A House for Mr. Biswas - V.S. Naipaul [59]
‘I always say,’ Shama said, ‘that you must complain only when you start providing your own food.’
He went to the window, washed his hands, gargled and spat.
Someone shouted from below, ‘Up there! Look what you doing!’
‘I know, I know,’ Shama said, running to the window. ‘I know this was bound to happen one day. You spit on somebody.’
He looked out with interest. ‘Who it is? The old she-fox, or one of the gods?’
‘You spit on Owad.’ They heard him complaining.
Mr Biswas took another mouthful of water and gargled. Then, with cheeks puffed out, he leaned as far out of the window as he could.
‘Don’t think I not seeing you,’ the god shouted. ‘I marking what you doing, Mr Biswas. But I standing up right here and if you spit on me again I going to tell Ma.’
‘Tell, you little son of a bitch,’ Mr Biswas muttered, spitting.
‘Man!’
‘O God!’ the god exclaimed.
‘You lucky little monkey,’ Mr Biswas said. He had missed.
‘Man!’ Shama cried, and dragged him from the window.
He walked slowly around the brass plate.
‘Walk,’ Shama said. ‘You walk until you tired. But wait until you provide your own food before you start criticizing the food other people give you.’
‘Who give you that message to give me? Your mother?’ He pulled his top teeth behind his lower teeth, but his long floursack pants prevented him from looking menacing.
‘Nobody didn’t give me any message to give you. It is just something I think of myself.’
‘You think of it yourself, eh?’
He had seized the brass plate, spilling rice on the floor, and was rushing to the Demerara window. Going to throw the whole damned thing out, he had decided. But his violence calmed him, and at the window he had another thought: throw the plate out and you could kill somebody. He arrested his hurling gesture, and merely tilted the plate. The food slipped off easily, leaving a few grains of rice sticking to streaks of lentils and oily, bubble-ridden trails of curry.
‘O God! Oo – Go-o-od!’
It began as a gentle cry and rose rapidly to a sustained bawling which aroused sympathetic shrieks from babies all over the house. All at once the bawling was cut off, and seconds later – it seemed much later – Mr Biswas heard a deep, grating, withdrawing snuffle. ‘I going to tell Ma,’ the god cried. ‘Ma, come and see what your son-in-law do to me. He cover me down with his dirty food.’ After a sirenlike intake of breath the bawling continued.
Shama looked martyred.
There was considerable commotion below. Several people were shouting at once, babies screamed, there was much subsidiary bawling and chatter, and the hall resounded with agitated movements.
Heavy footsteps made the stairs shake, rattled the glass panes on doors, drummed across the Book Room, and Govind was in Mr Biswas’s chamber.
‘Is you!’ Govind shouted, breathing hard, his handsome face contorted. ‘Is you who spit on Owad.’
Mr Biswas was frightened.
He heard more footsteps on the stairs. The bawling drew nearer.
‘Spit?’ Mr Biswas said. ‘I ain’t spit on anybody. I just gargle out of the window and throw away some bad food.’
Shama screamed.
Govind threw himself on Mr Biswas.
Caught by surprise, stupefied by fear, Mr Biswas neither shouted nor hit back at Govind, and allowed himself to be pummelled. He was struck hard and often on the jaw, and with every blow Govind said, ‘Is you.’ Vaguely Mr Biswas was aware of women massing in the room, screaming, sobbing, falling upon Govind and himself. He was acutely aware of the god bawling, right in his ear, it seemed: a dry, deliberate, scraping noise. Abruptly the bawling ceased. ‘Yes, is he!’ the god said. ‘Is he. He asking for this a long time now.’ And at every cuff and kick Govind gave, the god grunted, as though he himself had given the blow. The women were above Mr Biswas and Govind, their hair and veils falling loose. One veil tickled Mr Biswas’s nose.
‘Stop him!’ Chinta cried. ‘Govind will kill Biswas if you don’t stop him. He is a terrible man, I tell you, when his temper is up.’ She burst into a short, sharp wail. ‘Stop it, stop it. They will send Govind to the gallows if