Gregory Roberts - The Mountain Shadow

I opened the door of the barber shop, and waved goodbye.

‘ Allah hafiz , Ahmedbhai.’

‘Wait!’ Ahmed said, coming to join me at the door.

He turned up the collar of my sleeveless denim vest, and curled it into place.

‘That’s better.’

I walked outside and met Gemini George, on the step. He grabbed me by my carefully arranged vest.

‘Thank God, mate,’ Gemini said, coughing, panting and falling into a hug. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’

‘How’d you find me?’

Gemini George knew it was a professional question.

‘A pimp, in First Pasta Lane. He’s been following you around. They say you’re acting testy. He’s been betting you won’t last another two days, without visiting a girl.’

‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘I just got cured.’

‘Good,’ he said nervously.

‘What’s the problem?’

‘It’s Scorpio,’ he replied quickly. ‘He’s gone crazy. You’ve gotta help me.’

‘Slow down. Scorpio can’t go crazy. Scorpio’s already crazy.’

‘Way, way crazier than Scorpio crazy. Twilight Zone crazy. He’s freaked out, man.’

‘Maybe we should talk about this somewhere.’

We sat in the Madras Café. We had idli sambar , followed by two rounds of strong, sweet tea. Gemini was a street guy, even though his friend was a millionaire: he ate first, and talked later.

When he sipped at his tea, washing down the last flavour of chilli and coconut, he told me the story. It began, as so many stories in India do, with a parade of saints.

The previous day there’d been a procession through the streets to venerate the memory of a local saint, who happened to be a lover of hashish. The streets were filled with devout holy men. It was the only day in the year when the cops couldn’t bust anyone for smoking, because most of the people smoking were holy men.

It was a festival designed for the Zodiac Georges, and Gemini had used it to lure Scorpio from his eagle’s nest at the Mahesh, and get out in the fresh air. It went well, at first, Gemini said. Scorpio found his street-shuffle walk again, remembering the rhythm of the road as Gemini walked beside him. He even got talkative. He began to tell his four bodyguards, hired from the hotel by the hour, about the doorways and alleyways they passed, and the adventures that he and Gemini had experienced in each one of them.

Then they turned a corner and found a sadhu, a holy man, barring their path. His hands were raised, one holding a knotted staff, and the other stained sacred red.

‘What happened?’ I asked him.

‘I said, Namaste, ji. Like to swap dope? I’ve got some Manali. ’

‘Did he smoke with you?’

‘He didn’t get a chance. Before he could reply, Scorpio tried to step away, but the sadhu stopped him.’

‘What did he want?’

‘He said, Give me a thousand dollars .’

‘How much?’

‘A thousand dollars.’

‘What did Scorpio say?’

‘He said, Are you crazy? ’

‘Did he have a thousand dollars in his pocket?’

‘That’s exactly what the sadhu asked him,’ Gemini said. ‘ Do you have a thousand dollars in your pocket? ’

‘Did he?’

‘He had twenty-five thousand on him, Lin. He showed it to me, to explain why we had to have four security guards from the hotel with us.’

‘What did Scorpio say?’

‘Scorpio, you know, he was getting angry, and he said, Nobody gives a thousand dollars to a complete stranger. I’ll give you a hundred dollars, but just so you leave me alone. ’

‘Not very polite,’ I said. ‘How did the guru take it?’

‘He was calm and cool, you know, guru-like, and he said, If you gave me a thousand dollars, would you even notice its absence from your fortune? ’

‘What did Scorpio say?’

‘He said, That isn’t the point .’

‘And the sadhu?’

‘He said, Your weakness is greed . And that awakening, itself, is worth a thousand dollars . I’ll remember those words, Lin, until the day I die.’

‘He had a point,’ I said.

‘That he did,’ Gemini replied, glancing at the doorway, needing a cigarette. ‘And he smiled, as he said it. I’ll never forget that smile. It was a spiritual poker face, like. And it might’ve been that smile, you know, what set Scorpio off. Just that smile.’

‘What happened?’

‘He tried to push past the holy man, and they kind of struggled. The bodyguards shouted for him to stop. Next thing, the holy man falls down, and bangs his head on the corner of a wall. It was a bad cut. There was a flap of skin missing from his forehead, above the eyebrow. The bodyguards ran to help him. I offered him my handkerchief, and told him we had to call the hotel doctor.’

Gemini stopped. He looked at the street. He wanted to be back out there, in the tide of trick and talent that had carried him so safely, for so long.

‘We’ll have a cigarette after the story, Gemini,’ I said. ‘I know you on the street, man. You walk out that door now, you’ll be gone in sixty seconds. So chase to the cut, and tell me what happened.’

‘Don’t you mean cut to the chase ?’

‘Gemini.’

‘The holy man cursed him,’ Gemini said, shivering.

He was suddenly scared, and I didn’t like it, because I liked him.

‘And?’

‘That’s it.’

There’s no patience as pure as the patience we spend on loved ones, who make things harder than they need to be. I gave him a patient smile.

‘What, exactly, happened?’

‘The holy man cursed him. He said that his greed would become his murder weapon. He said that from the day his blood was spilled, Scorpio’s money was cursed, and would only bring him sorrow and regret.’

‘What happened then?’

‘The bodyguards bailed out, right there on the spot.’

‘And Scorpio?’

‘He ran away. I found him at the hotel, later.’

‘And the holy man?’

‘I waited with him. I tried to get him to come into the hotel with me. But then some more holy men came, and he told me to run, because they’d be so angry they’d kill me. So, I ran. You know how dangerous holy men are.’

‘And Scorpio thinks he’s cursed?’

‘He kind of is cursed,’ Gemini moaned. ‘I mean, the hotel staff have left our floor. They all think he’s cursed, and they won’t service his room.’

‘How are you getting on, at the hotel?’

‘Scorpio talked to the hotel, and hired new people, today. They come from Lithuania, I think. Nice people. Can’t understand a word they say. His new bodyguards are Russian. Can’t understand them either, and they’re speakin’ English, and all. He’s locked up in the penthouse suite again, but I mean really locked up, this time.’

‘Drop the poker game for a while,’ I said. ‘I’ll square it with Didier. Let’s find the sadhu, and have the curse lifted.’

I was thinking that the sadhu probably wasn’t a rich man. I was thinking that we could find him, ask him to forgive the fool who’d touched him without respect, and accept a substantial payment to lift the curse.

The sadhus I knew, and I knew quite a few, would accept the offer without hesitation. It would’ve worked. I was sure. I couldn’t know then that for Gemini, my innocent, loving friend, it would lead to rivers long forbidden, for good reason.

‘Fantastic! Lin, you’re a genius. This curse thing is rippin’ Scorpio to bits. I don’t mind tellin’ you, I’m not comfortable with it, meself. In my book, you should stand as clear of a holy man’s curse as you do from a hand grenade. I was in the spiritual radiation zone, so to speak, and I’d like this cleared up, as much as Scorp.’