She Would Too....

"Why don’t you join me in my brother’s marriage?" She raised her voice over the phone against her husband who had taken up his job in a private firm in Bustley.
"Leave your job." Unreasonable and angry retort came from the other side.
She was Frankenso who had been working in the school run by the Union Government. It was a transferable job. She was hailing from a decent and sociable family living in Metropolis. She had two brothers. Her father was running a textile shop and her mother was a housekeeper. Her brothers were the helping hands to their father’s business. Their business was a flourishing one.
Frankenso had been married four years before. Initially Frankenso had had good terms with her husband Surrenvole and their
Relationship had been intimate and showed positive signs of joy.
Frankenso was always frank and she would extend her helping hand to anyone in need. She would speak like thunder but simple and straightforward in her approach. She was carrying a load of agony in her mind because she had been separated from her husband by his submissive nature. Surrenvole was his mother’s favourite son and could not avoid his elder brother’s supremacy. Surrenvole was simple-minded and good, but his simple-mindedness has led him to submissiveness.
"Why should I leave my job? Who’ll look after me? What will I do at home?" Frankenso launched a volley of questions to her husband over the phone at a phone shop.
"I’ve some special appointment here. So not to join you in your brother’s marriage." Surrenvole’s reply was a little bit bitter.
Frankenso spoke over the phone nearly sixty minutes and the bill reached one hundred and twenty rupees. Yet no solution was found in her conversation with him. Tension rose within her in degrees. She had to commence her journey to Metropolis on the same day. She had expected Surrenvole’s arrival a day before, but her expectation had turned void.
"Frankenso. Don’t worry. A day shall come that joy re enters your life in your reunion with him." Consoled her friend Consolina.
"I know he won’t turn up. He would fail in his promise. But I shall go alone to join my family and be in my brother’s marriage." Stern was Frankenso’s reply.
Frankenso had another friend whose name was Comfoten. Comfoten too tried to convince Frankenso.
"Fran, worry, problems shall end soon."
"No, Comfoten, I don’t worry, but he leads me to tension. He always listens to his mother and brother’s words. He is a nice person, but he wants his mother and brother." Frankenso continued.
"You try to talk to Surrenvole and make him understand the situation and bring him into your fold." Comfoten and Consolina suggested together.
Comfoten liked Frankenso for her open-minded nature, and so he developed a healthy relationship with her.
"Until or unless he realizes his need for me, he won’t change his mind. I know who induces him. It’s his mother – my mother-in-law – the lady who has coveted all my jewels worth almost three lakhs. I can’t tolerate it. Let my husband have my jewels because he has the right. But what right does my mother-in-law have?" Frankenso poured out her emotional anger in a depressed mood.
"Tell Surrenvole to recover the jewels from his mother." Consolina suggested.
"Oh, he says, it’s safe that the jewels are with his mother." Criticized Frankenso.
"Surrenvole may attend the marriage straightaway coming from Bustley." Comfoten offered a hopeful hint to Frankenso.
"I don’t bother." Frankenso had no second thought.
It was fifteen minutes to six. The scorched sun was gliding down the western horizon. The evening seemed gloomy and dusty. People were walking on the road. They had retired themselves at their homes escaping from the afternoon sun. Frankenso had telephoned her husband to join her in her brother’s marriage, but no compromise had been made. Anger had been lingering on her face, her mind almost broken to pieces. With the dilapidated mind she walked fast to the road and hired an auto to the railway station. She had neglected Comfoten’s plan to drop her by his two-wheeler at the station. She had no one to confide her sorrow but to Consolina and Comfoten. She even shouted to Consolina and Comfoten that she would go alone by the auto, but Consolina and Comfoten convinced her to be calm. Frankenso requested both Consolina and Comfoten to accompany her. So the three started to the station.
Frankenso’s thoughts were always hovering over her family’s special occasion. She was very happy to go but alone, for she had to ride alone. The three reached the station. No sooner did the three reach the station than the clock on the tower of the railway station struck seven times. Frankenso looked at the clock. The three carrying the luggage hurried to the station platform.
"The train to Metropolis is at platform no.1 and to start at thirty minutes past seven." An announcement was going on followed by sequence of announcements for other trains.
The three sat on a bench sharing their views on various topics among one another. Frankenso was still in the broken mind, but managed to balance herself. Her mind raced forward imagining about the marriage occasion.
"Hey. Stop imagining." Consolina broke Frankenso" fantastic dreams. "Ah..Ah..Ah..Tomorrow at this time I shall be at the dressing chamber." Frankenso was awake and bluntly spoke.
"You’re very happy, aren’t you?" Comfoten reaffirmed her joy.
"You would be happier if accompanied by your hubby, wouldn’t you?" Consolina added.
"Oh, yes…But he won’t. He is struck in a special work, he says. Let him." Frankenso was casual in her reply.
Frankenso was indeed a girl of rigidity with certain flexibilities. Her rigidity lay with her family ties, and her flexibilities lay with social ties. Yes, she had a reason for her rigidity and flexibility.
Comfoten reminded Frankenso of the train’s departure time. The tower clock showed fifteen minutes past seven. The train with a shrieking noise entered the platform no.1 and halted with quivering jerks. Doors of the compartment were opened and the passengers were scurrying into theirs. Frankenso had already reserved a berth. So she had no tension for the journey. The three occupied the berth allotted. It was seventy-two. It was the side lower berth. She kept her two bags beneath the berth and tied them to the ring attached to the seat with a long iron chain and a lock. Eighteen minutes were left for the commencement of her journey. A little time to share among the three!
"Are you happy now, Fran?" Consolina asked.
"Quite happy." Replied Frankenso with an unseen sorrow.
"Enjoy the occasion." Affirmed Comfoten.
"I’m happy now with you both." But Frankenso’s joy was unrealistic.
"Surrenvole and you shall be united soon and the day is not far." Comfoten made a positive assertion of the statement.
"It’s God’s will." It was a plain reply of Frankenso.
The train jolted. Consolina and Comfoten alighted from the slow moving train. They shook hands with Frankenso extending their wishes to her for the marriage. Frankenso reciprocated their wishes.
"Bye bye, see you both soon." Frankenso waved her hands at the train moved from the platform.
"Same to you." Consolina and Comfoten wished her back.
The train left carrying Frankenso with it. And Frankenso started carrying her mind with heaviness of sorrow but the lightness of jollity with her. She was sorrowfully happy, her mind being obsessed with the loneliness in her life, coupled with momentary festivity with her family. She would join the momentary festivity. And she had a hope that Surrenvole would join her and the momentary festivity would bring lasting joy in the reunion of the couple. The train was carrying her hope. And the train would reach the destination. She would too….
31 October 2006 2.31 p m ---- 1 November 2006