his age, fifteen maybe sixteen. After getting half way through his meal in silence, he took a long swallow of water and let his curiosity find voice again.

"So, your parents," he began tentatively, "They live in Nagercoil for long?"

She eyed him as though she was considering one of those sarcastic answers, but his hazed eyes met hers with nothing more than kindness and concern. She dipped the vada into the gravy and watched the gravy drip from it onto her plate as she spoke. "I don't know."

Hanish nodded, "Yeah I remember what that was like. When I was ten, I was separated from my parents. I couldn't handle my uncles, cousins and teachers telling me what to do anymore. And there was this chick, well you know, she was older and she was left-handed. I liked her a lot. And hell, I was only ten. She went off to some far away place. He reached for the other half of his meal, concentrating on the food once again and letting his words sink in.

She ate her vada, in silence for a while, her free hand nervously playing with a long strand of her hair. Finally, she took a deep breath and looked away from him, out the window as she spoke, "It wasn't like that. They are just confused and scared is all. They'll be so happy when I get there. It'll be okay. After all, I am a mother of a child."

"Damn!" Hanish exclaimed, all pretense of deference gone as his shock was obvious. River moved uneasily in her seat, taking a hold of her backpack as though she was going to simply run. He quickly recovered some of his dispassionate tone and added with a kind smile, "Congratulations that's awesome. But you don’t look like one…!!!

The waiter came by just then and refilled Hanish’s coffee cup for the third time. He took River's empty cola bottle and asked her if she wanted more. He quickly interrupted and ordered a glass of milk for the girl before she could speak. River looked angrily at him but her face softened to a shy smile before she spoke.

"Thank you, Hanish." she said. "That would be good.

"Sure kid," Hanish agreed, half heartedly. She did not protest his choice of words. They both silently went back to eating.

River finished before him and excused herself to find the ladies room. He was surprised that she left her pack with him at the table. 'Perhaps a gesture of trust.' he thought. As he finished his meals between sips of the strong black coffee, he wondered what sort of home she had left behind and whether she had even considered how she would bring a child up. Certainly her parents must be worried and, like any parents, though they would be upset with her situation, they would help her.

She returned to the table just as he gulped down the last of his coffee. He grinned at her, as he stood up, "Finish your milk; I'm going to recycle this coffee. Then we'll get on the road." She smiled gratefully up at him and took the milk glass in both hands as he turned away.

When they got back to the car, he unlocked her door first and held it for her as she settled herself back on the wide front seat. He opened the trunk and pulled a blanket out. When he got into the car, he draped the blanket across the back of the long front seat. He noticed she was no longer clinging to her back pack but had left it on the seat between them. He motioned to the glove compartment in front of her.

"There's some more CD's in there." You're in charge of music, okay?"

"Okay." she giggled and quickly retrieved the small stack of CD's. As he started the car and headed along the rough road running back to the main highway, she was going through each CD, examining the covers. She finally selected a collection of Tamil remixes of yore, as Hanish put his foot down and accelerated again along the highway.

Hanish relaxed into his comfortable driving posture as the car ate up the miles. Beside him, River continued to watch the scenery go by but as the sun was setting quickly ahead of them the once sharp images were becoming indistinct and the mountain peaks, once towering majestically over the road, began to blend into the darkening sky behind them. Hanish tapped his hands in time to the music and resisted the urge to draw the girl into further conversation. More than a half an hour had passed when she finally broke the silence between them. "Hanish?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes," he drawled lazily.