The God of Small Things - Get a Free Blog

and pointy shoes. “You mustn‟t waste it,” he said. “Think of all the
poor people who have nothing to eat or drink. You‟re a lucky rich
boy, with porketmunny and a grandmother‟s factory to inherit.
You should Thank God that you have no worries. Now finish your
drink.”
And so, behind the Refreshments Counter, in the Abhilash
Talkies Princess Circle lobby, in the hail with Kerala‟s first 70mm
CinemaScope screen, Esthappen Yako finished his free bottle of
fizzed, lemon-flavored fear. His lemon too lemon, too cold. Too
sweet. The fizz came up his nose. He would be given another
bottle soon (free, fizzed fear). But he didn‟t know that yet. He held
his sticky Other Hand away from his body.
It wasn‟t supposed to touch anything.
When Estha finished his drink, the Orangedrink Lemondrink
Man said, “Finished? Goodboy.”
He took the empty bottle and the flattened straw, and sent
Estha back into The Sound of Music.
Back inside the hairoil darkness, Estha held his Other Hand
carefully (upwards, as though he was holding an imagined orange).
He slid past the Audience (their legs moving thiswayandthat), past
Baby Kochamma, past Rahel (still tilted back), past Ammu (still
annoyed). Estha sat down, still holding his sticky orange.
And there was Baron von Clapp-Trapp–Christopher
Plummer. Arrogant. Hardhearted. With a mouth like a slit. And a
steel shrill police whistle. A captain with seven children. Clean
children, like a packet of peppermints. He pretended not to love
them, but he did. He loved them. He loved her (Julie Andrews),
she loved him, they loved the children, the children loved them.
They all loved each other. They were clean, white children, and
their beds were soft with Ei. Der. Downs.
The house they lived in had a lake and gardens, a wide
staircase, white doors and windows, and curtains with flowers.
The clean white children, even the big ones, were scared of
the thunder. To comfort them, Julie Andrews put them all into her
clean bed, and sang them a clean song about a few of her favorite