Ruskin Bond - Rusty And The Leopard

I WAS STANDING on the threshold of a very exciting life, or at least that is how it seemed to me then. I had finally rid myself of my guardian Mr John Harrison, and here I wasemployed as a tutor of English to a chap called Kishen. More important: here I was in the company of his breathtakingly beautiful motherMeena Kapoor. I was to live with the Kapoors, and Meena Kapoor was just telling me about my room.

I gazed into her eyes all the time she talked.

It is a very nice room, she said, but of course there is no water or electricity or lavatory.

I was bathing in the brown pools of her eyes.

She said: You will have to collect your water at the big tank, and for the rest, you will have to do it in the jungle...

I thought I saw my own gaze reflected in her eyes.

Yes? I said.

You can give Kishen his lessons in the morning until twelve oclock. Then no more, then you have your food.

Then?

I watched the movement of her lips.

Then nothing, you do what you like, go out with Kishen or Somi or any of your friends.

Where do I teach Kishen?

On the roof, of course.

I retrieved my gaze, and scratched my head. The roof seemed a strange place for setting up school.

Why the roof?

Because your room is on the roof.

Meena led me round the house until we came to a flight of steps, unsheltered, that went up to the roof. We had to hop over a narrow drain before climbing the steps.

This drain, warned Meena, is very easy to cross. But when you are coming downstairs be sure not to take too big a step because then you might bump into the wall on the other side or fall over the stove which is usually there...

Ill be careful, I promised.

We began climbing, Meena in the lead. I watched Meenas long, slender feet. The slippers she wore consisted only of two straps that passed between her toes, and the backs of the slippers slapped against her heels like Somis (Somi was a very close friend of mine), only the music created by her slipperslike the feetwas different...

Another thing about these steps, continued Meena, there are twenty-two of them. No, dont count, I have already done so... But remember, if you are coming home in the dark, be sure you take only twenty-two steps, because if you dont, thenand she snapped her fingers in the airyou will be finished! After twenty-two steps you turn right and you find the door, here it is. If you do not turn right and you take twenty-three steps, you will go over the edge of the roof!

Both of us laughed, and suddenly Meena took my hand and led me into the room.

It was a small room, but this did not matter much as there was very little in it: only a string cot, a table, a shelf and a few nails in the wall. In comparison to my room in my guardians house, it wasnt even a room: it was four walls, a door and a window.

The door looked out on the roof, and Meena pointed through it, at the big round water tank.

That is where you bathe and get your water, she said.

I know, I went with Somi.

There was a big mango tree behind the tank, and Kishen was sitting in its branches, watching us. Surrounding the house were a number of litchee trees, and in the summer they and the mango would bear fruit.

Meena and I stood by the window in silence, hand in hand. I was prepared to stand there, holding hands for ever. Perhaps all that Meena felt for me was a sisterly affection; but I was stumbling into loveof that I was certain.

From the window we could see many things. In the distance, towering over the other trees, was the Flame of the Forest, its flowers glowing red-hot against the blue of the sky. Through the window came a shoot of pink bougainvillaea creeper; and I knew I would never cut it; and so I knew I would never be able to shut the window. The room, the window with this spray of bougainvillaeaall of it reminded me of a summer several years back and my summertime friend Koki.

Meenas voice broke into my thoughts. If you do not like it, we will find another...

I squeezed her hand, and smiled into her eyes, and said: But I like it. This is the room I want to live in. And do you know why, Meena? Because it isnt a real room, thats why!

I was a bit surprised at myself for addressing her by her first name. But she let it pass, so I made up my mind to call her thus from then onat least whenever we were alone.

The afternoon was warm, and I sat beneath the big banyan tree that grew behind the house, a tree that was almost a house in itself; its spreading branches drooped to the ground and took new root, forming a maze of pillared passages. The tree sheltered scores of birds and squirrels.

A squirrel stood in front of me. It looked at me from between its legs, its tail in the air, back arched gracefully and nose quivering excitedly.

Hallo, I said.

The squirrel brushed its nose with its forepaw, winked at me, hopped over my leg, and ran up a pillar of the banyan tree.

I leant back against the broad trunk of the banyan, and listened to the lazy drone of the bees, the squeaking of the squirrels and the incessant bird talk.