Five-Thirty AM - XII

The party was on in full swing by the time Dev, Noel, Mitul and Mani, Noel’s make up man, landed up at Raghu’s cousin’s house, somewhere in an upscale residential neighborhood close to the West side. It was a large house that stood on top of a hill, built in the hacienda style with two floors. Food and drinks were available in plenty, and the patio at the back had been turned into an impromptu dance floor. Several friends of Raghu’s cousin had also been invited, including a gaggle of giggling teenage girls.

Mitul was wearing a light cotton kurti with a rich rust and olive print on a white backdrop, that came down to her hips, the high slits at the side revealing a tantalizing bit of skin, the sleeves rolled up to reveal her forearms. A pair of olive capris and high heeled white shoes completed her summer look. She’d taken care with her makeup today, the bronze lipstick shimmering with invitation, while the smoky green eye shadow gave her eyes a wider, slightly cattier look. Her hair was brushed in loose waves, tucked behind one ear, from which dangled a gold chain, brushing against her collarbone laid bare by the shallow boat neckline.

Noel had been stunned when he’d seen her. She looked so earthy and sexy, that he’d wanted to cancel the party right then and there, and keep her locked in his room for the night. The things this woman did to him! he thought.

But. He was still mad at her. Which was why he was sitting in the gazebo at the corner of the garden, surrounded by the aforementioned gaggle of giggling teenagers.

They wanted to know everything about him, some of the questions were on the verge of being embarrassing. They took pictures with him, asked him to dance, which he refused, and some of them even went so far as to kissing him on his cheek!

Dev watched silently, keeping a tab on Mitul who sat with the women, a completely spaced out look on her face.

She was bored! Even the women were gossiping giddily about Noel! She couldn’t be bothered to participate. They probably hadn’t had so much excitement in their lives in forever, she thought. For sure, all these pictures were already being posted on Facebook, Orkut, Twitter and Tumblr and wherever the hell else teenagers posted pics online.

Finally, Dev put Noel out of his misery, charming the girls into leaving his friend alone. He took a swig of his beer and said, ‘what happened?’

Noel looked at him from under lowered brows, before glancing over at Mitul who was looking at the ceiling. ‘She’s impossible!’ he growled.

‘How so?’ He looked over and caught Mitul’s eye, silently gesturing her to join them. She shook her head.

Noel took a deep breath and looked out over the lights of El Paso, visible from this vantage point on top of the hills. He narrated the incident on the highway to Dev.

‘What did you think it was?’ Dev was genuinely curious.

‘Possibly a coyote or a wild dog,’ he said thoughtfully.

‘Is that all you thought?’ Dev had an uncanny ability to force Noel to articulate thoughts that he wouldn’t admit to himself.

Noel sighed. ‘No.’ A long pause. Hesitatingly, he recounted the incidents that had taken place in the wilds of cottage country. The sounds. The sights. The signs.

‘And you think this is related to that? how?’

‘All that is still so fresh in my mind. I jumped to the wrong conclusion obviously. I guess for a moment, I thought this was a chupacabra,’ he gave a self-deprecating laugh.

‘A chupacabra? the goat-blood sucking thing that no one has ever seen?’ Dev was incredulous.

Noel shook his head. ‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘I’m pretty sure what we saw was a wild dog or a coyote.’

Dev frowned and drank some more beer. ‘You know, the mind is a weird thing. It sees what it wants to see and hears what it wants to hear. You wanted it to be a chupacabra, and in your mind it became a chupacabra. The ambience of the desert, the mysteriousness of it, the alienness of it, didn’t help. You’re right. There’s probably a completely rational name for what you saw. But in your mind and your heart, you will believe what you want to believe.’

Noel stared at him. Sometimes, Dev shocked him. And right now, he didn’t know if it was Dev or the beer speaking. His own words to Mitul came back to him. ‘If you believe in something, it will find you ... whether you like it or not.’

His glanced flicked across to her. She was looking directly at him. Dev followed his gaze and said quietly, ‘and her? What does your heart and mind tell you about her?’

He looked at Dev and said, ‘she did a stupid thing. Put us both in danger.’ But he was calm, his anger had long receded.

Dev nodded, lips pursed. ‘And is that enough to walk away from her? Can you?’

Noel shook his head. ‘No ... no ... not yet,’ he said. He got up from his seat and walked over to Mitul.

Dev watched him go. His friend was in safe hands. Both of them, he thought. For Mitul was starting to become a friend to him as well. But his loyalties would always lie with Noel.

Noel held out his hand to her. She looked up at him, while the women around stared. She put her hand in his and he led her outside. Out the front door. ‘Let’s go for a walk,’ he said, tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow.

They walked along the sidewalk, down the gentle slope of the quiet street in silence, the cacophony of the party muted behind them.

‘I’m sorry,’ he finally said. ‘I shouldn’t have yelled at you.’

‘I’m sorry, too,’ she sighed. ‘You were right. i should have slowed down.’ She was quiet for a moment and then said seriously, ‘I put us both in danger.’

‘Yes, you did,’ he didn’t mince words. Honesty is something he believed in, and much as the truth hurt, he was right about this.

She nodded her head, he was right, she admitted.

He turned them around heading back to the house. ‘I’ve got the next two days free,’ he said. ‘Would you spend them with me?’

She raised her eyebrows looking up at him.

‘No Dev,’ he answered her unspoken question. ‘Just you and me. You’ll have all of my time, no interruptions,’ he promised.

Her heart beat speeded up as she stared into his face, framed by the stars that seemed so much closer here. The light from the street lamps cast shadows on the planes of his face. A slow smile spread over hers. ‘What do you want to do?’ she asked.

‘We could do a bit of sight-seeing, and you could continue with your questions,’ he shrugged, feeling lighter all of a sudden.

‘All right,’ she said.

‘Bring an overnight bag along, just in case we can’t make it back,’ he said. ‘And your camera.’

She nodded and then suddenly remembered. ‘Before I forget, I’ve got the pictures from cottage country downloaded on a flash drive. I’ll give them to you.’

‘Thanks!’ he smiled delightedly. They’d arrived back in front of the house. He turned to her. ‘Do you want to go back and party?’ he asked.

She glanced at her watch and shook her head. ‘Nope.’

‘I thought you were enjoying it,’ he teased.

She narrowed her eyes, ‘no, I wasn’t. Ugh! I was bored. All those women drooling over you. That too, with their husbands in plain sight!’ Then she grinned wickedly, ‘but you clearly were. All those simpering teenage somethings,’ she giggled. ‘Oooh!! You should’ve seen your face!’

He groaned. ‘Tell me about it. But, these are the people who make me who I am. So I have to give them whatever time they ask of me,’ he answered soberly.

Dev came out the front door, briskly walked over to them and said, ‘you guys ready to call it a night?’

‘Yeah,’ Noel answered for both of them.

‘Let’s go. I already said your farewells to the host.’ He handed over the keys to Noel. ‘Wake me up when we reach the hotel,’ he added as he crawled into the back of the SUV, leaving them standing on the sidewalk staring after him.

****

Mornings in El Paso are always cool. The windows of the SUV were closed, though, as they drove towards the Guadalupe Mountains. Mitul was listening to Noel talk, fascinated by his words. She’d placed her recorder on the dashboard, and that’s why the windows were closed.

Noel drove with one hand on the wheel, his eyes shaded by his wrap arounds.

‘You know,’ he said. ‘This part of America is so what I always imagined America to be. Free. Vast. There’s a wildness to it. There is something that makes you want to spread your arms wide and embrace it. There’s so much history here, and yet, it’s not as in your face as, say, Europe and India. There’s something much more visceral about it.’

‘Dad was always into Westerns,’ he chuckled. ‘We’d watch all of them, the greats and the not-so-greats. Sometimes in the theatre or sometimes at home. I’ve watched For a Few Dollars More, The Dirty Dozen, Guns for San Sebastian, High Noon, Pale Rider, Once Upon a Time in the West, Fistful of Dollars, Unforgiven.’

‘Clint Eastwood, all the way,’ she murmured.

‘Charles Bronson as well. Anthony Quinn. Henry Fonda. And Eli Wallach. I’m not so much of a John Wayne fan,’ he said apologetically. ‘But, those heroes epitomized the best of human nature. The strong, silent hero who believed in truth and honesty and was willing to kill for it. Just because he had a gun, didn’t mean he went and used it indiscriminately. In fact, he used it only when he needed to - in defense of what was lawfully his, and those he loved. That’s a man who knows his strength and uses it at the right time, for the right purpose. It’s simplistic thinking - most Westerns were like that. Justice was simple and crude. Those were simpler times, admittedly, but they made for great movies.’

He glanced across at her. ‘I’m babbling,’ he said.

‘And I’m recording it all,’ she retorted. ‘But keep talking. This is fascinating.’

He thought for a minute and said, ‘I’ve seen The Good, The Bad and The Ugly a few dozen times. And every time I see it, I realize just how great a film it is. From both a story-telling perspective and characters, as well as the technicalities. The sound. The lights. The music. The whole scene where Eli Wallach is running around looking for the grave, how much does that wind you? You feel your insides tightening with his tension, his frantic need to find the gold, you feel his greed and his lust. You see him lose complete control, one thing and only one thing controls him, his lust. As he races around, the music soars ... ’ his voice trailed off. ‘And at the end, there it is - his personal pot of gold! Now that I understand these things, how a scene needs to be told, I look at it and wonder why we in India have yet to make a movie of that stature.’

‘What about Sholay?’ she asked. ‘That’s as epic as a movie can get in that genre in India.’

‘True. Sholay is an awesome movie. Again, a movie that came together with a great story, great dialogues, great actors, great music. Everything just fell into place.’

‘So why did you join the Army, Noel? I know, you told me it was to do with your Dad, but I think somewhere, you knew you wanted to be an actor,’ she said.

He thought over what she’d said and then replied quietly. ‘My father was disappointed that both Naveen and Naval decided not to go into the Army. I knew he was, although he never ever said so. And I didn’t have any of the skills my brothers seemed to have. Naval always wanted to be an architect. He’d planned on it, right from the seventh grade, I think. Naveen, he was a whiz at math. My uncle, my mama, is a businessman, and Naveen worked with him one summer. Came back and told us he wanted to go to business school.

‘That was it,’ he stopped.

‘What about you?’

He took a deep breath. ‘Like I said, I didn’t have any talents that I knew of. I was reasonably athletic, I always had overall good grades, I did win a few elocution contests, but that’s hardly the stuff that careers are made of. Debating. I was always good at that. Seemed like I was always good at all the extra-curricular activities,’ he laughed shortly.

A pause, then. ‘Girls always fell for me,’ he glanced over at her, and saw her smirk. ‘See, that’s an essential talent for an actor. You have to have female fans.’

They burst out laughing. ‘Right!’ she giggled. ‘All those teenage girls!’

‘But I decided to go into the Army because I didn’t want to disappoint my father. I was ... rudderless, and my father pushed me, just a little bit. He never forced me, but he gave me the pros and cons of it and told me I should think about it. It made sense at the time, and I decided to apply. Having a General as your father always helps. I got into Officer’s Training School in Dehradun.’

They’d come close to the mountains, now. The bald sides spotted with what looked like black spots. The terrain on either side of the road was strewn with rocks, shrubs and tall yucca pointing their skinny fingers to the skies. Patches of mesquite straggled up the mountain sides. They’d passed a small township and were now headed to the top. Only now they realized, the black spots were actually caves!

‘We’re going to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park?’ she asked reading the sign by the road.

‘Yep!’ he said.

‘Noel. Caves?’ she asked with trepidation.

They were climbing up the hill now, and he had to focus completely on the road ahead. So he only muttered a, ‘Yes’ and didn’t bother to glance at her.

If he’d done so, he’d have seen the nervousness in her face. She hated dark places. They’d had such weird encounters lately, and his idea of a day spent together was in a cave? Seriously? A CAVE?

They pulled into the parking lot, and climbed out of the car, Noel slinging the heavy camera bag around his neck. He held out a hand for her and once again, she put hers trustingly in his. Her palms were damp.

He raised startled eyes to her, finally understanding her discomfort. He lifted her fingers to his lips and said, ‘Trust me. I won’t take you anywhere where I know you won’t be safe. I’ll never let anything happen to you,’ he looked deep into her eyes, his own serious, intent.

At that moment, she felt that if he asked her to walk over water with him, she would do it, simply because he said she could.

They walked into the visitor’s center. She looked around at the crowds, children, babies, old folks, all were waiting to go into the caves. Surely, it couldn’t be that bad if people could venture with such young and old folks? she thought, feeling just a wee bit better. Noel purchased the tickets, along with a self-guided cave tour.

‘Let’s go,’ he said, holding her hand once again in his. They walked out to the back of the center, and went down a few steps.

There before her was the entrance to the caverns. A wide arena stood in front of them leading to it. The opening was at least thirty feet wide and just as high. Stairs led down into that deep yawning pit. All she could see was blackness beyond it.

Noel held her hand as he led her in. She swallowed down her nervousness and followed him into the darkness.

The stairs wound downwards, a steep downhill descent, and as the light above faded, their eyes adjusted to the darkness within. They could hear the hushed voices of other visitors. Placing each foot carefully in front of the other, they followed the catwalk into a magical land that would lead them seven hundred and fifty feet below the surface.

The Carlsbad Caverns contain the largest formations of stalactites and stalagmites in the world. Spots of light are placed strategically to highlight particularly impressive formations.

Cave after cave unveiled their beauty to them, as they walked and even crawled through them.

The Bat Cave housed the thousands of bats that flew out at dusk, and visitors often came to see this wonderful sight.

Towering stalagmites soared, reaching up fifty, sixty feet, striving to find a stalactite that it could merge with. Fragile stalactites clung like dripping lace to the ceiling, reaching down to find a stalagmite to join with. The multi-colored lights set the stage for what looked like a delicate Chinese Theatre, complete with wings and backdrop. The Mane of a Lion startled with its savagery. The Hall of the Giants awed with majestic columns rising above their heads, the tops almost merging into the darkness above.

It was cool inside the caves. They heard the dripping sounds of water as they walked by formation after formation that overwhelmed them with the miraculous powers of Nature, hidden here beneath the ground, where sunlight never reached.

Mitul had long forgotten her fear of the dark, as she was completely absorbed into the magical world that unfolded before her eyes. Noel was thrilled to see how much she was enjoying herself. He’d had a bad moment there, when he realized that she was scared of caves and darkness. But now, she’d left his hand long ago, exploring ahead, and running back to drag him to show what she had found! He went willingly.

It was almost two hours spent happily within the confines of the caves, before they took the elevators back to the reception.

‘Did you like it?’ he asked her rather unnecessarily as they got into the car.

‘Loved it!’ She was glowing and he caught his breath as he looked at her.

Leaning over, he brushed his lips against hers, and she blushed. ‘Good. I’m glad,’ he said in a satisfied tone as he started the car.

****