Pest Control- 11

Read part 10 - here

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He was willing to be patient, if only he knew how and this was his tenth attempt at calling Uma. The phone was ringing, he was growing irate but suddenly he heard a riled ‘what?’ streaming through the speaker.

‘Why aren’t you picking up? where are you?’ the bastard screamed, both annoyed and wearily happy.

This seemed like another of those past-life experiences for Uma. The exact same questions he’d flung at her whenever she was late in picking his calls almost a decade ago, it was all still the same, except Uma had changed. She had, she knew it.

‘I’m busy, what do you want?’

‘I just wanted to say hi.’

‘You said’ Uma spoke testily ‘that the next time you’d call would be when we meet and..’

‘Yes, I know.’ the basted hissed ‘you weren’t picking your phone. Why? what were you doing?’

‘Cooking dinner, and I’m still busy.’

‘Okay,’ he said reluctantly. ‘I’ll call tomorrow. okay?’ He tried staying clearheaded.

Uma hung up. She couldn’t will herself to listen to the bastard’s greasy voice anymore. Having seen him just a while ago outside his door while she crouched under bushes, covered in mud and thorns, Uma was still unsure about the past few hours.

What was she doing? What was she thinking?

Wiping mud from her face Uma repaired for home.

She must have been in quite a state, judging by her mother in law’s stretching eyebrows and gaping mouth but Uma now tiptoed at the frayed ends of her nerves and thus declining to answer an assault of inquiry she stood under the hot shower, absolving herself of today's adventure.

What was she going to do? 

Later that night she booked a pest control service.

Sleep had abandoned her ever since that phone call without a name but perhaps it had made amends and found Uma who now slept deep and comforted.

It wasn’t nearly noon when her phone rang again, but this time she was waiting for it.

Bastard calling

He felt flustered, somewhat feverish unable to contain his excitement that morning because he’d stayed up most part of the night with Uma’s memories and a new bottle of rum and things had been looking up; he’d convinced himself of it.

Uma seemed malleable to his demands, she was almost like her old self. People don’t really change he’d concluded and persuaded his beliefs that were bolstered with rum beyond a shadow of a doubt that Uma wanted him.

He drove to his daily pilgrimage that of jamming his car amongst others in a parking lot to stare at the residential compound she lived in and catch a glimpse of her and who knew maybe he’d just greet her and talk to her like old friends, like old lovers.

Lightheaded with a contented buzz overruling his misgivings he called Uma and found his confidence striding to victory when she picked up almost immediately.

She didn’t sound as peeved as she had on earlier occasions and though he did sense her intonation get a little testy she was mostly cordial.

‘I’m doing some work with my mother in law.’ she said.

‘Can we meet?’

Uma’s voice suddenly shook and she sounded concerned. ‘No, not now.’ she said.

He was feeling charitable and was willing to ignore it for the moment. ‘Soon we will be together Uma’ he spoke in between swigs from his hip flask. 

Uma recoiled at hearing his loathsome voice get oilier with the application of alcohol.

‘yes,’ she winced grinding her teeth and drove out of the far east gate.

The bastard sat drinking, looking at the compound gates and waited for Uma's in-laws, or anyone really. He contemplated lunch but satisfied himself with thoughts of dinner and lounged inside the car.

What looked like Amazon proportion jungle yesterday in the thickening dusk was now a much watered down version of a sparse but generally well-endowed forest.

It was a bit of wilderness in the middle of a city, left to recklessly flourish as a result of which there was no harmony in the wasteland. There were tall trees, bushes, undergrowth, weeds, long grasses, thorny shrubs making it a bit of chaotic greenery which wasn’t unpleasant to look at.

Uma had followed a similar path from yesterday, leaving her car further back trawling through the narrow streets which were empty this afternoon.

She walked further as a way of exploring this area onto the thinning track supposedly serving as a road and a few hundred meters inland the forest grew gaunt and the road widened, opening to a sparsely populated colony that was mostly small houses relegated to families. 

Tracing her steps back to where she had found herself crouched yesterday near the bend were unfinished, barren houses with a court order notice stamped indelibly on a large sign post and smaller versions of it stuck on the walls and windows of those houses.

The construction had been abandoned except the one completed house which the bastard had been living in and his only neighbours were far into the interior; a long walk or difficult drive away. 

The name of the construction company shared the bastards surname and Uma surmised his accommodation situation.

Evenings had lent a certain veil to her hiding situation yesterday, as Uma looked around the same spot where she crawled last evening, it’d take a scarce moment to spot her during daytime and so she’d have to act fast.

Uma stood at his doorstep looking around to find the withered potted plant which the bastard hid his house keys in, except he was a negligent gardener and all the potted plants kept near the door were withered.

She found the keys on her third try and let herself in the sickening slop that passed as his abode.