Remembering Neethu Panicker - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
They both sat in stunned silence with tears falling down
The boy entered, saw them, and hightailed it.
For a life time it seemed the two women just hugged
Till the boy’s mother sobbed, “Ah, she’s gone then.”
And as Neethu began to tell her of the loss
Her email then to me shared what happened...
___________________________________
It was on a vacation in northern Kashmir
In a five star hotel where they’d settled.
It was close to their bedtime when telephone rang
It was Neethu who happened to answer.
A strange man’s angry voice then demanded her dad, (2)
And she handed the phone to her father,
The whole family frightened, her father’s face pale,
The man’s angry words gutted their evening.
“Well I am on vacation, don’t know where they’re stored,
And the codes that you need aren’t my purview.”
When the phone call was over he said, “We should leave.”
Though he acted like matters were handled.
Their vacation cut short, though the hour was late
They just packed up their car and departed.
“It’s OK,” said her dad, “I just need to get back.”
And on dark mountain roads they drove homeward.
As kids sung in the back seat the Army truck struck
Such a sound and then suddenly quiet.
“Kids you’ve got to get out for our car is on fire,”
And somehow her mom wrenched back door open
And she felt her mom lifting and pushing her out
As she fell into time even blacker.
July 14, 2016
Brian Johnston
Poet's Notes:
(2) If Neethu really lived and her story is true, she told me that her father was
a high military official in the Indian Army and that her father was basically in
charge of weapon procurement for the Indian Army! She believed that the man
on the phone, presumably her father's superior, ordered the assassination of
her father and his family, as a consequence of this one phone call.
Postscript:
This work is not yet finished. There is much more to be shared about Neethu's
life and the great affection I still feel for her in my heart!
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