“When are you back dear?” Hir asks her husband who hurries into his car.

“Usual, but Joe should be here around 7” Ash is upbeat. So is Hir, Joe a is a delightful company, he is having dinner and also staying over for the weekend.

Hir waves goodbye and goes inside their lovely little duplex – she’ll practice, music keeps her busy all day – made longer by the long absence of her husband. 

Off-late Ash has been busier than usual, he says he is giving the last push before he retires and then he’ll spend all his time with Hir – but she has her doubts.

‘Did I do everything right?’ Ash is anxious as he goes over the sequence in his mind, ‘Just about now Hir will go into the closet and knock the jar for sure…’ a loud honk jerks him out of his thoughts.

“Manju…” Hir screams for her maid having crashed the big glass jar creating a mess of broken glass on the floor. Now the heavy stone statue, that is kept in a corner of the closet, will have to be put out in order to have the place cleaned properly.

‘She doesn’t have a strong footing anyway; have asked Raju to water the plants specially well, and given his callousness he is sure to spill water on the steps leading to the garden, also asked Gopi to come for the keys around 6 – it should be dark by then…’ Ash settles in his office chair, hopeful.

“Manjuuu…” Hir screams as she slips almost banging her head on the statue that now stands in their garden beside the steps that lead to it, Gopi asked for the car keys to clean the interior, ‘why this late’ she wondered.

Hir scurries back inside with the help of Manju – knees scathed, she is happy it isn’t her head; in which case she would have been dead but she cannot part with him – she rejoices at the thought of their eternal togetherness.

Hir gets to her feet to give the final touches after first-aid, deciding against messaging Ash, ‘He’ll get anxious’ she thinks.

‘Why isn’t the call coming?’ Ash gets anxious looking at his watch, ‘Manju should have called…’

Manju and Raju take leave for the day. Hir wanders through the house, nurtured with love, all for him. She misses Ash, recently she has a feeling of dissociation with him, he says its her premenopausal hormones at play – but she has her doubts.

‘Vomicare?’ Hir picks up a strip with 10 tablets, there are 4 more in Ash’s wardrobe – at times she would come and re-settle it, but it had been months now – somehow he managed to keep her away. She googles. ‘sleeping pills?’ a confused Hir casts her eyes around.

‘If that didn’t do it, then the pills may be…’ Ash shifts in his chair uncomfortably.

A dumbfounded Hir is sitting on the couch, a sticky note in hand, it reads – ‘statue, pills, push, lock’. She hears the bell almost in a trance, Joe has arrived.

“What’s wrong Hir?” Joe finds a pale Hir as though she has lost everything. She hands him the note, tells him the events of the day and about her premonitions. The duo sits astounded. Hir gets up after a while and takes the stairs, ‘she needs to lie down,’ Joe thinks.

“Heyyy Joe! Where is Hir? Left you to attend the door…” Ash tries to be chatty as he enters the house. Joe gives him a cold stare and mumbles, “Why?”

“What – Why?” Ash is taken aback – ‘did it happen then?’ Ash thinks, his heart beat quickening.

Joe hands him the note.

Ash tumbles down on the couch. “Where is Hir?” he asks feebly.

Hir slowly comes down the stairs, she is still in physical pain from the fall but her face looks serene.

“Hir!” Ash tries to get up but fails to gather any strength in his legs.

Hir smiles and goes into the kitchen. She emerges with her famous stone apple sherbet, she hands each men a glass, takes hers and sits.

Joe repeats, “Why?” this time with conviction.

Ash takes a sip of the sherbet, delicious as ever, he keeps the empty glass on the centre table and clears his throat, and says looking straight at Hir “I am tired of your love, care, obsession… the clasp is so tight, so suffocating!”

There was a long silence.

“There are ways – separation…” Joe’s voice choked.

Hir gets up and goes over to Ash, sits beside him, holds his hand and squeezes it. She then opens a page in her music notebook and nudges Ash to look at it.

He reads, “We no longer wish to live. Joe our friend present at our home, at the time we committed suicide, did not know of our intentions until we breathed our last.”

“How?” Ash mumbles, Hir hands him a pen and says softly, “Sign beside my sign – just as you did at the marriage registrar.” She chuckles, “the statue didn’t work so pills…”

Ash gives her an enraged look, it softens in a while and he nods in defeat.

Joe looks on confused, as Ash signs and then falls backwards on the sofa as if dosing off.

Hir hands him the note, and smiles, “Joe there is no other way – until death do us apart, and he knew that – but I cannot part with him… even at death!” she snuggles with Ash and closes her eyes. A bewildered Joe reads the note, rushes to check their pulse – they were gone.

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