The Chocolate Butterfly

(A short story dedicated to every butterfly that has crossed my path, fluttering its wings and delivering me moments filled with sheer joy)

“Wouldn’t 50 rupees be enough?” Ravi asked as he dumped the waste from the basket into the wagon of the tri-cycle.

He tapped the basket twice to ensure that no piece of waste had stuck itself to the basket. He then returned it to Thamarai. She placed it sideways on the ground and pushed in the garbage that she had already piled up with her broom. When the basket had been filled to its neck, she slowly tilted it back and placed it on the ground. She then picked up the leftover garbage that lay on the ground with her hand and placed it over the heap that already filled the basket. She then lifted it slowly and handed it to Ravi. As he took it over carefully and turned it upside down into the wagon, Thamarai spoke.

“The white colored one costs 50 rupees. But I want to buy her the brown colored cake. It costs around 100 rupees.”

She paused to look at Alli. Alli stood at a meter’s distance from them. She seemed to be clapping her hand in air as she kept turning around at her place. It took Thamarai a moment to spot the yellow colored, black spotted butterfly that kept circling above Alli. The scene put a smile on her face.

“She had once seen a group celebrating somebody’s birthday with a cake at our J.J. park. She had come home that day and had asked me if I could get her a cake for her birthday. She asked me again yesterday if it was possible.” Thamarai said, turning towards Ravi. “I promised her I would get her a cake. I do not want to see her face lose the smile” she finished.

Ravi lowered the basket having emptied it in the wagon. He held out his hand. Thamarai looked at his extended hand and looked at hers. She had collected garbage with it just a minute earlier. She looked at Ravi hesitant to place her hand on his. Ravi waited for a few moments and realizing that she was hesitant, he grabbed her hand.

“How much have you managed?” he asked her.

“60 rupees. Mrs. Mohan fortunately has her brother’s family staying at their house and there were a lot of utensils…” Ravi stopped her. “You know it hurts me to hear these things. I just asked you the amount you managed to collect. 60 rupees. Fine.” he said and searched in his pocket.  There lay two ten rupee notes inside. He took them out and placed them in her palm. She looked at him refusing to clutch the notes with her fingers. He pressed her fingers and folded them as she tried to pull them out of his grip. A ten rupee note fell down as a result of their fight.

Thamarai quickly bent down to pick up the rupee note. She picked it and rose up, the two ten rupee notes now held between the thumb and the index finger of her right hand. She was still hesitant to accept them. But then, she looked at Alli.

Alli came running towards her shouting, “I couldn’t catch the butterfly again. I told her that it was my birthday today. But she still flew away!”, in her typical anger-filled tone.

“How do you know that the butterfly is a ‘she’?” asked Ravi fondly.

“Don’t you know? All butterflies are girls. That is the reason they like flowers.” Alli replied earnestly, her anger having been replaced by the excitement of an explanation.

Thamarai smiled hearing Alli's answer and her fingers folded unconsciously, clutching the two ten rupee notes and her right hand slowly moved towards the pocket of her overcoat that read ‘Tamil Nadu Waste Management Services’.

****

Thamarai stood at the entrance of the dump-yard where all the garbage that had been collected for the day by the employees of the waste management services was dumped. The dumping process marked the end of the day for the employees. It was nearly 5 pm and Ravi had entered the dump-yard asking Thamarai to wait at the entrance fifteen minutes earlier.

Alli had been silently standing by Thamarai’s side when she had suddenly spotted her butterfly – the same yellow colored, black spotted butterfly - a few meters away, circling a creeper that had grown over the compound wall of the dump-yard. She had looked at Thamarai who had also noticed the butterfly. Thamarai had smiled at Alli which had made her quickly dart towards the butterfly.

As she stood there, looking at Alli running behind the butterfly, Thamarai couldn’t help remembering their mother. Alli had their mother’s eyes and smile. Every glance at Alli reminded her of their mother. But Thamarai seldom tried to remember the unfortunate night, two years earlier, when their parents had lost their lives in an accident, leaving an eighteen year old Thamarai to look after a five year old Alli. Thamarai had managed to erase the past, except her mother who was running behind a butterfly about two meters away, from her memory with great difficulty.

She stood there waiting for Ravi, hoping that he would return with the remaining money required for the cake, borrowed from one of his friends inside. Alli, since their parents’ death, had rarely asked Thamarai for anything. She would instead smile at whatever Thamarai provided her and the smile would adorn her face even on days when Thamarai had nothing to provide. But for some reason, Alli had been fascinated by a birthday party she had seen while roaming around a park near their home and had come home to ask Thamarai if she could get a cake for Alli’s birthday. Thamarai had not been able to refuse the first thing that Alli had asked her but she had not imagined that buying a cake would make her so desperate. She had, while agreeing to Alli, forgotten that Alli’s birthday fell on the last day of November. Had she remembered it, she would have also remembered that her salary sufficed only for the first 25 days of every month.

A drop of water that fell on Thamarai’s head brought her back to the dump-yard. She looked above at the dark grey clouds. A heavy rain was about to follow.

“She flew away again! I don’t know why she never wants to sit on my palm.” said Alli, loudly, as she came near Thamarai, tired by her chase.

“Butterflies sit on our palms only when they want to be our friends. They do not like if people try to catch them and force them to be their friends. Next time you see her, just admire her beauty silently without trying to catch her. She will eventually come to you.” Thamarai indulged Alli’s butterfly pursuit.

Alli’s eyes widened. Her sister had given her an insightful thought on approaching butterflies. As she extended her hand forward trying to stop the rain drops, that had begun to fall very slowly, from reaching the ground, Ravi walked towards them from the dump-yard. He had removed his overcoat and was wearing a striped blue shirt.

“I have managed another twenty rupees. Hundred would be enough, right?” Ravi asked Thamarai. Her face lightened up.

“How did you get it?” she asked him. “Don’t you worry about it.” he told her and handed her the twenty rupees. A rain drop fell on his cheek. He looked above at the sky. “I think it would be better if you two start hurrying towards the bakery. I need to meet Gopi. I will join you in a minute. ” he told Thamarai. Thamarai agreed and started walking ahead holding Alli’s hand. “Thamarai! What would you do if it starts raining heavily now?” Ravi shouted in a jovial tone. Thamarai turned to give him an indignant look and proceeded ahead. Ravi let out a chuckle. He had not imagined that a person could possibly hate rain till he had met Thamarai.

A couple of minutes later, Gopi walked out of the dump-yard. “Tomorrow at 11 am. Royal Apartments. The one on the G.T. street. Please don’t forget. I would not have put you to this if I had been feeling well.” Gopi explained Ravi. “Worry not. I will surely be there. You take care of your health” Ravi told him. “And thanks again for the twenty rupees.” he added. Gopi smiled and took leave.

Ravi recalled what Gopi had told him inside. The septic tank in the septic system of Royal Apartments had begun to overflow with waste and needed to be cleaned. Ravi had not performed a task of such nature earlier. But he had agreed for the twenty rupees Gopi had lent him then. Thamarai mattered to him more.

As he looked at the sky again, he started hurrying towards the direction Thamarai and Alli had went hoping that the clouds would wait another hour before they started pouring down on his rain-hating Thamarai.

****

Ravi had hoped to catch Thamarai and Alli on their way to the bakery. But it seemed that they had gone well ahead of him and as he entered the street on which the bakery stood, he saw Thamarai and Alli standing at some distance from the shop. He hurried towards them. As he reached them, he saw that Thamarai’s face had become pale.

“What happened? Is the cake not available?” he asked her.

She shook her head. “What then? Is hundred rupees not enough?” he asked.

She shook her head again and looking at him with a disturbed face, she moved her hand over her overcoat and reaching the collar, she clutched it.

It took Ravi a moment to understand what she meant. He himself had faced it a lot. People who never cared who he was when he wore plain clothes reacted differently and at times even hostilely, when he wore the overcoat declaring that he worked for the waste management services.  

Ravi asked her the money. “Don’t start a fight, Ravi. Not today. Buy the cake and let’s move.” she requested him.

He nodded and walked towards the bakery.

Thamarai looked at Ravi from her spot as he stood at the bakery, explaining something to the man who worked there. Ravi had proposed his love to her nearly a year ago. Thamarai had never had any romantic inclinations towards Ravi but she had not wanted to hurt him. He had helped her a lot ever since she had taken up her father’s job after her parents’ death. And so she had asked him for some time. A month later, when he had asked her again, she had agreed. In her heart, she had known that she did not love him as much as he loved her but then, it had not been a love of choice for her. Being a victim of poverty, the relationship that continued had been a love of need. She had felt guilty whenever he had showered affection on her and Alli but to her unexpected relief, the last two months that had passed had made her realize that the thing she had believed would never happen had started showing signs of happening. She had started loving him out of her choice.

About ten minutes later, Ravi returned carrying a plastic cover with the cake placed inside a box.

“It would take only half an hour to reach my home which I would say is the better option considering the clouds” Ravi told Thamarai, pointing to the sky. She agreed and grasping Alli’s hand, started walking alongside Ravi towards his home.

As they had walked for about fifteen minutes, the rain clouds suddenly burst open and a downpour started. “Find a place! Quick!” Thamarai shouted as she pulled her overcoat, covering her head. Alli let out an excited cheer as the rain hit her face. She loved the rain as much as Thamarai hated it. “I see a place there. Follow me!” Ravi shouted as he ran towards an empty car-shed of a house that was in the process of being demolished for the construction of a new building.

He entered the shed followed by Thamarai and Alli. “The cake is not wet, right?” Thamarai asked as soon as she faced Ravi. He smiled and after checking inside the cover, assured her that it was fine. Thamarai let out a sigh of relief as she removed her overcoat and started wiping Alli’s head with her saree.

“Seems like the rain would continue for some time. Why don’t we celebrate her birthday here? ” Ravi suddenly asked Thamarai, voicing the idea that had struck him then. Thamarai looked at him surprised. She then looked at Alli who had a wide smile spread over her face. 

“Is it fine with you?” she asked Alli. Alli nodded excitedly. Thamarai looked at Ravi who showed her a thumbs-up and placed the plastic cover with the cake on the ground slowly. He then searched around for a small table. Luckily, he found an old wooden chair at a corner and he dragged the chair to the center of the shed. The sunlight had been fading minute by minute and by the time he had dragged the chair, darkness had begun to settle. He had noticed a light-bulb when he had entered and as he approached a switch that was present on a side of the shed’s wall, he realized that it would be of no use as the house was being demolished. But he decided to try his luck and as he pressed the switch, the bulb to his surprise flooded the shed with an orange light. A moment later, a butterfly appeared flying out of a corner of the shed surprising the three of them. It tried to fly past the rain but the rain drops that kept falling rapidly failed its attempt and it returned to the corner from which it had taken flight.

Alli looked at Thamarai, her face excited. Thamarai tilted her head and gave Alli a what-did-I-tell-you look that made the excitement slowly disappear from Alli’s face. Ravi blew the dust from the chair’s surface and Thamarai wiped it clean with the plastic cover in which the cake had been brought. Ravi then slowly lifted the cake box and placed it on the chair. “Are you ready?” he asked Alli, smiling. She did not reply. Her eyes were fixed on the box. Ravi looked at Thamarai and saw her holding her breath. He let out a chuckle.

“You have no idea how much this matters to me.” Thamarai told him with a serious face. “I do!” he replied smiling and opened the box.

As he slowly unfolded the entire box, sat at the center a circular chocolate cake, filled with a dark-brown cream on its top with the wordings ‘Happy Birthday Alli’ written on the surface. Near the word ‘Alli’, a small flower had been drawn.

Thamarai looked at the cake, still holding her breath, and turned towards Alli. She had never seen Alli’s face gleam with joy as much as it was gleaming then. A tear rolled down Thamarai’s cheek. She had successfully completed the first responsibility that Alli had given her.

She looked at Ravi who was also looking at Alli. They exchanged smiles as their eyes met. Ravi then took out the plastic knife that had been given at the bakery from his pocket. “Won’t you sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song?” Alli asked them, her eyes wide open.

“Why not?” asked Ravi happily and signaled Thamarai to sing. As they finished the first line ‘Happy Birthday to you…’, happened something they had not expected.

Alli who had been looking at the cake, her eyes glowing in delight, had slowly approached it and as she had reached the cake, she had banged her face on the cake, immersing her head in it and had slowly lifted her head from the cake a minute later, her face filled with chocolate cream.

Alli then wiped off the cream over her eyes and opened her eyes followed by her mouth in a big triumphant smile, revealing her white teeth amidst the chocolate cream that filled her face.

Ravi had not expected it and it took him some time to understand what had happened. He then looked at Thamarai, who was standing frozen, the expression of shock written all over her face, staring at the now-destroyed cake.

Within a span of few seconds, the image of her pleading to Mrs. Mohan to allow her wash their dishes for very little money, the image of her picking Ravi’s ten rupee note from the ground, the image of her waiting outside the dump-yard hoping that Ravi would somehow bring the remaining money, the image of her becoming subject to the bakery owner’s scorn – all these images began filling her head. She had silently let all those things happen for one single reason – the cake. And there it lay destroyed, a thin circular wall of chocolate at the ends with a huge hole in the middle with tiny bits of cream splattered all over the floor of the shed.

She turned towards Alli, still reeling from the shock.

“This is how you celebrate with a cake, Thamarai! I know! I saw it at the park. The entire group was celebrating like this.” Alli explained happily.

Alli’s explanation hit Thamarai even more harder. 

Alli had asked for a cake saying that she had seen a group celebrating with a cake at the park but Thamarai had not been told about the celebration part. Thamarai’s head started spinning with images of Alli’s chocolate filled face, the celebration that she imagined to have happened at the park and her hardships for the cake and she found it difficult to control her emotions. She turned to leave the shed. The rain had not ceased. But she couldn’t stand inside the shed. She needed to breathe and as her emotions overcame her sensibilities, she stepped out in the rain.

As the rapidly falling rain drops hit her face piercing her skin like sharp pins, tears flowed down. Ravi walked out of the shed towards her. He stood silently by her side not knowing what to say. She turned towards him and slowly placing her hand on his shoulder, she bent forward pressing her face against his chest. Her hands hugged him as she broke down, completely letting go of herself.   

Ravi’s heart leapt in joy with every second her head touched his chest. He knew that he had to console her but this instance had been the first time when she had voluntarily come closer to him since her acceptance of his love. He then controlled his happiness and lifted his left hand, placing it on her shoulder.  He said slowly, “Don’t cry!“ and a moment later, added, ”It is not Alli’s mistake.”

But Thamarai couldn’t stop crying.

Alli stood watching Ravi and Thamarai as the chocolate cream slowly started to drip from her face.

“Thamarai, Please! Why are you crying?” Ravi asked her again, this time a bit more firmly. Thamarai lifted her head still sobbing and looking at Ravi, she uttered, “I don’t know why. I am not angry at Alli. I am angry with myself. But I don’t know why.” She again hit her face on his chest, crying. The rain kept lashing the two of them continually.

Ravi wanted to stop her tears but he knew that letting her cry would be better for her. And he stood patiently in the rain, her face pressed against his heart, as she cried out for all the moments in her life she had held back her tears.

By the time Ravi and Thamarai entered the car-shed, most of the cream from Alli’s face had fallen in to her hands that she had held below her face. Thamarai had let free all the trappings of fate she had filled her mind with and now as she looked at Alli with an empty mind, she couldn’t help laughing. She walked towards Alli and lifted her up. Her eyes automatically turned towards Alli’s chocolate cream filled hands. She slowly took a handful of cream from Alli’s hands and rubbed it on her cheeks. Alli let out a delighted scream. She lifted her hands filled with the cream and rubbed them gently over Thamarai’s face. Thamarai let out a chuckle and rubbed her face against Alli’s. Ravi stood by the entrance of the shed, watching the happenings, his heart brimming with joy. The rain had made his life blossom.

As Thamarai and Alli kept rubbing their faces against each other, something on the floor suddenly caught Alli’s attention. She asked Thamarai to let her down. As Alli proceeded towards it, she noticed what it was. The butterfly that had tried to escape the shed earlier had perched itself over the piece of the cake with the flower’s drawing on it which lay fallen on the floor. On reaching the fallen cake piece, Alli observed that the butterfly had black spots on it. The orange light had robbed the butterfly of its color. Alli moved back a couple of steps remembering Thamarai’s advice. She saw the butterfly flapping its wings drilling up the cream. Tiny pellets of the chocolate cream landed on its wings. 

Unable to lift its wings, the butterfly stumbled ahead on the floor. Alli placed her hand on the ground before the butterfly. As it slowly climbed on her fingers, Alli pushed away the chocolate pellets from its wings. Being relieved of the pellets, the butterfly immediately flapped its wings and flew out of her hand towards its corner but after it had flown a couple of feet, it circled and returned to land on her hand. It was time the butterfly embraced Alli.

“Chocolate butterfly! I have a chocolate butterfly!” exclaimed Alli in delight as the butterfly slowly walked around on her cream filled palm.

Thamarai, who had gotten by Ravi’s side, smiled looking at Alli and her butterfly. Resting the back of her body on Ravi with her head placed on his shoulder, she told him happily, “I have two chocolate butterflies before me”.

Ravi leaned forward joining his hands around her waist and as his lips neared Thamarai’s ears, he whispered gently, “I have three!”

*****