He closed his eyes and lay down on the cot. When the body senses there is no work to be done, it gives in to exhaustion. Ponna was relieved that Kali had arrived on time. He could hear Kali parading around the house as if she had just been married from where he was lying. He always knew what she was up to, no matter where she was in the home. She was all over his mind. He could tell her every movement and gesture since she had been so engrossed in them. His nostrils had picked up on the fact that she was preparing food for him. He even knew what snack he’d be having. She awoke him a short time later. ‘Maama, maama,’ she tenderly called to him. She was holding a platter of hot pakodas and rice-based kacchayam in her hands. He awoke, as though from a deep slumber. Her eyes, nose, cheeks, and forehead were all lit up with a bright smile. Kali was perplexed as to how Ponna could make every portion of her face smile. Ponna sat on the floor, holding the plate on his lap. He said, ‘Did you see the tree?’ With a crunch, the pakoda melted in his mouth. ‘Every time I come here, I see that,’ she replied uninterestedly. ‘No, sweet one,’ I say. Take a look up. Take a look at how it’s progressed. He exclaimed, ‘You can’t even begin to count the blossoms and topshaped fruits!’ Her mother called from inside the home, ‘Ponna, get here!’ ‘Shred this jaggery for me,’ says the narrator. She yelled, ‘Coming!’ ‘This was planted when we got married,’ she explained to Kali. ‘It’s been twelve years.’ She let out a sigh. Her face was cast in shadow. She had to be thinking about how the tree had grown so lush and bountiful in twelve years, despite the fact that not a single worm had crept into her womb. Every dreadful occurrence served as a reminder of her inadequacy. She had argued with her father after the wedding and taken a cow from here. It gave birth to seven or eight calves, which populated Kali’s barn. Just gazing at that cow would make her cry. ‘I don’t have the boon that even this mute creature has been graced with,’ she had exclaimed once. His fury against the cow and its calves was fueled by her weeping. He felt compelled to murder them all. But it was their faces that made him melt: ‘Poor things.’ What can they do to alleviate our misery?’ ‘Palm jaggery gives the kacchayam a unique flavour,’ he remarked, seeking to divert the subject. He tore a piece of paper and placed it to her lips. ‘Yes! Now is when your love flows forth,’ she remarked mockingly as she shoved the chunk into her mouth. ‘Come here, girl,’ her mother yelled from inside. ‘The oil is becoming hot.’ ‘ Even for a short time, she can’t handle it! Nallayi is cunning. They don’t say she has no sense of time or place for no cause. ‘What’s the deal with her yelling now?’ Ponna stood up and entered the room. As she moved away, his gaze was focused on her. Her body had remained rigid. Desire welled up within him as he gazed after her, and he wanted her right then. But they didn’t have any privacy at his in-laws’ house. Space was made for them when they were newlyweds by rearranging bags of gathered millets and pulses. He was given a cot on the porch or in front of the house once he was no longer a new son-in-law. He couldn’t wait to drag her away and take her home. The midday sun was torturous. During the monsoons, he stayed at home with her, cuddling. He’d thought to himself a few times that if she’d had a child, she could have grown haggard like the other ladies. Ponna’s physique taunted and tortured him ceaselessly when thoughts of women first came to him. He tried to avoid staring at her, unable to stand the pain. His mind’s eye, on the other hand, would hunt her out in some way. To this day, nothing had changed. When he finally gave in to the teasing and embraced her, he realised it wasn’t the same embrace as previously.