Yaba Ethics

(A Short Story)

1

“Hello, Miraz?”
“What?”
“I need a help.”
“Interesting.”
“What’s interesting in this?”
“What else? You need help from me! Why on earth do ya seek help from me? How could a piece of diamond seek help from a piece of shit?”
“Oh! Come on, stop your talking shit and listen to what I want to say.”
“Okey.”
“I want to be with you today afternoon.”
“Nope. You can’t. It’s not possible.”
“Why?”
“I’ll be somewhere where you should never go.”
“Hmm… I know why you are holding back. But, my friend, I know where you will be at that time. And I know what you guys will be doing.”
“Oh! God! Please don’t say you want to do the same.”
“No, I won’t. I don’t have any interest in doing it.”
“Good. That’s more like you my friend. Now tell me, why do you want to join us?”
“Well, I am writing a story. The setting is all about the thing that you are going to do this afternoon. As I want to know more, I want to see it in front of my eyes.”
“Ok. I’ll manage. But don’t tell anybody about this matter. As you know better than me, killing is going on in the name of cross-fire.”
“You have my word.”
“You don’t need to give me a word or shit. I know who you are. I know you from the first time I met you. It’s been sixteen long years.”
“Oh! Really! Now you told me! And, all these years I was following Socrates and Lalon’s butt to ‘know thyself’? You could have told me about this earlier my friend.
“What would have happened then?”
“I’d have realized that you are actually my Jesus, my savior.”
“Piss off.”
“Ok…but until afternoon bro, not more than that.”

2

“How is he now?” Mr. Raafi asks Sathi as she enters the showroom of a famous fashion house. She has been working here as a sales executive. Her colleagues and supervisor like her very much. She joined only two months ago. But still, in this short time, she has made a good impression. If she goes on performing like this, she’ll get a promotion very soon. Mr. Raafi has said this the other day. He is the Branch Manager. Like others, he also likes Sathi. He requested her to address him as her elder brother.
“A little bit better, brother. The fever was high in the morning. Now, it’s going down.” Sathi replies. She is already busy with her work. This is her nature. She can talk and do multi-tasks at the same time. She was supposed to come at 9:30 AM. But now it’s 11:30 AM. She was looking after her Husband all morning.
“Great. He will be alright before the evening.”
“I hope so.”
“Do you want to leave early today?”
“No. I’ll leave at 7.”
“You can leave early. I’ll manage everything here. Don’t worry; I’ll count the day a full day even if you leave early.”
“Aww… Thank you for that. You are so generous, brother. But, I think it won’t be necessary.” Sathi gives Mr. Raafi a gentle smile. Then she asks, “You tell me how is your family? How kids are doing?”
“They are doing fine Sathi. Thank you.”

Sathi walks around the showroom and she is looking if there is something undone. Her colleagues greet her. She finds that everything is in order. Then she sits on a tool facing the main entrance and waits for the customers.

Today is not a holiday. This showroom is on level three of this huge shopping mall, The number of customers and visitors are not big today. Sathi stares into the glass of the entrance. A few people are walking past the lobby. One or two people look at her direction. But, nobody comes. After a while, she sees a couple. They look just like her and her husband, Sabbir. They are holding each other’s hand and are laughing. “What a beautiful scene!” She thinks. A little girl appears from their right side. She looks at Sathi and smiles. Then she grabs her mother’s right hand and starts pulling it downwards. It is a try to grab her attention. She succeeds. She raises her left hand in the direction of Sathi. She wants her mother to see who that lady is. Sathi looks at Sathi on the glass.

There are 12 sales executives at Sathi’s workplace. Everyone considers her as their team leader. She has earned it. Among them, there is a girl named Raka who goes near Sathi and stands right in front of her.
“Are you ok Sathi?” She realizes that Sathi hasn’t heard her question. She waits for a while and then she bends her knees, gets down and puts her right hand over Sathi’s left shoulder and says, “Hey!”

3

Kobi and Shipon are on their way home. Kobi is driving a motorbike; an elder brother of his residence is riding on the pillion. He is five years older than Kobi. They are moving to an industrial street. It’s 12:00 AM but the roads are busy with neighbouring people. Kobi doesn’t seem to care. He is speeding up. He makes unbelievable pathways. The fake turbo whistle is making the passers-by on the road scared. Whenever a girl is seen on the way, the motorbike whistles more. Shipon is looking at the screen of his mobile phone. He is also unbothered.
“Was it a good deal bro?” Kobi asks.
“Definitely. We are going to make some money and have fun.”
“But, I am not the one getting much right?” Kobi turns his head back to see Shipon’s expression. Shipon uses his hand. He slaps the back of kobi’s head. It means: look straight, you should not look back for an answer while driving a bike, especially on a narrow housing street. Then he replies, “You will have your share. And, it will increase from time to time. Then you need not drive my bike, you’ll have your own.”
“That’ll be great, brother. I wanna buy a bike like hell. Lima is pushing me every day for it.”
“Who is Lima… ha? Shipon tries to tease Kobi.
“My girlfriend.”
“Oh! But you haven’t brought her to me yet.”
“I will brother. She is very shy, you know.”

Kobi brakes his motorbike; he stops the engine peacefully. Sipon jumps off from the back. They are beside a gate of a building. Shipon’s family lives in this building on the third floor as tenants. The gate opens up.
“Assalamualaikum Boshir Uncle.” Shipon says to their caretaker. Boshir Ali is around fifty years old. He greets him back. Shipon steps in. Kobi parks the bike into the garage. The moment Shipon walks towards the elevator, Kobi calls him back. “Bro… Please give me another one.” Shipon returns.
“Are you out of your mind? How many times I need to tell you that, no talking in public?” Shipon keeps his voice low.
“But this is a garage,” Kobi replies. Shipon directs him towards Bosir Ali.
“Now, get your ass out from this place and meet me after Johar prayer. You know where you’ll find me.”
“Sorry bro, salam.”
Kobi leaves. He is hurrying to his home. Shipon also goes to his flat. His mother opens the door.
“Where did you go without taking the breakfast son?” His mother asks. Shipon realizes that she was worried. He kisses on her cheek.
“I had a meeting with a business dealer Ma. It was urgent and very important.” Shipon enters the room and goes to his personal room. He couldn’t hear his mother saying, “But you could have awaked me up, nah? You stay out all day. You do not remember your mother. Why do you need to earn this lot at this young age? Wasn’t your father giving you enough money?”

The door opens up. Shipon has changed his dress. Prayer will begin soon. He is going to the mosque. His mother becomes happy all on a sudden.

4.

One by one Shipon, Kobi, Fardin, and Miraz have come to Sabbir’s house. They are on the bed watching TV. A music channel is playing item songs from Hindi films. They are talking about the dancers’ bodies. They are talking about who likes whom and what, more specifically. Kobi has said that he saw a girl in his neighbourhood, whose body resembles a certain adult film actor cum movie star. Fardin wants to know if he has her phone number. Shipon looks at Kobi. Kobi knows what that look means. “No. I do not have her number.” Kobi tells Fardin.

There is another young man who is present there on the bed. He is unknown to most of them, in fact, only Miraz knows him for sometimes, for sixteen years.
“Guys, this is Heera. Sometimes I call him Diamond, though I don’t think he likes it.” Miraj introduces Heera. They also respond. He shakes hand with everyone. “By the way, he will not join with us. He doesn’t take Baba.”
“Then why the fuck is he here?” Shouts Fardin.
“Patience, my boy.” Miraz stops him. “I know him for years. He is a writer. Mostly writes romantic poems. No, don’t become over excited. They are not erotic. So, why he is here? He is here because he wants to write a story based on Yaba, the drug we are going to take in a while.”
“So, he wants to see, that’s all?” asks Kobi. Then he looks at Shipon, and asks, “Bro… what’s your say?”
Sabbir intervenes. “Shipon won’t say a thing. This is my house. I have no problem with he staying.”
Shipon laughs out loud. Heera is silent. He is looking at a curved Aluminum foil; it will probably wrap a pen perfectly. What will they do with it? He thinks. He also sees a gas-lighter and a needle-like thing on the bed. Just beside the foil.
“Why are you laughing?” Sabbir asked Shipon.
“You said it’s your house. But, I thought, it’s Sathi’s. Do you have a job which is worth buying a tablet? Who buys all the condoms? You must feel like a horse. You need many nowadays right? Or, are you using your rubbers more than once? ” Shipon continues laughing. Kobi and Fardin join him.
Sabbir uses a popular slung against him and then he says, “This is not funny bro. You need to be a special person to have a wife like her.”
“Special? Do you mean a conman or a fraud…?” Shipon asks.
“Whatever.” says Sabbir.

Hira becomes interested in this conversation. Kobi asks, “Where is my sister-in-law? It is 4:30. Isn’t her office time ends at 5?”
“Yes. But she’ll come back at 8 tonight.”
“Why?” Kobi becomes curious to hear the answer.
“Because I was ill this morning. So she left for office late. I had a fever. ”
“Of course you had. That’s why you showed it to her.” Miraz joins the conversation.

Shipon takes the foil. Kobi puts the needle into the mouth of the gas-lighter. He lights it up using his thumb. He is making the act heroic. He is repeating it while looking at Heera. He wants to see his expression.

So it’s not a needle. It’s a miniature metal pipe, which has a tiny hole for the gas to come out and make a tine fire at the top. That fire will be good for burning something small, or probably heating something. Heera gets it at last. It is to be used to heat that aluminum foil. “Now watch!” says Shipon. He puts a Yaba tablet onto the foil. Kobi gets closer to Shipon and starts heating it from beneath with the small fire from that gas-lighter. In a few seconds, smoke appears, and a strange smell breaks out Shipon inhales it with his nose. Everyone joins the party one by one. Soon the room becomes fumy. They become the creatures of smoke. They are inhaling Yaba. And Yaba is devouring them.

Shipon asks Heera to join. Miraz tells him not to ask him again. At that moment, Heera was thinking of Sathi, a girl he hasn’t seen. He wants to know if Sathi knows all these. Right now, she is probably worried about her husband’s fever.

“I have a question,” Heera speaks up. “Don’t you guys think you are doing something wrong?”
Everyone becomes surprised. Miraz smiles. Shipon breaks the silence.
“This is not a big deal. We are enjoying our life. Plus, when I think about it, I realize that I am not doing anything without God’s awareness, right? He is looking over us. So what’s the problem? We are not hiding this from him.”
Kobi claps his hand and says, “Great bro, you are awesome.” Miraz is still smiling. Sabbir’s head is down. Farding is busy inhaling the smoke.
“But, you consider him omniscience in the first place, aren’t you? Then why do you think that he will be pleased because you are not hiding this from him, while you can’t hide from him and while he already knows all these? Don’t you think your argument is baseless?”

Miraz laughs out loud. Heera realizes, he shouldn’t have told that. A story-writers business is not giving opinions.