Stories Varied - A book of short stories - Page 15/53

Cupid’s Clue

What the hell is going on between my husband and that bitch?' Maya's patience was at its lowest ebb and she was ready to burst.

Sanjay knew that she was serious. 'Look, Maya. There is nothing going on between the two of them. Just a little bit of healthy flirting, I'd say.'

“Flirting? Healthy flirting? Really Sanjay . . .” she rolled her eyes in disgust. “That's what you men call it? There is nothing healthy about flirting, Sanjay, not for a married man.

Healthy flirting is a term introduced by perverted men who want to lend legitimacy to their extramarital dalliances. Flirting invariably has a sexual connotation to it.” She got up from her seat and walked around the room gesticulating and muttering something to herself. Suddenly she stopped, turned back, looked at Sanjay and asked, “Did my husband sleep with her? You are his friend. Did he ever tell you anything about it?” [*]

“What if Chaya lets Suresh sleep with her and if she does not?” he said tentatively.

“Won’t it make a fucking difference for me,” she said unequivocally.

“Would it be possible for Suresh to sleep with her unless she grants him the final favour?”

“What makes you think that the bitch won’t let him screw her?”

“Why not recall what Sathyam told his seducer friend Prasad in Benign Flame that you only gave me to read, sorry I haven’t returned it as I want to read it all again, ‘money and looks are okay to an extent to lure women, but better realize it’s the luck that enables one to lay them. Why, you can’t screw even a whore if you’re not destined to have her, your visit to the brothel would have coincided with her periods, and the next time you’re eager, she could have shifted out of the town itself’.”

“Could be, but you know that bitch was ever after him.”

“I also know Suresh always preferred you over her.”

“Gone are those days my dear, these days he is over the seven-year itch and that bitch could be taking advantage of that. In spite of your friendly blinkers, you couldn’t have failed to see their wayward ways.”

“Look Maya, I was only trying to play it down to cool things for you.”

“Thanks for not wanting to fish in the troubled waters of an old flame.”

“That makes me recall Chaya’s words at your wedding.”

“I know that bitch has a gift of gab, what did she say?”

“Bereft of money love is but a hackneyed expression.”

“Maybe Cupid is a lesser god than Mammon.”