The Sea Singer Read online

  The Sea Singer

  Shome Dasgupta

  For Mommy and Daddy.

  Thank you for always loving me and supporting me, no matter how many times I mess up. Your encouragement has no boundaries—I am forever grateful.

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  About the Author

  With Special Thanks

  Young Adult

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thank You: Mommy and Daddy and Deep, Andy Breaux, Stacey and Terry and Charlie and Ada Grow, Lindsey and Luke and Audrey and Sam Sonnier, Rien Fertel, Katie and Denny Culbert, Bianca and Chad Cosby, Angelique and Brandon Sonnier, Casae Hobbs, Karl Schott, Ryan Castle, Eddie Barry, Anu Gupta, Jeff Distefano, Justin Bacqué, Patrick O’Neil, Kristin Stoner, Ryan Dilbert, Andrea Pappas, Jennifer Ames, Mark Maynard, Tupac Shakur, Red Ink Literary Agency, Anuj Bahri, Sharvani Pandit Ajitha G.S., and Rebecca Lloyd.

  1

  MARCH WAS BORN IN THE MIDDLE OF April. The morning of her birthday was rainy, but by the evening the rain had stopped and the sun could be seen setting. She was born in the period of the waning rain and sun. The hospital was a small one, only a year old. Funded by a prominent local family, the Medallions, it was built after the death of their child, Ney. The town of Kolkaper was bordered by the Bay of Bengal on the east coast, Hyderabad was west of the city, Chennai to the south, while the Cave Forest lined the northern and western edges.

  There were two causes for the death of Ney: she had caught pneumonia as she was received from Francesca’s womb at the Medallion Mansion, and once she had entered the world with that sickness, the hospital refused to take her in. Ney’s life was brief but momentous, because the events leading from her birth up to her passing laid the path for the wonderful life of March.

  When the Medallions took Ney to the hospital, Dr Frez was stubborn and bitter. He held a grudge against the Medallions, particularly Nirana.

  ‘We have the right to refuse business to any customer,’ Dr Frez said.

  Two years before the birth of Ney, Nirana and Dr Frez were involved in a lawsuit. The doctor had sued Nirana for being healthy, because he never needed to go to the hospital for treatment. When Dr Frez was just becoming a doctor, Nirana had assured him that he would be one of the hospital’s best customers. However, due to the healthy and well-nourished life that Nirana was living, he never had cause to go to the hospital until the birth of his daughter. The case was faulty; it was clear that Dr Frez’s insanity was increasing. Years and years devoted to his profession in medicine had eroded his rationality. He confused needles with noodles, crutches with stilts and, at one point, he thought a stethoscope was a dinosaur.

  He insisted that the Medallions were nothing but a parasite’s parasite. Nirana wanted no part of the case. He knew of Frez’s insanity, and he didn’t want to cause any further damage to the doctor’s health. However, when the doctor claimed that the Medallions’ ancestors lived lives full of cheating and stealing, Nirana had enough and he took the matter to court.

  ‘He can say anything about me,’ Nirana said. ‘But my ancestors, and my ancestors’ ancestors, they have nothing to do with this.’

  The judge ruled in Nirana’s favour, citing that, ‘It is not Nirana’s duty to become ill under any obligation.’

  Frez never forgave Nirana. Ney’s sickness was the first time since the lawsuit that the Medallions had gone to his hospital.

  After denying the baby admission, Frez realized the injustice he was committing and rushed out of the hospital to call back the Medallions. ‘Please, come back; the expenses shall be paid from my own salary,’ he said. ‘Within my insanity, there exists a small measure of rationality.’

  The Medallions hurried back to the hospital. But as they placed Ney in the emergency room, she died from a sneeze.

  ‘Achoo,’ Ney said.

  She had closed her eyes to sneeze and they never opened again.

  Dr Frez could not look the Medallions in the eye. He put his hands on top of his head. He stuck his tongue out. He tried to speak, but nothing came out.

  Without a word, Nirana and Francesca returned home. They were quiet during the drive back in the carriage. The driver whispered to the horses to be gentle. When they arrived at the mansion, Francesca was the first to speak.

  ‘I must dream of my baby,’ she said.

  Ney was their first baby. Francesca spent the day in her room crying over the pure white cloths given to them by her friends to serve as bed sheets for the crib. Francesca’s tears dissolved the sheets and there was nothing left but sorrow.

  Nirana took time off from his work as a lawyer to console his wife. The citizens of Kolkaper made a pact to not commit any crimes or break any laws as long as Nirana was not working.

  ‘This is no time for crime,’ one thug said.

  ‘We will show our enemies their due respect,’ another thug said.

  ‘How can we steal when there is no one to challenge us?’ a reputable criminal said.

  Those Nirana had sent to jail by successfully prosecuting them in court expressed their condolences. Jay – a man who was convicted of stealing the roots of trees and selling them in the black market as ancient elephant tusks – sent Nirana a card. And Brie-Logan, who had instigated the Great Bar Fight of the Century, had one of his cronies send the Medallions a crate of liquor and cheese.

  Frez never forgave himself for the death of Ney. Seven days after her death, when no one was hospitalized, he gave the other workers the day off and locked himself in the same emergency room where Ney had passed away. He poured a bucket of gasoline all over the room and over himself. Before he had even lit a match, the heat from his own guilt caused a spark, setting him on fire. It eventually spread throughout the hospital, burning the building down. Ney was the last patient to have died under Frez’s care. On the same day as Frez’s fiery guilt, seven days after Ney’s sneeze, the Medallions cremated their baby. The ashes were thrown into the ocean.

  ‘She will have quite a journey,’ Francesca said.

  ‘An ash to each corner of the world and beyond,’ Nirana said.

  As they returned to their mansion, they saw the burning hospital and ran to the site, which was already surrounded by the townspeople, including the police and the firefighters.

  ‘Frez has burnt himself to death and he has taken his whole life with him,’ Francesca said.

  ‘It wasn’t his fault, though,’ Nirana said. ‘There was nothing that could have been done. A sneeze is a sneeze.’

  They stood there until the sun set over the ocean and watched the last trails of smoke make their way into the sky.

  ‘Poor man,’ Francesca said. ‘He always wanted to do right. And though he tried, things never went the way he wanted. Unnecessary guilt. We should have asked him over and told him that everything will be okay.’

  ‘I now realize the pain he must have been carrying this past week,’ Nirana said. ‘It is our fault he died.’

  ‘Too many deaths,’ Francesca said.

  The others had left for their nightly activities. But the Medallions remained until the last of the smoke disappeared and then went back to their home.

  2

  SOON AFTER THE ASHES OF NEY AND DR Frez were released into
the sky, Nirana met with his financial advisor, Chek. Nirana had a plan that he had come up with in his sleep the night before. They were to meet at the mansion. The smell of curry and vegetable soup filled its rooms as Chek knocked on the oak door. Chek and Nirana were childhood friends. They had gone to the same schools, from elementary school to their college years.

  ‘Smells delicious,’ Chek said. ‘Let us skip this meeting and eat these savoury, scented foods.’

  ‘Your appetite hasn’t changed,’ Nirana said. ‘And I hope that it will always remain the same.’

  In a sudden change of mood, Chek turned towards Nirana. ‘My condolences to you and Francesca.’

  Francesca met them in the foyer, known as the Pablo Hall, because its walls were filled with an assortment of Pablo Picasso’s paintings, including Guernica and The Old Guitarist. Chek hugged Francesca and whispered his condolences to her. Francesca kissed him on the cheek.

  ‘Now, hurry and finish this business you all have to attend to and let us eat,’ she said.

  ‘It shouldn’t take too long,’ Nirana said. ‘Come Chek, we will talk in my office.’

  They walked through the foyer and living room, and into the office. Chek noticed the change in decoration and that the walls had been re-painted since he had last been there.

  ‘This is wonderful,’ he said.

  ‘We’ve been trying to keep ourselves busy,’ Nirana said. ‘We thought that changing the look of the house would help us cope.’

  Nirana sat behind his marble desk and Chek sat opposite him, the folders held underneath his arm. Nirana lit a cigar and offered one to Chek.

  ‘I’ve stopped smoking since the hospital burned down,’ Chek said.

  ‘You are wise,’ Nirana said. ‘I’ve started smoking since the hospital burned down.’

  Nirana pulled out a folder from the drawer.

  ‘I want to fund the building of the new hospital, in memory of both Ney and Frez. It will be dedicated to them both. I wish the lawsuits had not come in the way of our friendship. Our family knew Frez for years. We tried, Chek, we tried to keep the relationship, but he would have none of it.’

  ‘A shame,’ Chek replied. ‘Good health and insanity.’

  ‘In his memory and hers, I would like to fund the new hospital for Kolkaper.’

  ‘I knew you would want to. A ghost in my dream last night told me so.’

  ‘A ghost?’

  ‘It was a seagull,’ Chek said. ‘Flying with an urn in its mouth.’

  ‘The seagull,’ Nirana said.

  He looked up at the ceiling – his eyes shone as he envisioned seabirds and seagulls and hawks and falcons swirling around the room. The ceiling itself turned into a seagull in Nirana’s eyes. Chek tapped him on the shoulder, then called out his name and gave him a slight slap on the back. Nirana shook his head.

  ‘Sorry,’ Nirana said. ‘I was remembering another world full of birds.’

  ‘This morning, I checked your financial situation and you are in excellent condition.’

  ‘I will then talk to the City Council tomorrow. And make all the arrangements. Will you be able to come?’

  ‘We will go there together,’ Chek said.

  ‘Dinner,’ Nirana said.

  Nirana told Francesca about the new hospital and she smiled for the first time since the death of Ney.

  3

  THE NEXT DAY, NIRANA, CHEK AND THE City Council met before noon. The Council office was made of oak and marble. There was a long table in the middle of the room, where the Council members sat and smoked cigars. There were pitchers of water at each end of the table and one in the middle. The head of the Council, Rinja, was happy to hear that the Medallions wanted to build a new hospital and they graciously accepted the offer.

  ‘We would love to assist in your funding,’ Rinja said.

  His eyes were wide and watery. His moustache bobbed up and down as he talked. He rubbed his arms and looked at the pitchers of water.

  ‘This will be the greatest hospital in Kolkaper.’

  His eyebrows, two thick black caterpillars, lifted towards the sky.

  ‘We hope it will be one of the best, but it will be hard without Dr Frez as part of the team,’ Nirana said.

  ‘He was one of the best,’ Chek said.

  ‘Too true,’ Rinja replied. ‘We will find a worthy replacement.’

  They shook hands and construction began a week later. Nirana worked extra hours to make up for the neglect of his clients during the past few weeks. The thugs, who had been patient for so long, prepared to commit crimes again – there was stealing and robbing and vandalism. They were happy that Kolkaper’s best lawyer had returned to work.

  ‘We feel like we are back home again,’ one thug said. Francesca took up her childhood pastime of watercolour painting. She painted Ney and her husband, she painted their house and their garden. She painted the city and the seabirds and things she hadn’t seen before – dreams of other worlds and other lives. She volunteered to work with various organizations in Kolkaper, such as the Department of Parks and Ducks, The Home for Children Without Homes and The Committee to Oversee the Blind. Francesca was a kind woman, who cared for those less fortunate than her. She always kept frozen chocolates in her purse so that she had something to give the beggars of Kolkaper when she went to the markets.

  ‘With chocolate, they will realize the sweetness of the world, they must have had too much of its sour counterpart,’ Francesca would say to her friends.

  With diligent workers and sunny, clear weather, the new hospital was finished within six months. And in the time that the city didn’t have a hospital, the people of Kolkaper had made a pact to not do anything dangerous – no one rode on skateboards or played rugby or sang in the rain. The thugs, though they had started to commit crimes again, kept their illegal activities to simple acts, nothing that involved fighting or shooting. No one needed any medical attention, except for Aurra, who was ninety-seven years old.

  ‘I will wait till the hospital is finished and then I will die,’ she told the house doctor. ‘I will be the hospital’s first baby.’

  The hospital was small, but lavish. Each room had a painting either by de Kooning or Seurat. The walls were light blue. The floors were made of marble and children stared at the swirls of colour as they waited in the lobby. In the courtyard, there were a series of African tribal artworks, consisting of wooden, bronze and stone statues. There was a café, serving coffee and vegetables and for those who wished to eat unhealthy, there was a range of foods high in cholesterol.

  ‘If I’m going to eat unhealthy,’ one patient said, ‘then I should eat unhealthy in the finest hospital of Kolkaper.’

  4

  SIX MONTHS AFTER THE HOSPITAL WAS built, March was born just outside it. The Faccinises weren’t expecting this birth. Jonas, the father of the baby and husband to Maria, didn’t know that his wife was pregnant. Maria didn’t know she was pregnant either. Nine months ago, Jonas had to travel across the ocean for an important job dealing with metals. The night before he left, Jonas and Maria said their farewells and March was conceived. Maria, in her pining for Jonas, had slept for the nine months that he was not there, only waking up once to make sure the house was not on fire. The day Jonas returned from overseas, Maria opened her eyes.

  ‘I could smell the dirt on your skin as soon as you entered Kolkaper,’ she whispered.

  Maria burped and felt the baby in her stomach. ‘I must be pregnant,’ she said.

  ‘To the hospital,’ Jonas said.

  ‘Let us get as far as possible,’ she replied.

  They hurried toward the hospital, making frequent stops in the rain to see if she was about to give birth to a baby. They made it just short of their destination. Maria couldn’t make it all the way up the stairs of the building. Jonas left her there and ran inside to get help. He found two doctors and three nurses, but as they rushed outside, just before the sun had set, Maria gave birth to March. In the hospital room, Jonas caressed Mari
a’s hair. She had slept for nine months, but she was a light sleeper, and her hair was kempt and combed; not one strand was out of place. She wore wrinkle-free-clothes, like they had just been taken out of the dresser drawer, folded and ironed.

  ‘Rest. I will go and see March now.’

  ‘I have rested for nine months. Let me go with you.’

  Jonas helped her out of bed, and they walked to March’s room. She was the Faccinises’ first baby, as well as the hospital’s first birth. They met Dr Slide on their way to the room.

  ‘There appears to be a problem with the newborn,’ he said.

  ‘Can she already talk?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘She can’t sleep. Her eyes have yet to close.’

  They walked into March’s room and saw her in a small wooden crib. She was on her back, her eyes open, staring at the ceiling.

  ‘She should be sleeping. Her eyes should close at least for a little bit. Since she has left Maria’s stomach, she has done nothing but look around.’

  ‘Are there any signs of ill health?’ Maria asked.

  ‘No, but this situation is unexplainable. She should be crying and sleeping and crying and sleeping.’

  ‘Is she human?’ Jonas asked.

  ‘She has every human feature, from heartbeat to mucus.’

  ‘What should we do?’ Maria asked.

  ‘We’ll keep her here for a few days and see what happens, if that is okay with you. We may perform some tests.’

  ‘We will stay here while you’re conducting the tests,’ Jonas said.

  They stayed there for two days while March was put through a number of machines. A committee came and observed her, but they could find nothing wrong.

  March didn’t close her eyes to sleep. She was healthy, she was fed properly, her bowel movements were proper and her limbs were all functional – but she did not sleep.

  ‘She is in awe of the world,’ Dr Slide said.

  ‘There is much to see of this place,’ Jonas said.