The Chime Of The Bell- Chapter 3

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The Scarecrow
Apr 04, 2019   •  25 views

(Rileena’s narration)

“She totally looks like an owl”, Jayeeta whispered.

“No she looks more like a cat. I can picture her as a cat”, observed Sam.

We were examining the woman sitting across us in the yacht deck. She was a fair complexioned woman with a roundish face. Her amber locks had fallen loose from her bun and were flattering in the air in a careless fashion. She wore round Harry Potter glasses yet somehow managed to look like Hedwig. She was busy tightening a nut of some strange instrument and took no notice of our presence. Here we thought Dishani is the only one crazy enough to work in a vacation. Talking of Dishani, I wondered why she was taking so long in the washroom. Meanwhile we continued our debate about owls and cats.

When I heard footsteps of someoneapproaching us I railed without even looking “What have you been doing? What took you so long?” Hearing no response I turned back to discover the person I yelled at was certainly not Dishani. A tall sleek woman with thick black framed spectacles was looking at me puzzled.

My friends first gazed at the woman and then at me before bursting out in laughter.

“Umm…I am really sorry I thought you were my friend”, I quickly added.

The woman stood a few more seconds looking at us before flashing a smile. “It’s OK”, she said as she settled down beside Sam. “Hello I am Vaishali Mondal. I am a movie director. Mrs. Khan and I go long back. I want to shoot a horror –”

“Wait you are the famous director Vaishali Mondal, the director of ‘Strange Incidents’!”, screamed Dishani. We didn’t even realize when she came back and sat beside the owl girl. Her scream even caught the attention of owl girl who was now staring at her.

Vaishali nodded as she sat a little taller. Wow I just realized I was sitting beside a celebrity. How cool is that! But Dishani’s enthusiasm exceeded all of ours.

“OMG I just can’t believe this!! You worked with Daniel Rogers! How was your working experience? Is he a good man? Is it true he dated Elmina Sanford? ...” She asked like 300 questions back-to-back.

“Well we have an entire week to spend in the island so how about we store all this questions for later?” , offered Vaishali as she finally got a chance to speak. “Now enough about myself what about you people?”

We went on giving the introductions till only owl girl was left. We all turned to her. But she was too busy screwing nuts, literally.

“Umm…excuse me”, said Dishani politely (As politely as her manners will allow her which is not much). There was no response.

“Excuse me”, she said a little louder. There was still no response. And this was the end of her patience.

She almost shook her by the shoulder as Dishani yelled “E X C U S EM E”.

She finally looked up confused with her large eyes even more widened. “What is it?” , she asked adjusting her spectacles which had shifted from her eyes due to the rattling.

“I am sorry to bother you honey. Would you care to introduce yourself?”, asked the director with a vibrant smile.

She quickly examined all of us before adjusting her spectacles again. “I am Debaleena Talukdar. If you have ever seen the program 'Gadget Guru' in NatGeo you would have know me.”

Then I recognized her. Owl girl is the gadget guru! Oh goodness, we are surrounded by celebrities.
“I am here to research if machines can help a person survive in an isolated island”, she continued. “I have got a bunch of my inventions for example this one”, she held up the strange stuff she was screwing a while ago. “This machine can detect the presence of poisonous substance in edible items and then I have a machine which can purify any kind of water even pee”.

Our expressions were like a mixture of eww and this-is-unbelievable. Who is going to drink pee in a land which is surrounded by water? She observed our expressions before adding “Don’t worry its safe, I tested”.

“You mean you tasted?” asked Sam. Debaleena nodded. “I think I am gonna bring up my breakfast”, said Sam covering her mouth. We had to remind her that we haven’t had our breakfast yet.

The entrance of the captain marked the end of the gross subject. He was followed by some crew member. “Good morning ladies”, he said in a French assent. “Hope you are enjoying the cruise so far. I am your captain Louis Moreau and this is my team. They will show you around. It’s a five hours trip so make yourselves comfortable. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask. Thank you” With this he left. Some of the crew members followed. Then a woman with a permanent smile showed us the rooms, gym, cafe and finally led us to the restaurant.

--*--*--

“You are taking this along?’, I asked as my eyes fell on Dishani’s laptop bag.
.
“Just in case”, Dishani shrugged. “Man I am too skeptical to part with it”, urged she.

She isn’t to blame though. Sam had brought her telescope, Vaishali had already started recording and Jayee was sunk in a pile of history books. Crazy us!

Sam had spent the entire journey bringing up not because she imagined drinking pee-she turned out to be sea sick. Debaleena entertained (bored) me with a lengthy illustration of her inventions and the advancement of technology in which Dishani joined too. I was thankful to God when the captain announced that we were nearing the shore.

We all ran to the deck as the island became visible. A ‘wow’ escaped my lips. I had done my own research on this island but this was more beautiful than I saw in the pictures.

We expected an isolated island but here it was crowded with men dressed in black suits running around in haste. They were Mr. Khan’s men whom he had sent to clear parts of the island for our dwelling.

We were 6 people and 600 tons of luggages so it took some time to unload. Thankfully Mr. Khan’s men helped the crew unload. Meanwhile Jayee found herself a flat boulder. She climbed it up and stood on it holding an imaginary microphone. Clearing her throat she started, “My dear friends, we are now in Poveglia Island. So while your luggage is getting, let me give you a brief history of this island. In the ninth century this island was used a residential place….”

We all knew when Jayee said brief it meant no less than 13 hours of lecture. We pretended to be sleepy but still she went on. Then we finally had to drag her down the boulder. We lifted her planning to throw her in the ocean when I heard a chopper nearing us. We looked up as the chopper was coming closer and eventually dropped Jayee (on the ground). The chopper landed on the octagonal island separated from the mainland, very close to where we were standing, messing up my parlor treated hairs.

Two men in black came out of the copter. All the men in the island rushed to greet them. But then I noticed they were making way for someone. Was it Mr. Khan I wondered?

Then there stepped out a lady in a cream colored suit with a matching hat. The lady approached us. The two men followed. She opened her hat and sunglasses and handed it one of them. I must say she was an ordinary looking woman with extraordinary elegance.

“Oh goodness…she is going to be my next girlfriend”, I muttered.

“Ahem”, Sam gave me an angry glare. “What about me?”

“Oh you will always be my first”, I said without shifting my eyes from the approaching lady. Yea when you are from a girl’s school you have this woman crushes and girlfriends without being a lesbian.

“Hi. I am Farheen Khanam, the daughter of Farad Khan. My dad bought this island and granted you people an expedition. So I thought I would join you in the adventure. Hope you don’t mind if I do”.

Something in her voice clearly told that she did not need our approval. She looked at us with a pert smile. Even when she had made it clear in her first statement that she is the boss here I was admiring her instead of being pissed. I wasn’t the only one though.

Jayee extended her hand cheerfully. “Hey Miss khanam. It’s really nice to meet you. I am Jayeeta Paul. I work under your father’s friend Mr. Montgomery. It was very kind of your dad to let us spend a week here”.

“Actually you should be thanking me”, said Miss Khanam shaking her hand quite reluctantly. “I was the one who convinced daddy. He was reluctant at first”.

While she spoke on of the men handed her a tissue and she wiped her hand on it before disposing it. I could hear Dishani grumble something under her breath.

“So thank you Miss Khanam”, Jayeeta managed to say. “By the way love your dress.Is it Prada?"

For the first time I shifted my glance from her eyes to her dress. She wore a safari dress with a red under dress. Her shiny black leather boots added grace to her outfit without spoiling its elegance.

Farheen looked at her dress brushing off some dust only visible to her. Then she examined our outfits. After satisfying herself she looked better than us, she shrugged replying “Maybe. I don’t know”.

I could read annoyance on Jayee’s face. But she managed to keep her smile. Before she could say something else Farheen rolled her eyes and walked away. “Why isn’t the luggage out yet!” , she screamed.

“I am not sure I like her”, said Jayee as she was out of the hearing range.

“Well I do”, I replied.

Hey! Don't stop here, the fun has just began. Link to the next chapter:
https://wrytin.com/jayeetapaul/the-chime-of-the-bell-chapter-4-ju29noam

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