Garden of Wishes

Softly, they stepped over the bushes, and observed the garden. The great banyans and willows were oddly bent, as if they were sleeping. The willow seemed to loudly snore, though it was probably just the wind whooshing through the leaves. The moon was partly hidden by a curved tree branch-the sky was a gentle blue-green. The lake seemed to reflect the sky-usually it was a dark sapphire, or a bright azure, but that day it was a mossy mixture of teal and turquoise. All was still and calm, except for a gentle breeze that occasionally blew on their faces; and the little waterfall, that didn't drain into the lake, but from it, and back into the lake again. Everything was alluring to the point of it having obtained a dreamy, hazy vision; as if the great cinematographer of Life had deliberately fogged his camera.1

"Make a wish, make a wish, make a wish," the crickets seemed to whisper in a tinkling voice, like little fairies.2

"I wish," the girl said, "that I could be with him forever." She looked up at the boy, and he said, "Me too."3

"Make a wish, make a wish, make a wish," the crickets continued, lulling in an odd singsong voice. And the girl wondered-did fairies live in the long grasses?4

*5

The next night, the girl donned her beautiful long white veil, her dancing shoes, and a long white frock. She could have almost passed for one of those Christian brides she used to see in the nearby church. She tiptoed downstairs, and suddenly, on a spur of the moment lifted a nearby child, and giggled, "I made my wish, I made my wish!" The child looked at her with large, happy eyes, because children are innocent. "Hey, you filth, don't you dare stain my daughter!" the child's mother angrily cried, and snatched the child away from the girl. She only giddily laughed, swirled, and danced away, not before pinching the child's cheeks and whispering, "Do you want to make a wish?" The child nodded her head.6

She made her way down to the hall, and planted herself upon one of the cushions, soon too absorbed in the gossip of her friends to remember her little wish. There were two large mandaps in the hall-one for her one, the other for his brother. Both were running away to another world.7

She readily got up when they danced. She would give her in-laws once last dance before she took their son away from them. She normally danced for herself, but this time, she was dancing for everyone else. Her frock moved in dizzying spirals, her toes gracefully tapped down on the ground. For one moment, she had a distinct feeling that she was an angel, and she was flying in her happiness.8

But the Great Cinematographer of Life got tired of looking through misty lenses. He wiped them, and this time she showed the truth. Only the truth and nothing else. “The young prince has gone!" some maid yelled, and the guests rose up in an instant moment of uproar. She stopped. It was like a glass breaking. No, no. They were supposed to run away together! She looked around for her fellow courtesan and her consort. Where were they? The bride's family angrily went over to the family patriarch who was till then sitting content in a chair. "Who is going to pay for this? What face will we show to society? Who will marry our daughter?" they yelled in unison.9

"Me," her lover said. A feeling of dread snowballed in her heart, invading her throat like a cancerous tumor. Did he say that he would pay? No, he didn't. But he certainly did say, “I’ll marry both." She cleared her throat, and then said, "Shall we continue?" The vision was still hazy and dream-like to her. 10

*11

When she went back to the lake, she expected the spell to be broken too. It wasn't. The lake was still the same. It was like another world, another universe. She angrily clutched the crickets in her hand. "Why didn't you fulfill my wish? Just one thing I'd asked for!?" "You can only make wishes in our world," the singsong voices whispered into her ears. "And therefore, the wishes will be fulfilled only in our world too." She released the crickets, which scattered away, frightened, and looked into the lake with tearful eyes, and one single drop fell into the lake, dividing it into ripples. Slowly, her lover's reflection appeared in the lake, and she understood.12

The next day, while her lover and his two new brides left the palace, they found her body. They said she had drowned in the lake, but they didn't know why. Only the fairies knew. "She joined her lover," they whispered, giggling, "She joined her lover."