Dolon liked the single-story bungalow with front and rear lawns, three spacious bedrooms, separate living and dining rooms. There was small pond behind the house accessible through a wicker gate. She sighed and thought, how long are we going to stay here? Her husband, Shubro is a police officer with a transferable job that doesn’t let them stay at one place for than three years. The most affected person is their daughter Tumpa or Shinjini, she has already moved three schools, now will be in her fourth school. Dolon hoped she likes the new school and makes new friends quickly. The bungalow was just outside the city limits, sparsely populated area but very peaceful, Dolon was happy that unnecessary vendors and strangers won’t be calling up.

The household stuff had arrived yesterday, Dolon had been busy since morning setting up the house with the help of their man Friday, Govind, a havildar attached with Subhro. He is now gone for the day promising to get a house-help in the morning. Her mind was cluttered with many thoughts about this new place… whether she will get an efficient maid to getting Tumpa admitted to a good school and a good tutor for her, though Tumpa is quite intelligent and had been on top of her class till date. She was standing near the wicker gate and looking at the pond when her thoughts were disrupted…

Mom… mom, where are you?

Tumpa was alone inside and it’s getting dark as well; she came rushing to find Tumpa in company of a lady of her age, slim and dignified, they were talking and laughing as if they knew each other for longtime. The lady, when she saw Dolon, smiled at her with folded hands in gesture of namaskar.

“Hello, my name is Malini, your neighbor. When I got to know of your arrival, I couldn’t wait to welcome you in this peaceful place.”

“Good that you have come, I am Dolon and you have already met my daughter Tumpa. I was wondering if and when we will get to know our neighbors. You need friends in a new place to survive. Let me make some tea for us, then we will sit and talk.”

“Please don’t bother about making tea, actually, I don’t take tea or any beverage, stopped taking, a long time ago. Please sit and let’s chat, you hardly meet anyone intelligent to talk.”

“Very true, sister, the morning passes with household work, then Tumpa comes back from school and plays alone while I read the books or magazine till my husband comes back. It’s a boring life being the wife of a police officer. Do you live close by?”

“Yes, been here for a long time… sometimes I feel suffocated not able to meet and talk with others. But what to do? Will have to stay put till the call comes…”

“What about your children?”

“One girl, same age as Tumpa…very shy, doesn’t want to show up in front of people. Will try to bring her along tomorrow.”

“Sure, send her in the afternoon after school, let the kids play and you can come once you finish your work. We will have a good time.”

“Very well, I must go now, it’s getting dark.”

“Sit for a while more, where’s your husband?”

“He works with the police.”

“Wow, what similarity, sister! Is he here in this city?”

“He was, but…”

“Okay, understood, he has been transferred to a new place and looking for a good place before calling you guys over. The department heads should show some empathy before signing the transfer orders, life becomes so difficult moving from one place to another and before you settle down, you are served your next posting.”

“Exactly, my life has become hell…”

Malini couldn’t finish her sentence and started sobbing. Without waiting further, she suddenly got up and left. Dolon heard the gate open as Malini disappeared in the darkness.

Almost immediately, Shubro came in and said, “What’s the matter, you haven’t switched on the lights? It’s dark outside. Where is Tumpa?”

“Oh, I didn’t realise talking with our neighbor Malini. You missed her by a whisker, nice, dignified woman, she left just before you came in. She has a daughter of Tumpa’s age, she will get her along tomorrow.” Dolon spoke as she switched on the lights.

“Wow, very nice, you found a friend on the first day itself. But who’s she? Where do they live?”

“Her name is Malini, lives nearby only. You know, her husband is also in police service. He was in your police station only but has been transferred, will take his family once he can arrange a suitable house.”

“He was posted here? What’s his name?”

“Oh crap, I forgot to ask his name, will find out tomorrow. Shall I make some tea for you?”

“Yes please, and also some snacks to go with it. It had been a very busy day, didn’t get time to have lunch even… there are two active gangs and they have declared war against each other… five murders in last two weeks…” Subhro entered the bedroom while talking.

“Just see, the little one, Tumpa is sleeping. Hey baby… Tumpa, wake up baby. You will be awake like an owl if you sleep now.”

The following day afternoon, Dolon was in the kitchen, preparing lunch when Tumpa appeared at the door and said, “Mom, give me some wheat dough.”

Dolon looked at her daughter with surprise, she had gone with Subhro in the morning for admission in the nearby Missionary School and was dropped back a little while ago.

“Why? What will you do with the dough?”

“I will go fishing.”

“Where will you go for fishing?”

“Why, at the pond behind our house.”

“I don’t think there are any fish in that stagnant water body.”

“Yes, there are, Juhi said she used to fish quite often. You just give me some dough.” Tumpa sounded a little impatient.

“But we don’t have fishing equipment, did your father buy you any?”

“No, I found them in the outhouse, cleaned them and they are ready for fishing.”

Dolon gave her a portion of dough from which she was making the chapati and Tumpa rushed out from the house. Dolon finished her cooking and laid down the table for lunch. She went to the rear of the house and from the porch saw Tumpa sitting on the bank of the pond, fishing rod in hand waiting patiently for the fish(s) to bite the bait. She silently went over to check on her. There were four medium sized fish lying on a newspaper next to her. She was whispering, “Hey Juhi, tell me when to pull… do you think the fish has bitten the bait?”

There was tension in the fishing wire and Tumpa instantly pulled the wire in a jerk… she caught another fish and was euphoric in her achievement. She noticed her mother.

“Mom, did you see how expertly I caught the fish? There are large number of fishes in this pond. Now on, we don’t have to buy fish from the market. Juhi has taught me how to fish.”

Dolon was taken aback, she said, “I have been watching you for some time now, where’s your friend Juhi? I didn’t see her.”

“What are you saying Mom? She was here a few moments back. She only helped me find the fishing rod from the outhouse and showed me how to put the bait and throw the line in the water. She must be hiding somewhere…she’s very shy.”

“Who’s Juhi? Your new friend from the school?”

“What? You forgot… yesterday Malini aunty mentioned about her daughter Juhi.”

“Oh, that’s very good. Please find her and bring her over, lunch is ready. And both of you wash up before joining at the table.”

After a while, Tumpa came alone, dejected.

“What happened? You couldn’t find her?”

“No Mom, I checked everywhere but she’s nowhere to be found.”

“Did you check under the bed or the cupboards? You said that she’s been to this house earlier, many times, she might be hiding in some corner.”

“She used live here, Mom.”

“Here, in this house? Was his father a big officer like your dad?”

“I don’t know that, she didn’t say anything about her father.”

“You are an idiot; you were together for so long and couldn’t ask where her father is or what’s his name? Do you know where they live now?”

Dolon picked up the bunch of fish that Tumpa had caught and said, “I will clean these and fry them. If Juhi comes, please bring her to the kitchen, will treat her with some sweets.”

Dolon going to the kitchen, was passing by the bedroom of Tumpa when she noticed that her bedsheet was in complete disarray and soiled with muddy little footprints. She was irritated but controlled herself for the time being. Tumpa will get the scolding later.

“Memsahib…memsahib…” Govind was calling from outside. Dolon became angry, he was supposed to get a maid in the morning for top work. She went out to see him, ready to scold.

“What happened Govind? Didn’t I tell you to get a house-help in the morning? And you have come alone without the maid!”

“Sorry Ma’am but Sir sent me to the railway station to buy the tickets. There was a long queue…”

“What ticket? For whom?”

“For you people. Sir asked me to give you this letter.” Govind extended his hand to give her the letter.

Dolon was taken aback; they have landed only a couple of days ago and Subhro is asking her to pack-up immediately. She thought of calling him for clarification but Subhro called before that and briefly explained that his brother had called to inform that their mother’s health has suddenly deteriorated, therefore is the urgency. However, to Dolon, it was not convincing because she had spoken her mother-in-law and she sounded quite cheerful and healthy.

“Mom, I am hungry, did you fry the fish?” Tumpa asked.

“Two minutes, it will be ready. Did you find your friend Juhi?”

“Yes, she was hiding in the outhouse. I asked her to join us for lunch but she declined saying she doesn’t eat fish anymore, not even her mother. She went away.”

Dolon dismissed Govind and went inside for lunch preparation.

Later, in the sleeper class when most co-passengers including Tumpa were sleeping, she couldn’t hold back any more and asked Subhro, “Are you awake?”

“Yes, you want to say something?”

“I spoke to Maa in the morning and sounded well, what happened to her? Is it serious?”

“I don’t know exactly but Abhro, my brother called up to say, Maa has taken ill in the morning and we should return at the earliest.”

“But we will return after a few days, why did we have to vacate that nice bungalow?”

“We will get a nicer place to say in the city, if we have to come back but definitely not in that house.”

“Why? Is it because your police station was far from there?”

“No, that’s not the problem.”

“Then? Both Tumpa and I had made such nice friends, that too of our age only. In fact Juhi, in that brief time, taught Tumpa how catch fish from the pond. And Malini was so gentle and intelligent. Now, I don’t know if we will meet them again or not…”

“It is better, if you don’t meet them again, ever.”

“What are you saying? Please explain.” Dolon became agitated and sat on her berth.

“You probably won’t be able to digest the truth.”

“What is there not to believe? You probably will say that you have found that they are not good people and we should avoid mixing with them. But I know they are good people. Malini herself came to welcome us on the very first evening.”

“Okay, listen to me very carefully. I checked in the neighborhood, nobody knew anything about Malini and her daughter Juhi, never heard of them. My people checked every house in the vicinity but they were not to be found.” Subhro, sipped a little water and then continued…

“You said her husband was posted in the same police station, so I enquired in the office but no one remembers him. Isn’t that strange? Then I called for the records and found that almost thirty years ago there was an Inspector by the name Nripen Das who’s wife was Malini and they had a daughter named Juhi. One evening, both the mother and daughter were found dead under suspicious circumstances. Probably the mother poisoned her daughter before taking her own life.”

Dolon, wide eyed was visibly shaken, her throat drying up, with great difficulty, she asked, “What happened to the father?”

“There was a brief note that Inspector Nripen Das was suspended in a bribery case. I could not probe further because a warring faction in a land encroachment case came and I got busy with them. But, honestly, I neither know what happened to Nripen Das nor want to know. Happy that we are going back home, unscathed.”