Veena

We were all sitting around here and there, under the warm glow of the lamp shade, under the coconut-leaf-thatched roof, under the starry sky.

I can't remember what but we were celebrating something.

The beach was soon to begin that osmosis of becoming saturated with tourists but for now it was suspended sweetly and quietly. It was just waves, clinking from our glasses and peals of laughter.

I went to the bathroom and splashed water on my flushed cheeks. I giggled at my reflection because it was pointless. When I got back to the group, a tall man had taken my place and was talking to Oshi.

"Ah! Hello hellooo! How are you?" He jumped up with a huge smile and shook my hand enthusiastically.

"Ha-ha-hallo, I'm fine! What's your name?" I couldn't help but to laugh.

"Very good, very gooood! My name is Chaminda," he proudly spread his arms, "what is your name?"

"Veena! Nice to meet you Chaminda," I curtsied to him, fanning out the hem of my dress and hopped back up on the daybed.

He took his place at the opposite side of the crooked circle. He held his wine glass to his nose pacing back and forth, thinking.

"Veena, Veena... Ah! Veena! We have a story about Veena from the old times of Sri Lanka. You know the one that people are playing for the music?"

"Ah, ah, what's the story?" I asked.

Everyone was listening now. He cleared his throat and started to perform.

"Many, many years ago there was a Prince in Sri Lanka and he played the veena. He was playing so nicely that people coming from everywhere, even far far away, just to listen. He was famous!" He made a sweeping gesture with his arm.

"Then, one day, a woman coming to listen and she having a baby in her hands." He looked down at a baby cradled in his arms. "She's listening to the sound and the sound is so nice! is so beautiful! that she's falling down the baby!" Chaminda's face creased and he bent over in a roar of laughter. "She's falling down the baby!"

The group erupted with laughter and they started remembering the story in Singhalese. Chaminda stood like a Prince and played an imaginary instrument. "Veeeeeeena!"

I'm sure we were celebrating something but we always used any excuse anyway.