All the next day, I prowled libraries, museums, parksdoing anything to stay awake. Finally, in the evening she came to my room. We didnt bother with food or drink, but went straight to bed and slept soundly in each others arms until four in the morning. We got out of bed two hours later, and I walked her home so she could get ready for work.
* * * * *
A week later, early on a balmy Tuesday afternoon, I leaned on the counter, chatting with Kayin. I knew Mr. Haverstock, the manager, would be gone for at least an hour. Every day at around that time, he would leave, saying he had to inspect the rooms to make sure the employees had done a proper job of cleaning.
The bloodless fool, Kayin said as she tallied the hotel ledger. Everyone on staff knows he is soundly sleeping in one of the vacant rooms. He naps for an hour or more, letting us think he is performing some sort of critical management duty. But we are happy for it. It is at that time we can relax and do what we want. It is not that we are lazybones or finding careless time; it is only that we can get more of our work done without him peeping over our necks every minute.
Bloody fool, I corrected her slang.
Yes, he is that also, she said.
Suddenly, she became alert and her commercial smile came back. She looked beyond me, and I knew another guest was coming to the counter from behind me.
Welcome to the hotel Nadi Myanmar, Kayin said to the newcomer.
Hey, sailor, the guest said. Goldbricking again and flirting with the lady, I see.
I recognized the voice. Bout time you got here, Raji. I turned to face her.
She gave me a hug and kissed my cheek. As I leaned back to look her over, I saw her gaze pass over my shoulder. With a tiny smile, she nodded toward Kayin.
Oh, Im sorry... I started to introduce them, but I could see half of that had already been done. Kayin held Raji with the coldest look Id ever seen in my life. She then gave me that same hard stare.
Ahem, Raji cleared her throat. Perhaps you forgot to tell her about me, Fuse.
Fuse? Kayin repeated my nickname, and the word dripped with a venom only a woman can inject into a single syllable.
I told her you were coming, I said to Raji while I watched Kayins eyes. I never knew the color blue could be so very frosty.
Just then, her professional smile returned and she greeted a pair of new guests. While the man and his wife filled out the hotel register, I tried to get her attention.
Kayin, I need to tell you
Please move to lounge or the restaurant, Kayin interrupted me icily. Or to your room to conduct personal business, please, now. I must perform my work.
The man glanced up at me, then at Kayin, who gave him an almost sweet smile and indicated she wasnt referring to him.
I took Raji up to my room, which was probably my second mistake of the day, since Kayin still smoldered in the lobby.
She is very beautiful, Raji said as I closed the door and put her suitcase on the bed.
Yes.
How well do you know her?
Very well.
Very? Raji gave me a quick look and grin.
Very!
Really? She stood still, staring toward the French windows, as if she were trying to remember something. Finally, she opened her suitcase and picked up a white taffeta dress to shake out the wrinkles. And you told her about me?
Yes, many times. I took a hanger from the closet and handed it to Raji for her dress. I told her we went to school together, crossed the ocean together, went to India to see your family...
She seemed quite surprised to see me, Raji said, giving me a puzzled expression.
Well, maybe I forgot to tell her you were a woman.
You forgot?
I made a helpless gesture.
Fuse, sometimes Im surprised youre able to function on your own without adult supervision.
Me, too. What should I do?
You, my friend, are a very intelligent man, and at the same time a complete idiot. She gave me her hangered dress and motioned for me to put it in the closet.
Yeah, but what can I do now? I hung her dress on the rod next to my robe.
Stay here. I dont want you making any more damage. Are you understanding me?
Ill stay right here until you come back.
For over two hours, I paced the floor. Exactly twenty-three steps from the front door to the French windows, and twenty-three back to the door. I tried to read a book but couldnt concentrate. I stood on the balcony, counting the people below. I shaved twice and cut myself three times. I changed my shirt, polished my shoes, then, in my shiny black pointy-toe wingtips, measured the distance between to the French windows a few more times. The twenty-three steps never varied an inch.
Finally, I heard female laughter outside in the hallway, then my door opened. Raji and Kayin came into the room, arm-in-arm, still laughing. Probably about me. I didnt careit was a beautiful sound.
Kayin gave me a severe look, then kissed me. Why, she asked, did you not tell me that Raji was a woman?
As my best friend, I indicated Raji, has told me many times, Im a blockhead.
Yes, you are, they said together.
Raji took one of the chairs as Kayin and I sat on the couch.
Have you two been talking about me for the last two and a half hours? I asked.
No, silly, Raji said. That only took the first five minutes.
Kayin laughed. Then we had a good, long talk about India, Burma, and how we should go about kicking the British from both our houses.
Raji had a wash-up and changed her clothes, then I took the two ladies out for a delightful dinner at a small restaurant overlooking the docks. Near the end of the meal, I poured a little wine in each of their glasses.
Raji, I said, you might have the room to yourself tonight.
Kayin and Raji looked at each other, then laughed.
What? I asked.
I already have a room for myself, Raji said. On the fourth floor of the hotel.
We took care of that earlier, Kayin said, before we went up to your room.
* * * * *
On the third night after Rajis arrival, she and I waited for Kayin to finish her shift at the front desk and join us. Meanwhile, we studied the map of the Irrawaddy River valley and reconsidered our plans to travel to the Chinese border. I wanted to stay on for a while in Mandalay, and Raji understood my feelings but wasnt sure about what she wanted to do. Traveling on without me really didnt appeal to her.
Hows your tennis game? I asked.
Tush! Raji gave me a look and rolled her eyes. Tennis indeed. Panyas Maidan doesnt know one end of a racquet from the other. I repeatedly had to take the man by the hand and show him where to stand when serving the ball. Then, last Thursday night, when he took me to the teahouse at Radha Bazaar in Baneeji Street, he let slip, or maybe said on purpose, that the dowry my mother promised him might not be enough. I almost choked on my curry. Then I wanted to choke him, and my mother.
Do you mean to tell me, I said, your mother had already promised him a dowry, along with your hand in marriage, before we met him that first night?
And he had the audacity to tell me the dowry wasnt enough.
I couldnt keep from grinning. What did you do?
I told that pompous fool that I wouldnt marry him if his mother paid me a dowry.
I laughed.
And then I told my mother exactly what I thought of her as I packed my suitcase and left for Mandalay.
When we were introduced to him, I said. I thought he was a rich gentleman.
Yes, and an architect. Do you remember when he said he drew pictures of buildings, then left the construction to more capable hands?
I do.
He draws pictures of buildings all right. Hes a street artist, and a poor one at that. And his so-called club is the municipal park where we had to wait an hour for a vacant tennis court.
When will your mother ever learn? I took my pipe from the inside pocket of my jacket and began to fill it with tobacco.
When will I ever learn, you mean. And when did you start smoking a pipe?
I struck a match and drew on the stem. Last week. I went out to the telephone mounted on the wall in the hallway and rang up room service for tea and coffee. The night waiter brought the tray up to my room, and a few minutes later, Kayin came in, followed by a man.
I would like for you to meet someone, she said to Raji and me. I dont think Raji noticed it, but I thought I heard a slight tremor in Kayins voice.
We stood up to greet him. He wasnt dressed in traditional Burmese clothing, but instead wore a Western-style gray suit, nicely cut but inexpensive. His posture was very straight, his bearing almost military, and he was taller than most Burmese men. I guessed his age to be late twenties. With the front brim of his black hat turned down, he could have stepped right out of a Charlie Chan movie.
This is Major Kala-Byan, Kayin said.
He removed his hat as he stepped forward to take Rajis hand, bowing slightly. He then took my hand in a firm handshake. Very nice to meet you, Mr. Fusilier. His English was good and strongly British.
Im glad to meet you, Major. Are you in the Burma Rifles? I knew many Burmese men joined that unit of the British Army, but I hadnt heard of any being promoted to officer rank.
I saw him bristle, and he almost made a quick reply but then caught himself. No, sir, he said slowly. I am not in the Burma Rifles.
Kayin also saw the majors reaction. Major Kala-Byan is in the Burma Movement for Independence.
I was surprised by the look in Kayins eyes as she watched the major. I cant say it was so much admiration as it was pride, like a mother seeing her son do well on the football field.
I see, I said, not really seeing at all. Why had Kayin brought a man to us from the underground? And how did she know him?
Wont you have a cup of tea? Raji asked the major as I motioned for him to have a seat on the couch.
Thank you, he said as he laid his hat on the couch and glanced at the coffee pot. But I would prefer coffee.
Well, I thought, at least hes a coffee drinker. He was the first person Id met in the East who asked for coffee.
The major sat in the center of the couch, while Kayin sat on the end, angling herself toward me. As Raji poured coffee for him, I sat back in my chair.
You and Miss Devaki went to Theodore Roosevelt University medical school in Richmond, Virginia, the major said, taking the cup and saucer from Raji and helping himself to some milk from the creamer on the tray.
Although his words sounded more like a statement than a question, I glanced at Raji as she took her seat in the other chair.
But you didnt complete your degree program? He sipped his coffee.
I shook my head. This was a question.
I tapped my pipe on the edge of the ashtray, then filled it from the tobacco pouch. I held the pouch out to him, but he declined and took a fresh pack of Lucky Strikes from an inside jacket pocket. He broke the cellophane wrapper, opened the pack, and offered a cigarette to Raji. She shook her head, then he offered one to Kayin. She surprised me by taking one of the cigarettes. I struck a match and held it out toward her. She leaned forward and tilted her head for the light. I watched to see if she would inhale the smoke; she didnt.
I lit my pipe, then shook the flame from the match and struck a new one to offer a light to the major. He took the light, cupping his hand over mine, as if to protect it from the wind.
Three on a match? he asked as he leaned back and inhaled deeply.
Strange, I thought. How does one learn a culture's beliefs and superstitions?
This business of not lighting three times on the same match stems, I think, from the World War of 1918, when three American soldiers were in a foxhole one night. One of the solders opened a pack of cigarettes, took one for himself, and gave one to each of his buddies. The first soldier lit his smoke, held the match out to the second man to light his, then to the third soldier. A German sniper, catching a glimpse of the match flame across the battlefield, took careful aim and fired just as the third soldier took his first, and final, puff.
Perhaps this was a military, rather than a cultural belief. But I had no military background. How had it come to me? I made a mental note to talk with Kayin about this the next time we were alone. If she and I were going to be together, then I wanted to learn her belief system, as well as her language.
I crushed out the match in the ashtray. No, I said in answer to his question about me and Raji not completing our degree programs. We left school in our third year.
Why? he asked.
I puffed my pipe and waited a moment. I didnt mind talking about school or why Raji and I had quit, but I did resent being interrogated.
Oxford, I said as I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs.
A puff of cigarette smoke obscured the majors face for a moment, but from Kayins look, I imagined he glanced at her.
Pardon me? he said as the gray smoke drifted away.
You went to Oxford University, I said as I examined the bowl of my pipe, then looked back at him.
The accent? He took a bit of tobacco from the tip of his tongue using his thumb and forefinger.
Yes. I smiled and inquired further. What was your field of study?
I have degrees in engineering and mining, he replied as he dropped the bit of tobacco into the ashtray.
Why mining? I should have thought political science would be of interest to you.
He sipped his coffee and regarded me over the rim of his cup for a moment before he replied. My primary interest was in the latest developments in explosives.
I left school, I said, because I no longer saw any point in it. How about you, Raji?
I suppose, to me, she said, it is really no more than a sabbatical leave. I will probably go back and finish my degree at some point.
I looked back to the major. Does that answer all your questions?
Im sorry, he said as he put his cup back on the saucer. I didnt intend to be rude. Sometimes Im too direct and forget my manners. I hope I didnt offend either of you.
No offense, Raji replied, with a smile.
I waved away his concern.
I know, he went on in a friendlier tone, that both of you are sympathetic to our cause.