A twist of fate

For the last two years that she was at the columbarium paying her respects to her dead husband, George, Erna had noticed the tall, gangling man who walked with a droop - who looked as if the world had defeated him and placed a great burden on his back as punishment for his defeat. She was not too taken with his looks because she did not really like guys who were hirsute - he had a face that was half covered in beard, stubble whachamacallit. She found it gross.

But the third anniversary of George's death, something happened to make her speak to that unkempt man. Perhaps out of concern for his droop which was becoming more pronounced or the fact that he looked much more emaciated than the past two years she had seen him; something stirred in her heart, pushed her to speak to him. Erna waited for an opportune moment, made eye contact with the man, and smiled.

The man nodded, and from the wild black foliage on his face, a smile like the glimmer of a sunlight peeked through. He said hello how do you do to Erna and they shook hands; both feeling awkward. At that moment, the solemn unquiet of the columbarium seemed to have grown recriminatory eyes on Erna, for she shivered imperceptibly. I am 35 and I am not looking for love, not in a columbarium with this hairy man, a voice in her head uttered.

The hairy man (he introduced himself as Teck) said he had noticed Erna in the previous two years he was at the columbarium paying respects to his deceased wife. He told Erna his wife had passed away in a traffic accident. While speaking, his voice took on a heavier edge as if weighed with sadness; however that was momentary, for almost immediately, his strong confident voice had returned.

"She died while on her way to meet her lover. She was knocked down by a cab while crossing the street for a tryst with her lover," Teck said matter-of-factly. Teck's placidity in enunciating the words was in stark contrast to Erna's reaction on hearing them; her face involuntarily registered a look of shock and sympathy, and before she could curb herself, she cried out, "I am so sorry. That must have been a blow to you."

Teck smiled at Erna and said no worries. He suggested coffee, and they retreated to a canteen. Over cups of watery coffee, Teck continued to tell Erna details of how he had discovered his wife's adultery.

It seemed that three years ago, Teck had found his wife, Janet, becoming more and more distant. They had talked less frequently, and she got agitated easily. She was impatient with him, and turned down his suggestion of a vacation to revitalise their marriage (they had been married six years and Teck thought that it had gone stale, and needed a spark). Something at the back of Teck's mind told him that he was being cuckolded.

"I am at most times a most logical person, not easily susceptible to suspicion. However, a gut feel told me I would do no wrong in watching out for Janet's activities," Teck told Erna in that strong manly voice of his. Erna listened and nodded her head in concord.

So one day, he hired a private eye who started tailing Janet. After a couple of weeks, the private eye visited Teck and showed him photographic proof of Janet's sexual misdemeanours. Teck was bitterly disappointed and he felt as if the whole world had collapsed.

"I confronted her with the photos and she did not deny. That bitch could even say that if I was not happy, I could get a divorce. Six years of marriage and she could say something like this," a sharp edge returned to Teck's voice before he calmly continued, "But I loved her too much to lose her, and instead I told her I would not consent to a divorce. She snickered at me and called me a coward. That was the moment when I lost all of my male dignity."

Erna listened to Teck's retelling with deep feeling. She felt great sympathy for this man who had suffered so much and yet could still forgive and love his wife so passionately as to continue commemorating her death anniversary. A faintest stirring of feeling for Teck (could it be induced by sympathy) throbbed in Erna, which she quickly suppressed by refocusing her mind to the solemn subject of their conversation. Something made her ask him that question.

"So what happened to her lover?"

"He was on the spot when he saw the cab plough into Janet and throwing her to the ground like a rag doll. I think the shock killed him for he had a cardiac arrest then, or so I read from the papers. He died in hospital. I never bothered to go for his funeral."

Suddenly Teck saw Erna's face turn ghostly white and she started shaking at her shoulders. He thought she was convulsing or suffering a fit, and immediately lurched forward to succour her. Erna jerked back and screamed 'NO!" Repulsed, Teck retreated to his seat and looked embarrassed. Fortunately, they were only the patrons in the canteen.

Erna found herself spiralling into a vortex of unpleasant memories. Teck's concerned face disintegrated into pieces and superimposing over the current reality was a slow-mo playback of that fateful day three years ago.

Erna lets the phone receiver fall to her side - as the import of the phone call sinks in. George is in hospital battling for his life after a sudden cardiac arrest at __ road. She throws on some fresh clothing and takes a cab to the hospital. At George's bedside, he manages to utter "Sorry for being unfaithful to you..." before his last breath ebbs away. She is shocked at what she has just heard.

For three years, until now, finally light had penetrated the darkness of George's mystifying words. Rivulets of light had pierced through that seemingly impenetrable gloom, and lit up some old insignificant detail which had fallen unseen into the cracks of her memory, unseen in the darkness. She remembered reading about a traffic accident which had taken place prior to George's sudden cardiac arrest at _ road. A woman had been killed while crossing the street, and she had not taken much notice of that fact. Today, an ironic twist of fate had revealed everything to her.

Teck watched spell-bound as Erna's eyes goggled and the corners of her mouth contorted into a laugh, a banshee's shrill laugh. She laughed and laughed and laughed drowning out Teck's urgent solicitous cries.

Somewhere, a wayward mynah flew into the canteen and parked itself on one of the empty tables, pecking away at some grains of uncleared food, oblivious to the hysterical laughter resonating in the desolate canteen.