July 17, 2012

Raoul - Part 11

Earlier
After sometime, Lyana called out to Raoul, ' Would you please stop moving around? It is very disturbing to say the least'. Raoul looked at her and replied, 'I'll be gone for a few minutes, would come back soon'. Lyana gave him a quizzical glance and asked him, 'Where are you off to?' Let's sit, try and work it out.' Raoul sighed and responded, 'I need to give both of us some breathing time. I'll be back and I promise... nothing stupid', ending the sentence with a half-hearted smile.

Lyana stood looking at the retreating back of Raoul. This was the first time in their marriage tat Raoul had walked out of the house during a confrontation.

Lyana sat down and thought hard about the day. Suddenly she realised that her cousin had borrowed the car for some time tat day telling her that it was an emergency which required that the car be utilized since the cousin's own car was in the garage. Since this had been something which was commonplace between the two of them, Lyana had happily agreed.

The cousin had returned the car after about two hours, specifically mentioning that the car's tank had been refilled, since it had seen too much mileage for the day. Lyana had taken it as part of the general inane conversations often shared by people in order to explain themselves and had not given it much importance.
She knew her cousin to have idealistic inclinations but had never imagined that it could ever translate into a criminalised approach to things.

Of late, for sure, their conversations had tended to get heated with her cousin loosing the cool and venting all the pent up frustrations for opportunities lost on the government. According to her cousin, all the problems being faced by the native of the country could e resolved if only the Government was more sympathetic. Their local culture and values were being degraded in the name of becoming modern and living up with the times.

Lyana was still going over the conversations between herself and the cousin when Raoul entered. He appeared calm and and at peace with himself. Lyana looked at him and asked her to sit down next to her. Raoul sat down, looked at her, Lyana spoke, 'It might have been possible that the car was indeed used in the attempted heist. It had been taken by my cousin for a short while, which had become a few hours. I did not pay much heed since I was busy with my friend and given the traffic these days, it did not seem out of place.'

Raoul leaped up from his seat, digging out his phone from the pocket. He was about the punch the speed-dial, when Lyana stopped him, 'If my cousin was involved, calling up to confirm would only result in being more conscious on the cousin's part. And, if it turns out to be not the case, we might just end up loosing a good friend.'

He gave it some thought, and kept the phone on the table in front. Spreading his hands, he questioned her, 'Okay, so what do you suggest?'

.....to be continued....

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