‘Everything turned out fine,’ she smiles. ‘Let’s leave it like that. OK?’
I spend a month in Unawatuna, editing chapters, chopping down tall stories and changing names. It’s a wonderful place to be. Each day I eat crab curry and drink Portello and watch the bay change colour. Enid calls and reminds me of deadlines in her Sergeant Major voice. I have gotten used to her.
The day before I am to leave the beach, forced inside by a monsoon, listening to the wind bow down coconut trees, trying not to think of tsunamis, I pick up my acoustic and play a bass line that I have never heard before. I write a song about a rich kid who goes to nightclubs and shoots at mirror balls. I call it ‘The Minister’s Son’.
By the end of the week I have seventeen pieces of music I’ve never heard before. I swallow hard and call OP, guitarist from Independent Cycle, my friend from another lifetime. He agrees to meet me for a beer. I go for a swim after dinner. I float in the warm ocean, gaze at the stars and think of nothing.
‘Uncle. You were supposed to be back last week.’
‘Enough with the Uncle.’
‘I must say you have worked hard.’
‘From you that is high praise.’
She laughs, a rare treat indeed. Her laugh is a perfect melody in A major.
‘Author’s name I have an idea,’ says Enid.
‘Good. ‘Cos I don’t.’
‘That surname you gave that Danila.’
‘When?’
‘When you met her and dropped your glass. Maybe drop that dropping the glass bit. Bit Charlie Chaplin, no?’
‘Karuna-tilaka?’
‘That’s the one. With your middle name.’
‘Shehan Karunatilaka? Bit common, no?’
‘It’ll be a good disguise.’
‘I hate it.’
‘OK. What about title?’
‘I emailed you a new list.’
‘Really? Let me check.’
I hear a computer keyboard being punched by a pixie girl and outside I hear waves. I imagine a sparse bass under a flanging C#maj7 chord. I have the urge to cut the line and pick up the guitar.
‘You know, Garfield. The bits that we left out.’
‘So?’
‘We should put them back in.’
‘Why?’
‘The man from Flamingo reckons getting sued will be good for book sales. Free media coverage. Look what the fatwa did for …’
‘You called Flamingo India?’
‘Flamingo New York. Cricket and the subcontinent are very much in. So are lawsuits and scandals.’
‘If we weren’t on the phone, Enid, I would kiss you.’
‘Can we finalise title? Are these the names you sent?’
She reads out my last night’s work.
‘The Book That No One Will Read.
Boring …
Revenge of the Chinaman.
Sounds like a Bruce Lee …
Shades of Brown.
What? …
Konde Bandapu Cheena.
No …’
She sighs. ‘I don’t think we’re there yet. Let’s keep thinking.’
So that’s it then. I have finished something. Hurrah for me. Maybe nothing will happen. Maybe everything will. Maybe this guitar will catch a song. Maybe my son will play in the Royal–Thomian. Maybe the war will end. Maybe we’ll get home safely after all.
‘Garfield?’
‘Can we wrap, Enid? I have a song to write.’
I can feel the melody approaching like a tidal wave gathering strength from the horizon. One more paragraph before it hits.
‘Few things. Have you decided on the main character’s name?’
‘Either Vinothan Karnain.’
‘Nope.’
‘How about Charlie Jeganathan?’
‘Nope.’
‘Sanjeewa Amarasinghe?’
‘Can’t be a Sinhala name, men!’
‘Jurangpathy Jeyarajasingham?’
‘Sounds stupid.’
‘Pradeep Mathew?’
‘Who’s that?’
‘I don’t know, I just …’
‘Try it.’
Aadhil Aziz
Aftab Aziz
Ajit Chittampalam
Amit Varma
Anila Dias Bandaranaike
Anjali Gurusinha
Anton Rose
Anuruddha Fernando
A.R.L. Wijesekera
Arittha Wickremanayake
Ashley Halpe
A.S.H. Smyth
Azhara Aziz
Callum Sutherland
Channa Gunasekera
Charith Senanayake
Charlie Austin
Chula Karunatilaka
Dakshith Wekunagoda
Danushka Samarakone Dhinesh Manuel
Dominic Sansoni
Ed Smith
Elmo Tawfeeq
Francis Felsinger
Gowri Ponniah Harini Diyabalanage
Indi Samarajiva
Ishan Seneviratne
Jehan Mendis
Jehan Mubarak Joe Lenora
Kanchana Warnapala
Kamal Kiriella
Kasun Karunaratne
Kumar Sangakkara
Lawrence Booth
Mahinda Wijesinghe
Malinda Seneviratne
Marcus Berkmann
Michael Ondaatje
Michael Roberts
Mike Marqusee
Nazreen Sansoni
Naren Ratwatte
N.B.D.S. Wijesekera
Paddy Weerasekera
Para Molligoda
Percy Karunatilaka
Prasad Pereira
Rajeeve Bernard
Ralph de Silva
Ranil Abeynaike Ransley Burrows
Ravi de Mel
Reggie Ranwala
Richard Simon
R.O.B. Wijesekera
Rohan Ponniah
Romesh Dias Bandaranaike
Russell Miranda
Sajith Jayaweera
Sean Amarasekera
Selva Fernando
Shanaka Amarasinghe
Shami Gamage Sid Dassanayake
Sidin Vadukut
Simon Barnes
S.S. Perera
Thangu Manuel
Tracy Holsinger
Uvais Amalean
Victor Ivan
Wendy Ebenezer
Wijesiri Mathugama
Special thanks
Eranga Tennekoon
Michael Meyler
Deshan Tennekoon
Lalith Karunatilaka
Chiki Sarkar
Rimli Borooah
Dan Franklin
Ruwanthie de Chickera
SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA
lives and works in Singapore. He has written advertisements, rock songs, travel stories, and bass lines. This is his first novel.
Manufactured by Versa Press on 30 percent postconsumer wastepaper.