‘No, Uncle,’ said Michelle’s voice. ‘He’d rather stay at the resort, he said.’
‘Heaven knows you can’t afford it,’ Bhaskar growled. ‘Why does he waste your money so?’
‘Well … he is not paying.’
‘Not paying?’ Bhaskar demanded. ‘Is Abbas letting him stay for free?
‘Yes. He and Abbas are discussing a business proposal.’
‘Business proposal!’ Bhaskar sounded alarmed. ‘Don’t touch his proposals with a bargepole, girl. You will lose every rupee you have.’
‘We are not investing any money, Uncle. Abbas is.’
‘Out of love and affection? Don’t tell me that Abbas has turned altruistic all of a sudden.’
‘Well … not really.’
‘Then what? Out with it, girl.’
‘That’s what I wanted to see you about, Uncle.’
Bhaskar made an unintelligible sound that reminded Athreya of a bear’s growl.
‘The land that you are bequeathing to me …’ Michelle said slowly.
‘What of it?’
‘We want to use it to start a resort.’
‘A resort! Here! You want to create another Misty Valley? Are you out of your mind, Michelle?’
‘Well … Abbas and Murthy say that Misty Valley is not doing well because it doesn’t have access to the main road. People can reach it by the narrow side road, and that makes the resort difficult to find.’
‘So?’
‘The piece of land you are giving me is on the main road. It connects the main road with Misty Valley.’
‘Oh, Lord!’ Bhaskar exclaimed. ‘I think I am beginning to see.’
‘If we merge my land with Abbas’s, we’ll have a larger resort that has access from the main road. It should do well.’
‘Let me guess the rest of the proposal … Abbas wants you to put in your piece of land as your investment and he will bring in the money to develop it. Is that right?’
‘Exactly! And for investing the land, Abbas will give us a stake in Misty Valley too. Isn’t that wonderful?’
‘Did he ask you to give the land on a rent-free lease for ten or twenty years?’
‘Ye … yes.’
A long, inarticulate rumble sounded from Bhaskar. At the end of it, he spoke slowly, as if addressing a child.
‘I’ll say this as gently as my ornery disposition allows me,’ he said. ‘You are a good doctor, Michelle. But you are a bad judge of character, just as Sarah was. And you make a terrible, terrible businesswoman.’
‘Uncle!’
‘Do you think this is the first time this proposal has been made? Abbas’s father approached me years ago with something similar. Get this into your head, girl–Abbas is a cheat and a swindler. Don’t do any kind of business with him. He will take away your money, and leave you high and dry. What will you have once the property I give you is also gone?’
‘If you have such a low opinion of him,’ Michelle asked hotly, ‘why are you inviting him to the party?’
‘We have to be neighbourly,’ Bhaskar said evenly. ‘In this out-of-the-way place, we have no other option. In times of crisis, we have only neighbours to turn to. And they have only us to lean on. Inviting him to a party and doing business with him are entirely different things.’
‘Coming back to the proposal,’ Michelle went on after a pause, her voice calmer, ‘we don’t have to put in any money and we’ll still get a share in the business. We can be settled for life!’
‘Indeed! You may as well kiss the land goodbye! Does Abbas have the money to develop a whole new resort?’
‘Apparently.’
‘Do you know where he gets his money from, Michelle?’
‘How does that matter? Let him beg, borrow or steal.’
‘Misty Valley is sucking more money than it generates.’
‘Okay. So?’
‘And Abbas’s father was never a wealthy man.’
‘I don’t get the point.’
‘Then were does he get his money from? Developing a resort will take crores.’
‘I don’t know.’
‘I’ll tell you. He gets it from selling drugs.’
‘Uncle! That’s just a rumour.’
‘No, it isn’t. He supplies drugs along the Western Ghats, from Kodai to here to Coorg.’ Bhaskar’s voice had risen. ‘That makes all the bloody difference. What kind of a character do you think a drug pusher has?’
‘So you won’t help me, Uncle?’ Michelle asked after a pause.
‘I have always helped you, and will continue to help you. But I will not become party to your financial suicide. My notion of doing you good is not falling into Abbas’s traps. You are a fool, Michelle, and I have to protect you from yourself.
‘Your grandfather gave one-third of his wealth to Sarah, and your father squandered it. Murthy will do exactly the same thing with your land. History repeats itself, Michelle, history repeats itself. One would have thought that, after growing up with a father like Gonzalves, you would have known better than to hook up with a similar man. But no! You go and choose Murthy, another loafer.’
‘Uncle!’ Michelle wailed. She let out a wretched sob. ‘Won’t you let the past be the past? I will not have you speak ill of my mother.’
‘You are right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought Sarah into this. Poor thing; her only fault was that she trusted the wrong man. Unfortunately, you are making the same mistake.’
‘If that’s how you feel, I’ll leave this place tomorrow.’
‘No, Michelle. We will have visitors for three days. The family must stick together and present a common face. Let’s not wash our dirty linen in public.’
‘Some family!’ Michelle retorted. ‘A family where people don’t help each other.’
A long pause dragged in silence. Athreya imagined Bhaskar being angry and Michelle crying. When Bhaskar broke it, his voice was soft and injured.
‘Michelle,’ he said slowly, ‘look up, girl.’ Another long pause. ‘Look up … That’s the spirit. Now, look me in the eye and repeat what you said. Say that I don’t help you.’
Michelle sobbed uncontrollably, and when she finally calmed down, she apologized profusely.
‘I shouldn’t have said that, Uncle,’ she concluded. ‘I’m sorry. You pay the rent for my clinic and my flat. It was uncharitable of me to have said what I said. I’m terribly sorry. Will you forgive me, Uncle?’
‘Of course, girl! Don’t
