The advent of springtime in Galacian country and the beautiful cityof Divol was gorgeous. The enchanting natural panorama and theentire atmosphere came alive with vernal splendor. Flowers in deepcolors—crimson, yellow, violet, and blue—blossomed on the hightrees, spraying the sky with floral tints that were dazzling in the brightsunlight. Streams of the Xian and its tributaries reflected the prismaticcolor of the flowers blooming on the trees on the banks. People inGalacia country went into an ecstasy of spring madness. Everywherethey danced to the beats of drums and the music of the flamenco guitar,castanets, and flutes. They sang both traditional and innovative folksongs with romantic, even erotic, contents. It was a time of rejoicing;the city held public festivities, and people made sweets and eats in everyhome. People in the countryside and towns put on their best dressesand danced and sang in euphoric frenzy. During this time, many youngboys and girls, while dancing together, got engaged and wedded. It wasindeed the greatest annual festival of the Galacian country.

The students of Divol College decided, as they did every year, toparticipate in the springtime celebration held at the general playgroundof the city of Divol, known as Juegos del Rey, or the King's Playground.Legend had it that the ruling kings of ancient Galacia had played poloon the large field that was now the venue of cultural shows and politicalrallies. The students erected a stage and a tarpaulin canopy for theaudience to sit beneath while enjoying the show. Aaron requested thatMayu join the celebration and participate in dancing and singing. Aaroncomposed and conducted the music for her performances. She joinedthe rehearsal for the dance. She was no longer shy after participating inthe college social, and she became friendly with Aaron. Because of him,she could be a radio artiste. She admired his talents and his humility.

One morning, before the spring festival, Mayu's classmate Benedicto,popularly known as Benito, brought a paper box to the college andoffered it to Mayu. She wondered what could be in the box. Benitowhispered with a smile, "A small gift you will need for the dance."Embarrassed, Mayu opened the box and found a beautiful silken dressfor the dance. Mayu hesitated to accept the gift, but Benito asserted ina firm tone, "You cannot refuse me. You have to accept it."

Mayu had never expected such a commanding tone from Benito.She had a feeling that Benito was perhaps getting jealous of Aaronbecause she had not only learned Aaron's compositions but also wasparticipating in the rehearsal conducted by him on his own compositionof music. She thought that if she refused the gift, Benito might explode,as was his nature. She quietly took the box, wondering what she wouldtell her mother about the gift. Benito walked away as she stood holdingthe box containing the gift. After school that day, she carried the gifthome and quietly placed it in a dresser drawer full of other clothes.Perhaps nobody had noticed, because nobody asked her about the boxshe had taken to her room. However, she felt uncomfortable aboutconcealing Benito's expensive gift from her mother.

On the evening of the spring festival, Mayu took the dress to thefunction and put it on in the green room behind the stage. She dancedtogether with others on the stage before a packed audience. Aaron wasconducting the music. Mayu's parents attended the show to watchMayu's dance. After her program was over, her parents left for home inan autorikshaw. The celebration was expected to be an all-night show.Mayu thought that she would go home after her part of the show wasover. Most of the old people had already gone home or went home soonafter midnight. Only young men and women stayed back to watch theshow. Nonetheless, the crowd was still thick. After midnight, Mayuthought about finding an autorikshaw or a cab outside the crowd togo home. Backstage, Aaron and Mayu congratulated each other, andshe took leave of Aaron to go home and came out from backstage tothe rear side of the field. The area behind the stage was comparativelydarker and quieter. Suddenly, she discovered Benito leaning against hismotorbike. She couldn't avoid him. He gave her a smile and said, "Youlooked beautiful on the stage. I was admiring you from a distance."He asked her to get into the rear part of the seat of his motorbike as hestarted the vehicle. Mayu told him that her parents were in the crowdand that she had to find them and go home with them.

"Forget that," said Benito. "They have already left in an autorikshaw.I'll take you home. Please don't make any fuss here, before so manypeople. Just get on the seat. I saw your parents leave. They came only tosee your dance and left the place after the dance was over. I don't thinkthey asked you to wait for them. Did they?"

"Of course they didn't tell me to wait for them," replied Mayu.

She could not tell him another lie. It was true that her parents hadn'ttold her to wait for them so that they could go home together. Shealso thought it probable that they had left after her dance. Besides, shethought that Benito must have seen them going back in an autorikshaw,as he'd said. He wouldn't lie to me, she thought.

For a moment, Mayu didn't know what to do. Benito might createa scene if she refused. However, she was afraid that Benito might takeadvantage of the situation. She hesitated. She didn't know what to tellhim. She only murmured, "I have to go home; I cannot go with you."

"I know what you're thinking," said Benito. "I will take you to noother place. I will only take you home. Trust me, and just get on thebackseat." Like a spellbound being, Mayu climbed up onto the rearseat of the motorbike, not knowing if she was doing the right thing. AsBenito's motorbike moved, she was scared she might fall off. She heldhim tightly from behind.

Benito did not betray Mayu's trust. He drove her to Trachy, andMayu guided him to her home. Immediately after she got down fromthe motorbike, Benito once again said, "You look beautiful." Then hedrove off before she could thank him or tell him anything else. He didnot utter any other word. For a while, Mayu stood still on the dimly litroad, trying to comprehend Benito's exotic behavior. She had wanted tothank him for the ride and had desired a more cordial parting. Was heoffended for some reason? But there was no reason for him to be offended,thought Mayu.

The main door of her home was bolted from inside. She knockedon the door. Her mother, Anulana, opened the door. She asked Mayu,"Did you come all alone in an autorikshaw? Did anyone escort you? Wethought that the function would continue till morning and you wouldwait until the function was over and then, in the morning, come bybus. So we left after your dance was over. How did you come? We wereanxious for you. I could not sleep. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine; I was dropped by one of my class friends," she replied.

"Did your friend drop you by an autorikshaw? I heard the sound ofan autorikshaw, but I thought that it might not be you traveling at thishour of the night. I thought it was someone else—someone who cameto another house in the neighborhood."

"No," replied Mayu, "I was dropped by my friend Benito on hismotorbike."

"Motorbike! How could you manage to sit on the backseat of amotorbike?" asked her mother.

Mayu couldn't resist smiling at the manner in which her motherwondered at her motorbike ride. She mumbled, "Yeah, I could somehowmanage."

"You never told me of your friend."

"He is my classmate, and there is nothing special about him to tellyou," replied Mayu.

Anulana looked at her daughter intensely and thought that it wasbetter to not ask her anything more about her classmate. She noticedthe dress Mayu was wearing. She said to her daughter in a lighter vein,"This is a beautiful dress. Is this from the college? You did very well. Youlooked beautiful on the stage. We were feeling proud of you."

Mayu quietly said, "This dress is a gift from my friend Benito."

"It must be very expensive. How could your classmate present youwith such a costly dress? And you accepted the gift from your classmate?"Mayu kept quiet. She had no answer to her mother's questions.

Anulana did not ask her anything more about the dress. Mayucould feel that her mother disapproved of her accepting the costly giftfrom her class friend and riding on his bike to come home. But therewas no point provoking her by uttering any more words. Anulana askedher daughter if she would like to have something to eat. Mayu repliedin the negative.

Before they parted to go to their respective rooms, Anulana, in alow but audible tone, said, "Please think this over. It may be better toreturn the dress tomorrow to your friend and not to ride on the backseatof his motorbike. You are now a grown-up girl; you should be able totake care of yourself."

As the mother and daughter spoke, Chiran, Mayu's father, was onthe bed, pretending to be fast asleep. He didn't want to interfere in theconversation.

Mayu quietly went to her room and sat on the bed. An ocean oftears rolled down her cheeks. She silently sobbed, hiding her face againstthe pillow. She didn't know why she couldn't resist her tears. Were theydue to Benito's behavior? Or her mother's suggestion to return the dressto Benito and not take rides on his motorbike? Or due to her father'ssilence even though he must have overheard her conversation with hermother?

The first ray of sunlight percolated into her room through the splitsin the curtain of the closed window. She could guess that outside thewindow, the night was dawning into a bright morning. She had notchanged her clothes. She had sobbed and then probably fallen asleepfor a while. After some time, she got up from the bed and locked thepartition door. She quietly undressed and changed into pajamas. Freshlywashed pajamas gave her a soft, comfortable feeling. She unfastened herbrassiere and felt free. She carefully folded the dress Benito had givenher. She put it into a secured drawer. She went to the bathroom andwashed her face to remove the makeup, and then turned the light off.She climbed in bed, drew the cotton sheet to cover her body, and closedher eyes, trying to sleep.

But she could not sleep. She was in a state of wakeful slumber.This was the first time her mother had asked her so many searchingquestions. She could feel that her anxious father had not been asleepand had overheard the conversation between the mother and daughter.Did her father approve of what her mother had told her? Mayu couldn'tsleep. Her mother's words, though not strictly abusive, had impliedsuggestions of disapproval of her conduct. Mayu was conscious that sheshould not have accepted the dress as a gift from Benito. But how couldshe explain to her parents that she'd had to accept it under compellingcircumstances—that refusal to accept it could have created a moredifficult situation? Her mother's words and their implications woundedMayu's self-respect. But how could she explain that she had wantedto accept neither his gift nor the ride on his motorbike? Everybodymisunderstood her. A gush of tears again drenched her eyes. She couldnot resist the outburst and pressed her face against the pillow.

All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind. She thought of thedance she had performed at Aaron's instance. He was artistic andaccommodating. He treated everyone kindly, as a patient teacher did;his love of music was pure and unquestionable. Benito was just theopposite. She didn't know what she would do with Benito. Sometimeshe was good and helpful, but sometimes he behaved in an obstinatemanner. Most times, he was helpful, but sometimes he behaved as ifhe had the right to be hard on her; he behaved like a warden. What ismy relationship with him? She wondered. They had come to know eachother as classmates, just as she knew her other classmates. But he hadbeen imposing himself on her—at times, most unreasonably. Again, shethought that she could not help but like him for the sheer reason that hewas so compassionate to her and always tried to help her. But why hadhe given her the expensive gift of the silken dress, knowing full well thatshe could not love him? She thought Benito was like a child—alwaysguided by the primary impulses. She didn't know what to do with him.Lying sleepless on her bed, she continued to think about Benito. Sherecalled clasping his muscular body from behind on the motorbike. Thebody-to-body contact had been thrilling as she grasped him with mixedfeelings of fear and anxiety. As the motorbike had tilted on turns, shehad clasped him more tightly from behind, pressing against his back.She had liked his manly body odor mixed with the smell of the pomadeor perfume he used. She had enjoyed the motorbike ride! She didn'twant to think anymore. She felt ashamed at her own thought.

There was a knock at the door. She got up and opened the door.Anulana stood by the door with a cup of coffee in her hand. She said,"It's almost eleven o'clock. Your father has left for his office. Could yousleep for some time? Do you have college today?"

Mayu shook her head.

Mayu and her family lived in a residential cottage in the small railwaytown of Trachy, in the state of Galacia in Jejunam. The archipelago ofJejunam was a cluster of islands on the high seas. A mountainousplateau in eastern Jejunam, covered with thick forests, was connected byland with a fairly large country called Tapuania. From some unknownantiquity, aboriginal tribes inhabited Jejunam until the late fifteenthcentury, when Spanish, Dutch, and British adventurers attempted toenter the islands to explore their resources. But the Jejunamese tribesresisted the attempts. At last, in the seventeenth century, Spaniardsinvaded western Jejunam and established their posts in a couple ofcoastal villages. Within a short period, they converted the villages intoa port city that, over the course of time, became the capital city of theSpanish colonial rule in Jejunam. The city of Kayate was named after oneof the two villages in which the Spanish laid their first post. As Spanishcolonial rule spread all over western Jejunam, the Spaniards built roads,buildings, and railways, modeled after the city of Madrid. They alsobuilt plazas, squares, gardens, and cathedrals using Spanish models.The Spanish language was introduced as the medium of education andadministration. Educated classes of Jejunamese people adapted Spanishnames, and many of the towns and villages were named after Spanishtowns and cities. Although Christianity spread in Jejunam, a substantialnumber of people, especially in the villages, continued to adhere totheir aboriginal religion, worshipping Lord Chiresota as the Messiahof God. Jejunam was dotted with the temples of Lord Chiresota andCatholic churches built by the Spaniards. Spanish names were usedfor Jejunamese men, places, and important buildings and plazas builtby the colonialists. Spanish schools and colleges and the Universityof Kayate brought in waves of Western enlightenment to the remoteislands of Jejunam. Educated classes of Jejunamese people were virtuallyimbued with the Spanish culture and way of life. There remained a widegap between the colonialists and the indigenous people, especially ofthe villages, who could not go to school to be neo-Spanish and whomaintained the traditional lifestyle of the islands. Nonetheless, it washard to find a man without Spanish name. Women, however, mostlyhad local names.

Eastern Jejunam, or the Galacian country, however, continued tobe under the rule of a powerful tribal monarchy that resisted Spanishexpansion. It was only in the early nineteenth century that Spain couldspread its suzerainty over eastern Jejunam. As the Spanish colonial rulewas established in eastern Jejunam, many Spanish-educated people ofwestern Jejunam were brought to eastern Jejunam as aids to Spanishrule. They were employed in various echelons of the colonial governmentas well as in trade, commerce, and education. The Spaniards establishedschools, colleges, and universities to educate the local people throughthe medium of the Spanish language. Simultaneously, they built roads,bridges, and buildings and laid rail lines to facilitate transportation.Eastern Jejunam, although it had no ports, was rich in natural resources,with spectacular scenic beauty of forests and beaches. Eastern Jejunam,thus, was a tourist attraction. The Spanish gave eastern Jejunam thename Galacia, after a district in Madrid.