At Half Passed Twelve
–Menonim Menonimus
At Half Passed Twelve | Short Story by Menonimus
At half-past twelve, he comes back home. All are asleep. The season is summer. It is too hot. The stars are twinkling in the sky. The glow worms are flying here and there. The crickets are chirruping. The owls are screaming. At such a time, Ashad has come back home from rambling. He silently pushes the door and enters his chamber. The lantern is shining dimly. He silently sits on the cot. On the bed, his recently married wife Alaka is sleeping. It seems she is in deep sleep. She as a woman is very charming to be able to allure any youth. She comes off a poor family. She lost her parents at an early age. After her parents’ death, she was brought up by his uncle. Ashad has passed B. A. and now he is dealing in groceries. He is about twenty and his wife Alaka is about fifteen. She is amiable but childish. On the other hand, Ashad is mature. Without calling her up, he sleeps beside her and dashes her with his arms. She suddenly wakes up but says nothing. She only turns to her right and sleeps again. Ashad then calls her up and says:
“Alaka, you have taken birth only to sleep. Now wake up. I have a talk with you. I am sure that you will reveal the truth.”
Alaka turns to him and says, “What?”
Ashad begins to say, “I’ve come to know from one of your nearest relatives that you had a term of love with the youth of your village. He wished you to marry and you were crazy about his love, isn’t it?
“What a rascal?” She says, “Where have you come to know this from?”
‘Rascal’ Ashad whizzes. Suddenly anger grows in him and the anger sours up to his hair. He leaps up from his bed runs to the corner of the room and fetches a piece of wood and began to beat her with it. At the first beating, she utters “Oh, uh…..” and then she faints. In addition to this, he kicks her on the hip and utters, “You have abused me and it is your reward.” She neither stirs nor moans. She is lying motionless in the bed. Ashad standing on the floor begins to babble.
After some time Ashad notices that Alaka does not move. She is senseless. He goes on to her and lifting her garment he sees that her hips are badly bruised. The red blood is issuing out violently. He then thinks to himself, “What has been done? Oh! What has been…” he picks up the kettle in his hand and begins to pour water on her head. At last, after about an hour she comes to sense. She does not cry but sobs.
Ashad sits on the chair and begins to repent and think. He remembers his past days. He remembers his own love affairs with Miss Manorama. He wished to marry her. But by the trick of luck he could not. Being frustrated he married Alaka just only a month ago. Alaka is comparatively more charming than Manorama. He just marries her but he can hardly love her from the core of his heart. He only uses her as a source of carnal pleasure and nothing else. She gives away herself to his desire. But she seems that she is a shy girl. Already during their honeymoon days, she chided her badly.
Now at this deep night after beating her badly Ashad says to himself, “Have I done the right? Does she know about my love affairs with Manorama? If she knew what would she ask me? Or if she knows- will she whip me? A wife has the same right over her husband as a husband has over his wife. He broods over the matter and at last stands up from the chair. He looks at the wall clock but can see nothing as his eyes are full of tears. He only guesses that it might be a late night, around 2’o clock. He very silently sits on the cot, he puts his right hand on her chest and holds her hand and embraces her and calls, “Alaka, A-l-a-k-a-.
She opens up her eyes but replies nothing.
“Excuse me Alaka, excuse me.” Saying so, he begins to weep. 0 0 0
At Half Passed Twelve
N.B. The short story ‘At Half Passed Twelve | Short Story by Menonimus’ originally belongs to the book ‘The Fugitive Father and Other Stories‘ by Menonim Menonimus.
At Half Passed Twelve
Books of Composition by M. Menonimus:
- Advertisement Writing
- Amplification Writing
- Note Making
- Paragraph Writing
- Notice Writing
- Passage Comprehension
- The Art of Poster Writing
- The Art of Letter Writing
- Report Writing
- Story Writing
- Substance Writing
- School Essays Part-I
- School Essays Part-II
- School English Grammar Part-I
- School English Grammar Part-II..
Books of S. Story by M. Menonimus:
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