LEMONS

 By Vishnu Sinha

“Ahoy, Ma’am. Yes, lady. Ah yes, you. Ma’am, do you know something about Jeremy Pickett?”
The woman who was in her early twenties was beautifully dressed in a sky-blue gown laced with a jade border and seemed to be involved in the hustle and bustle of the Burglam Park market square. Judging from the annoyed expression on her face and the way she clenched her jaw when she saw my hat resting on my peculiarly shaped head, I knew that she was reluctant to answer any inquisitive questions from a foreign journalist, let alone someone as ugly as me whose mind and body steered clear of even a modicum of fashion sense.

“I’m sorry; I don’t feel comfortable saying anything. I have many news people already poking around my house and family and it is becoming a nuisance. Please excuse me, sir, I need to get back to business.”
She turned around sharply and took hold of the basket of assorted vegetables and fruits she just procured from the shop and ignored the look of the shopkeeper who had just realized who his recent customer really is.

“Ma’am, I think you would like to know what I know then.”
“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think you could tell me anything that I haven’t already been told.”
“I think I can. I know about Jeremy Pickett. I know you are here to take over his lemon farms. The Lord of Lemons wouldn’t have been happy about it one bit if he was here.”
She snorted and chuckled simultaneously and her lady-like features slipped her for a second.
“I’m sorry, sir. That wasn’t civil of me. I just meant that the whole town knows about my late husband’s untimely death and they will soon know about his wife as well and how well she can maintain those precious lemon farms. ” She pointed towards the yellow delights in the basket and invited a nod from my side. 

A nod of appreciation. Pfft. That’s what these rich folks think. I know what they are inside – dirty and rotten. A stranger to my inner beliefs, my head shifted and I continued the conversation.

“You mean – estranged wife. I meant I know what really happened to him. His death was quite untimely and I have heard dozens of rumors about your sudden, how should I put it, uh….departure? Did you know about the town medicine boy – Calvin who vanished the same night as you on, September 15^th, was it?”
Her face turned from as white as a sheet to as red as one of those plums she was carrying in her big brown basket of hers. The color crept up her cheeks and she found her tongue.
“What are you trying to imply, sir?

A smirk painted my face instantly and I shifted my hat before flipping the page of my miniscule notepad and scribbling something that seemed illegible to the young lady in front of me. Fashion sense might not be my forte but the other senses weren’t strangers to me – especially common sense. I knew the lady had something to hide and for good reason and I was planning on effectively extracting the said information as easily as a cat-burglar extracts precious diamonds from a high security vault. And, high security, oh she was.

“Nothing at all. Far from it, I am here to ask YOU. The medicine center noticed that some vials of arsenic also walked out of the clinic along with the young man, Kevin. Do you know anything about Kevin? Ever met him?”
“I have never had the pleasure of meeting this Calvin. I- -----
“I said Kevin Ma’am. Ah, so it seems you have met him. Don’t worry. The sordid affair between you and the easily seduced medicine lad would grace the headlines of every newspaper soon. I just needed a nod from you. The police are close on the track of the killer. He or she won’t be away from the bars for long, my lady.”

She sensed the accusation as clear as the daylight shining on the colored roofs of the shops nestled in the Burglam Park. Her anger was even clearer as she dropped her basket on my foot in a fit of rage and slapped me fair and square on my square cheek.

SMACK. It was a surprise. I managed to stay on my two feet even though I had lost feeling in the one and smiled. “Who’s civilized now, eh? Me or the husband-killer?”

She spewed venom which I clearly couldn’t register and smacked me again. I could feel the pavement coming close for a hug and my vision getting distorted. Those damn spectacles and that damn hat. I could see it planted on the pavement. I could hear the people in the market moving around me and pulling the Lady ‘Lemon’ Pickett off me. I saw the brown basket lying next to me and its contents scattered all around me. Big and small beautiful lemons shone here and there as dizziness took over me.

“You know what they say – when life gives you lemons….”