Free Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai Page B

there?”
    She nodded.
    “Was it love at first sight?”
    She glared at him as if to say it was none of his business.
    “Sorry,” he said, “I am just curious.”
    She didn’t respond. I looked at Radha Aunty. Today, it seemed her moods changed constantly.
    “Do you know why I am curious?”
    Radha Aunty shrugged, her mouth full, as if she had no interest in his curiosity.
    “I think you know why,” he said.
    Radha Aunty gave him a furious look and inclined her head in my direction.
    “I don’t care,” he said. “This is the only chance I have to say it to you.”
    Radha Aunty took a sip from her glass of lime juice and called to the waiter, who was passing by, to bring our bill.
    “Hurry up,” she said to me, “we haven’t got the whole day.”
    “What are you scared of?” he asked.
    Instead of answering him, Radha Aunty suddenly frowned and stared ahead of her.
    “What’s wrong?” Anil asked.
    “Shhh,” she said.
    I stopped eating and my eyes followed her gaze. Then I saw what had stopped her. Mala Aunty and Kanthi Aunty were in the main part of Green Cabin buying some pastries.
    “Who is it?” Anil whispered.
    Radha Aunty held her finger to her lips.
    Now they had paid for their pastries and collected them. But instead of going out through the front door they started to come towards the side exit where our booth was. We watched, in horror, as they approached. They saw us and stopped.
    “Radha?” Kanthi Aunty said, as if she was not sure that it was her.
    Radha Aunty looked down at her plate. Both aunts now stared at Anil. Kanthi Aunty gathered herself together, like ahen rustling her feathers. “What are you doing here?” she asked sternly.
    “Come,” Mala Aunty whispered to Kanthi Aunty and took her by the arm. She resisted for a moment, then she marched out with Mala Aunty.
    Radha Aunty continued to eat, her head bent over her plate. After a few moments, she sniffed and rubbed the back of her hand across her cheeks. Anil and I both looked at her in distress.
    “Please,” he said, “don’t do that.”
    He took out his handkerchief and offered it to her. She waved it away angrily and took one out of her bag.
    “Well at least it’s out in the open now. We can stop pretending.”
    Radha Aunty didn’t reply. Instead she blew her nose.
    “Look,” he said, “I’ll come and explain to your family.”
    She stared at him in amazement and cried out, “Are you mad or something?!”
    “Why not?” he asked.
    “It’s enough that you’ve got me into trouble, now you want to make it even worse?”
    “What did I do wrong?”
    “You shouldn’t have stayed here with me. I’m practically married …”
    “You said you weren’t even engaged.”
    “Doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t have sat with me.”
    He leaned back against the seat of the booth and looked at her for a moment. “Do you like me?” he asked.
    She glared at him then glanced over at me.
    He smiled as if she had said she liked him.
    “Don’t you see, Radha?” he said. “If we like each other we can work out the rest.”
    She was silent.
    “Other Sinhalese and Tamil people have got married,” he said.
    “Other people didn’t have a mother like mine or a father like yours.”
    “I’m sure your mother is not as bad as you think. I know that my father will give in, despite all he has said.”
    “Think about it,” he said after a moment. “If you really like me, together we can make our parents accept us.”
    The waiter brought our bill at this moment and Anil took it from him. Radha Aunty protested but finally allowed him to pay for us.
    As we left Green Cabin, I studied Radha Aunty and Anil. It was clear to me now that Anil wanted to marry Radha Aunty, but I couldn’t tell what she wanted. Besides, there was Rajan. How did he fit in?
    When we got off the bus that evening and began to walk down Ramanaygam Road, I saw that Mala Aunty’s car was parked outside my grandparents’ gate, and my heart sank. As we