Junkyard Blues

Chapter Fifty-two

223 C Chapter Fifty-two he first person who opened his mouth and said the words was Niba. Not that Jude could not have said them himself or that he could not see the writing on the wall. He could’ve said it for he too could see the writing on the wall, but it was Niba who said the words quietly one day in the fourth week, “I think we’ve a little problem,” he said. Things had actually been going on almost smoothly before then. He had been going to the cyber café with Niba and actually having promising clients, coming home always with a light in his heart that said everything was going to work out just fine. “Are you sure you’ll get it?” Mabel would asked as he lay tired beside her unable to sleep and dreaming about what he was going to do the next day and the possibility that he could get what he needed after all. “Yes, I think so,” he would say. “That would be wonderful,” she would say and he would hear that thing in her voice, that thing which he could not put a finger on, but something he knew was there. Then two weeks after walking out of James’ office, James had called him back to the office and handed him his admission letter. “We have your admission,” he told him smiling from ear to ear as if it was his own admission letter. “Thank you.” “But that’s not all, there’re a couple of scholarships we’ve put you up for, both those offered by the university itself and those offered by private institutions and individuals and I think I can personally say you’ve a high chance of getting at least one.” He had come back home that day feeling the euphoria start to set in. He had been reading things correctly he told himself, and from what James said, he knew he was at the gate and that soon, very soon he could walk through that gate. “That’s wonderful,” Mabel had said to him looking at the important looking admission letter in his hand. “It’d be truly wonderful if I get a good scholarship,” he told her. T 224 “Yes, that too.” He had almost gotten hold of that thing he heard in her voice, almost placed his finger on it, but before he could do so it disappeared again. Then a week later he had received another call from James, and he had heard the light in the voice as he had listened, his heart pounding in his chest and that sensation of defecating taking over his bowels. “I’ve got some news that I think is actually good,” James had said to him and then laughed and said, “No it’s not just good news, it’s terrific news. You’ve got a scholarship and it’s truly a good one that covers tuition and lodging…” “Thank…” “Now, all you’ve to do is get the little fee you need to make everything easy for you.” “Thank you very much, sir,” Jude said feeling some warm tears of euphoria come to his eyes, “I’m truly grateful, I’m happy.” “No I’m happy,” James said to him, “I’m happy we could work with you so far, I just hope you’re going to keep me happy and make me happy with myself for believing in you from the very beginning.” “I’ll not fail you,” Jude had promised. “That’s serious,” Niba said when he told him the news, “I think we’ve to be serious too.” Jude nodded finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It was when he checked his account that he started feeling the darkness that was approaching, the darkness that was blocking away the light, driving away the euphoria and replacing it with a lot of thinking and sleepless nights. “We’ve a problem, I think we’ve a little problem,” Niba said looking at the computer screen before him. They were in the last week of the month and time was fast running out. No, time was not only running out, there was no time left even to do some magic. “How much time do we’ve left?’ Niba asked knowing the answer. Jude said nothing. All the very promising clients they had had in the first week had just started getting wise, just started getting a lot suspicious...