One day Tom was moving along the road. He was returning from office. He worked in a multinational company. It was around 9 p.m. He had just completed his afternoon shift. The road was desolate. Cool breeze was blowing. Suddenly a black cat crossed him. He stopped for a while as he knew that there is misfortune if a black cat crosses you! All of a sudden he saw a scream of an old man from a house…..the man was shouting…. “HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP!”
He went towards that direction. It was not very far say 1 minute distance from the road. It was an old building with worn out plasters…..There are weeds and creepers growing all around the house. On the ground floor of the house, he saw an old man standing near the door.
He was surprised to hear what the old man had said: “Please help me….. My name is John. I just rented this flat from a person whom I know very well!! He just cheated me!! He said everything would be fine here!! But just a few minutes ago, “DO U KNOW WHAT I SAW??? I saw 2 people entered are house!! These people have worn a black cloak round their body…. When I saw their face, I was frightened….Oooooohh!!! The two people have a burnt face….It was horribly burnt….First I wondered how can a man survive with such an injury!!! Then I pondered a bit and felt that these are the two GHOSTS wandering this dilapidated house!!”
Tom asked, “Why did u chose this house?? There are so many houses which give rent in this locality…There are……..”
The man who had a wrinkled face and had lost his teeth…spoke softly….
“Actually I worked as a postman in an office. After my retirement, my SCOUNDREL SON threw me out of my house. I gave his marriage to an educated working girl. Though both of them earn well, their minds are mean. They thought that it is absolutely baseless to go on feeding this old man. They threw me out one morning falsely accusing me of theft of his wife’s jewelry. I had the habit of coin collection. But I always did it from my savings. My son’s wife one morning accused me. She stated, “You stole my Nakshaktra diamond necklace.” When I asked of the proof, she stated, “You want proof… You old bastard…here it is !!!” She took out the necklace from my cupboard. Though I said to my son, I have not done it!! He was reluctant to listen!! He told me, “Father, before I threw you out of this house….You better go out and stay somewhere else….I do not want to spoil the peace of my family.”
“So I had to come out from my house….the house which I build 50 years ago. Now I am living in this house for which I have giving a rent of Rs. 400. As the house is old, the after a lot of bargaining, the landlord told me, “Okay, give me a rent of Rs. 400!!” You know the landlord lives there….He showed me the building, a new one, which is not far from this dilapidated house. He assured me that there are no ghosts in this house!! But for a few weeks, I am horrified to see the two people moving around cloaks around 9 p.m. They wander throughout the night. Sometimes they groan in pain. They light a fire near the entrance. They sing….But unfortunately I could not understand their song….I think they are foreigners……One day I called one of my colleague who used to work with me in the post office to stay one night in my house. He stayed the night. He knew 20 languages. He told me that these 3 people are singing in French!!.......I was surprised how could French people come in this area. His name was George. George told me they come to India for missionary work. He told me another amazing thing!! The person sitting in between them in the fireplace is a woman….He told me “ I have carefully watched and saying this!!” I was even more surprised!!!
Tom said, “What sort of help do u want from me??” The old man said, “I want you to stay in my house for a few days and tell me whether these supernatural incidents are real or fictitious …just to drive me out of this house!!” He replied, “Okay, this week after my work, I will stay with you in the night!! I will help you, old man!! Don’t worry!!” He patted his back and smiled. He went to his house. At night, he was thinking about this incident, its underlying cause, the motive of wicked people who might cause damage to the old man. Thinking of all these things, he went to sleep.
In the morning as usual he went to work. He was a bachelor. He prepares the breakfast himself, sweeps the room, and sometimes plays his synthesizer for relaxation. He went to work. He returned from his work and on the way, he heard the old man shouting and went to his help. He stayed with him the night. He had brought some food for himself and also for the old man. The old man screamed around mid night. He suddenly woke up around mid night. He was sleeping in the drawing room. He had just begun sleeping when he heard the foot steps of a few people. He suddenly woke up. He saw through the window 3 people coming towards the house. They were wearing black dress from head to toe. It was a moonlit night. As far as he can see in the dim light, he saw the faces of the three people. The faces are charred. They are talking to each other in French language. Tom learnt French in Alliance Francaise of Kolkata. So he could understand a little bit. He did an elementary level French language course. He did the first course of Certificat du Francais Elementaire. He heard them talking among themselves in French language. He came to know the three people have names like Robert, Allain, and Sophie.
Robert said: “Je ne peux pas venire comme ca. J’ai mal a tete.” (I can’t come like that. I have headache)
Sophie replied, “Vous souvenez nous avons cette mason!! Pour quoi nous demanderons la maison pour habiter??” (Do you remember that we lived in this house? Why not we ask the owner to give back our house?)
Allain said, “Nous parlerons avec le maitre.” ( We will talk with the owner).
Sophie said, “Oubliez ca! Je chante une chanson! Ecoute ca!” (Forget those things. I am singing a song. Listen to this. )
After the song, he heard that they talked about revenge. Robert said, “I am going to kill the old man. For him we cannot stay in the house. We will rather go to his house and terrorise him.” He saw that they came inside the house. They started screaming, shouting and became invisible!! He was also very afraid. They starting throwing furniture, books from the shelves. They created a storm. All the papers from the table flew off. Then all of a sudden, the door was locked. Trembling in fear, Tom went into sleep. He felt that only if some magician could do something. Next morning he woke up and he saw the old man was standing with a pale face. He said, “I am going to call a magician who will be able to solve your problem.”
While returning from office, he went to magician’s house. The magician who name is Abdullah said, “Okay!! I am going to solve your problem. Can you spend Rs. 1000?” I said, “What?” He said, “Yes! That’s my fee!!” Then Tom told himself, “If I can spend Rs. 1000 for microderma abrasion for clearing the pimple scars….then why not for saving the life of an old man….after all he had never done any social work since I learnt anthropology in gradually. Being a social science student, it is my responsibility to save the person from the imminent danger!” He agreed and told him to come with him. In the way, he took the case from an ATM. He went to house. The magician performed the ritual. In the next morning, he saw the smiling face of the old man. The old man said, “Yes!! You are right!! Now there are no ghosts!! Thanks a lot for saving my life!!” Tom said, “Thanks!” He went to his house and resumed his normal routine life.