The Declarations of an Orange

Chapter 4

Declarations of a Peach

[A/N: The following Chapter is from Peachow's Perspective]

~ Peachow ~

2002, Gujrat, India

I woke up to see the dance of swords and Trishuls amidst the streets, and the first thing I heard after waking up was a dire cry. It came from a 12-year-old girl, who wore a pink frock and purple sandals, and she wouldn't have cried if the bad man would not have cut her wrist. I couldn't understand at first why she cried, but later I somehow realized that it must have been painful for her. The man who slashed her wrist disappeared in the horde of the violent mob.

I knew the girl, she was the daughter of our master, Harun Ali. Harun brought us from Jannatbagh (a garden of peaches) along with Grapes and Melons and Pomegranates. Pomegranates are least talkative, or may be they are not so good with ears. I have heard their thicker skin prevents them from hearing most of our words, so they just nod and raise eyebrows in response.

Harun was a good man, I saw him praying to gods and feeding his goats, but I didn't like him when he used to beat his wife. As far as I know, her name was Hamida, and their daughter was Sayra. I guess Hamida was incapable of speaking, and she couldn't write so it became difficult for her to express herself. Hamid was a poor man, and poverty make it easier for anger to instigate violence. When the night would take over the house, and the last lamp extinguishes, Harun's stick would beat Hamida, and alas, she couldn't even cry. I am still puzzled at the fact that why Hamida despised apples and loved pomegranates.

Sayra didn't have many toys so she used to play with us. She would arrange grapes in a circle and would put one of us in the center, then she would hit the grape softly so that it touches the peach. If it did, she would put the grape in the yellow basket and if it didn't, she would throw it in the black one. After the game, she would put the peach back in the box.

I never got a chance to be in the center of the Sayra's play, but I always watched it with amazement. She was very lovely and always cleaned our place so that cockroaches and ants don't attack us in the night. Harun used to pick us up on Saturdays, half a dozen boxes, in one shipment, and then we used to go to the market.

I remember seeing the market for the first time, it was huge and crowded. I was dead scared to see lots of cows and dogs, and loud honking vehicles. There were all sorts of people, from child to corpse, all buying fruits and vegetables of their choices. People used to love apples and oranges, even Grapes were in great demand. I felt envious of strawberries, as people look at them with strange admiration and love.

My first day at the market was great, but unfortunately, no one bought me and I came back home. I slept with a million thoughts in my mind, but when I woke up, everything was changed. There were no Morning Azaans or chirpings of birds or Sayra's morning song which she used to hum in the courtyard.

I brought myself back to the present, and the graveness of situation passed currents down my spine. I saw Sayra's bloodied hand and she caught me in her trembling fist and muttered something related to God. I didn't know if she said thanks to him or cursed him, as her parents were now dead, their bodies cut in half and lay bare in their own house.

Sayra took me to another street, and I didn't why she decided to carry me, or may be I was her last toy, her last fruit, rest all were either burning in the flames or were crushed by the running mob. I saw it all, the way the world could change in just a span of a day, I saw it all and I never imagined the human world could become a living hell. Sayra hurriedly crossed the street and hid behind a tree, and we both saw the crowd hitting gates of a mosque. They wanted the Imam to open the gates but he must have been scared of their intentions. The gate was not that strong, and it fell apart, the mob entered the mosque and the cries intensified. Sayra closed her eyes, but I could see the dead bodies piling up on the naked streets as if the Devils decided to play a game of deaths and the Shaitan which Harun mentioned in his stories liked it all, the bloodbath, the killings, the rapes, and the genocide.

Men, women, and children, whom I often used to meet in the market, were now lying dead on streets, their souls trying to wake up those sleeping corpses, hoping to have another breath of life, but none of them moved an inch.

Sayra was crying, I could feel her tears on my skin, and she pressed her lips against mine. I thought she wanted to talk to me. I thought she wanted me to carry her burden of life, which was now unbearable for her, as the wound only grew bigger and devilish in appearance. She was frightened, terrified and couldn't utter a word. She looked at me, and I felt her grief, and her sudden urge to express.

'You can speak, Sayra, the daughter of Hamida and Harun, my dear masters, what is it that you want to say, Mistress?'

I spoke kindly but I know humans can not understand our language. I wish I could wipe all her tears and contain all the grief which she had, but what could I do.

She started walking in the dark, there was no light but only the stars, and the crescent moon which enlightened the streets, and we saw a couple of jeeps. They had all sorts of fruits. Sayra moved ahead and saw a bigger truck, and she managed to climb it. There were so many boxes, and each box had fruits, so she checked them one by one. Most of them had strawberries, Apples, oranges, grapes, and papayas. At last, she found a small box of peaches and she smiled.

She must have thought of returning me to my own kind and fleeing the city with me to discover another life. She opened the box and carefully put me in it, and closed it back. Most of the peaches were sleeping at that time, so they didn't notice me. I was happy to be on this new journey as I wanted to forget what happened here.

Sayra couldn't sleep and I am not sure if the reason was her wounded wrist or the memories of her dead parents. She sobbed all night and prayed to moons and stars. I was looking at her through a small hole in my box, and I was lucky that I got it.

The stars were fading now and a new morning was about to caress the sky, the birds were about to sing their song, and the truck started. It woke up all other fruits from their deep slumber. The truck gained speed and all the fruits exclaimed together, they all seemed happy and adventurous. They were excited to go to the new city. Papayas were trying to sing a song but when I paid attention to the lyrics, it hardly made any sense. Harun was right, Papayas are the dumbest fruits, they surely don't realize what they are doing.

Suddenly the truck stopped and I could hear the movements, and they opened the tailgate, for inspection. I was frightened as I didn't want them to take me away, and I wanted to see a new city, but their eyes remained frozen on Sayra. Sayra was scared too, and she held our box, the box of peaches close to her heart and said her prayers. One of those bearded men came in and asked Sayra to get off the truck, but she said nothing. They held her shoulder and tried to pull her but she bit them and cried out loud.

The frustrated men punched her in the face, and he pulled her again. Sayra didn't lose her grip over the box and took it along with her. She tried to run away from those men, but they caught her.

'You trynna run, girl!'

'You are a long way from home!'

'She is stealing a box!'

'What happened to your wrist?'

'What's your name?'

'I say let's grab her. She is alone.'

'How about finding her a home?'

'Shut up, did I tell you to speak?'

'-but she is very young...'

'-are you dumb or what? Don't you see-' He spat in the air, '-she has escaped the riots. She knows things. She has seen things. We don't want people to hear her story.'

'But-'

The big man slapped the boy hard on cheeks and pointed a gun at him.

'Just put the box in the truck'

The boy, who was very young, held the box and started walking towards the array of trucks. He was still in shock, as he didn't quite expect the Big Man to slap him. It must have burnt bad, his cheeks appeared red.

I was so lost in thoughts that I didn't realize that he put our box in the wrong truck. The other Peaches didn't seem to care but I thought about the little girl. Sayra. I never knew what they did with her. She was alone and I couldn't save her. I hope the little boy, although he looked scared, would have saved her from those dangerous looking men. I hope.

The new truck also had a lot of boxes, some were very big and I could see bigger fruits there. I saw Pineapples smirking at us as if we were foreign fruits, although we were, I was never treated as such.

The other fruits were kind, they gave us sweet smiles, but there were many who didn't like us. They thought we don't belong here. We should go back to the places from where we came but I don't understand this. I was born in this country so why am I expected to leave it?

I was puzzled with another million thoughts and then I saw a pair of eyes. I had to look twice, to recognize the fruit, and it was an Orange. His eyes were too innocent and I could sense an affectionate gaze in them. I didn't blink. I waited for him to speak. Something. Anything.

I knew we were feet apart but I am sure, the winds wouldn't hesitate in bringing his soft whispers to my ears as I always knew, and I always felt, that winds carry voices and songs from the past and we just need open hearts to listen to them.

________________

~ How was the chapter? 

~ Did you like the confessions of Peachow? 

~ What do you think happened with Sayra?

Author's Note

The entire book is a montage of experiences of various fruits which they witnessed over a course of time. The chapter was from a different Perspective, from Peachow's and it explains that how she met Orantus in the truck. This chapter is obviously set in past timeline. The present timeline of the novel is when Orantus is sharing experiences with Blueberry and the other chapters are merely his past experiences. 

This should clarify all the doubts of the readers. If there are any other doubts, feel free to comment or message me anytime.