That night, when Geevarghese returned to Kottarathil Veedu with Maria, Neena was waiting for him. A friend of hers was getting married, and she wanted some money to buy a new outfit for the occasion. Usually, such requests were made to Kuncheriya, but he was away at his daughter’s, having had one of his regular fallings-out with Geevarghese, so Neena had no other option than to ask her father. After listening to her, Geevarghese walked calmly to the kitchen and came back with the knife used to chop vegetables.
‘Has your father stashed away money in this house?’ he shouted and lunged towards Neena with the knife. Neena, who had good reflexes, moved deftly away, and took off running. Perhaps because she didn’t want her entire neighbourhood to know, or perhaps because she was scared of snakes and other creepy-crawlies, Neena decided to run around the house rather than out into the street. Geevarghese chased her. Although it took them a while to figure out what in God’s name was going on, Mariyamma and Sheena followed the chaser.
‘Maria, tell your appachan to stop,’ Mariyamma said. ‘He’ll kill her otherwise!’
‘Serves Neenanty right,’ said Maria. ‘Let him. I don’t care.’
Mariyamma had already taken off after Geevarghese, so she didn’t hear all of what Maria said. Chandippatti was sitting around bored out of his mind, so he too took off after the runner and the chasers. Soon, as the pounding footsteps came closer, Maria realized that round one was almost complete. Neena appeared from a corner and disappeared around the other at a speed no one would have thought possible. Chandippatti followed, having overtaken everyone else who was running after Neena. When he saw Maria, he stopped to giggle at her, but Maria urged him on: ‘Run, Chandi, run! Overtake everyone!’ Then came Geevarghese. In his rage, he did not see Maria. Luckily, Neena was able to maintain a good lead. Sheena followed, right on Geevarghese’s heels, but she did not dare stop her father.
Soon, Mariyamma came into sight, trailing far behind everyone else. Chandippatti was right behind her. This time, having overtaken everyone else, he stopped to do a little victory dance, but seeing Neena come round the corner, he took off again. Mariyamma, now at the front, or at the very back, moved to the side to allow the other runners to go past her. By now, she was not running but walking. Neena was panting heavily but maintained her speed and her lead. Then Geevarghese came round the corner.
‘Appacha, enough!’ Maria called out to him. ‘Stop the game. It’s not fun any more.’
Running at full speed, Geevarghese could not stop immediately. Like seasoned sprinters, he ran forward for a while before controlling his speed and coming to a stop.
‘It’s only because you stopped me, child, otherwise I would have killed her,’ he declared and went inside the house.
Calling out to Geevarghese Sahada, Mariyamma sat down in the veranda and tried to catch her breath. Sheena squatted in the yard and panted until it occurred to her that it was not a position appropriate for someone of her stature, a college teacher. So, she got up and took herself inside. Unaware that Geevarghese had stopped chasing her, Neena came running around the corner. The moment she saw her, Mariyamma screamed in a voice she had never produced in her entire life: ‘Stop! Get inside the house, right now!’
When the dust settled, Thomachan came out. ‘What the hell is going on here?’ he asked no one in particular.
After this incident, the enmity between Maria and Neena reached its peak. Finally, Neena went to Maria’s parents’ house and told her papa all about what was going on in Kottarathil Veedu – that Maria was always at the toddy shop with her appachan, that they did not often come home in the night … Something else happened soon that made matters worse. One night, Maria lay down on a culvert with Geevarghese who was almost unconscious from the toddy he had drunk. She fell asleep, rolled off the culvert and cut open her head and had to be taken to the hospital.
That decided her fate. Maria was to be returned to her parents.
Hearing about the decision, Maria made a decision of her own – that it was time to grow up.