Interview

(Readers please refer to earlier posts -- First Family series for an update)

NOT SATISFIED with Mayamohini's interventionist approach, Qui Than relapsed into a reactionary mode when his satellite phone sang.
"Can I have a one-on-one with you, Mr. Than?" Swaravahini's melodious voice ruptured the moans and gasps inside the car.
Immediately Qui Than logged off his laptop.
Mayamohini, on her part, did a neck exercise as if to understand the dynamics of moving objects through the car pane and became deaf.
"Just a byte will do," the ignorant Swaravahini pleaded.
"Not now, you idiot," Qui Than made a diplomatic move. "Come to my place after 8 p.m. And, don't forget to bring the dinner."
The protectionist overture pasted a smile on Mayamohini's lipstick. It reddened.
And Qui Than went out of range. Mayamohini was logged in again.
At the dot of eight, Swaravahini swiped her thumb on the security gadget placed outside Qui Than's undisclosed dwelling place, which is now shown live on local television network, to declare her arrival. Qui Than opened the door within seconds, though the delay seemed intriguingly long for a seasoned journalist in Swaravahini.
Her sharp eyes and nose-for-news couldn't trace even a bit of Mayamohini, who had vanished into thin air. The air has been purified. The smell of HIT had a tale to tell her.
She placed the dinner packet containing two fried fish and one salted tapioca on the table neatly laid with white linen and glowing candles. And declared: "Dinner is outsourced."
"Have you been hardly hit by recession," Qui Than asked, his eyes taking a sneak preview of her sleevelessness.
She got the cue and said: "Solutions are not tailor-made."
QT:"Why target me?"

SV: "You air dashed empty-handed. That was surprising."

QT: "Now my hands are full." (Swaravahini was leaning against him).

SV: "Coffers are empty. Cobwebs have no resale value."

QT: "Contraction is more than expected. How's the crime rate?"
SV: "There's blood on the road. Communist ghost has killed Capitalism."
QT: "The fittest will perish. Survival is need-based."
SV: "Fed needs to be fed. Minting machines are running overtime. The show must go on."
QT: "Is there a Plan B, just in case Plan A succeeds?"
SV: "Let's try to get some sleep."
QT: "The fish is hard. Tapioca needs green chillies."
Swaravahini signed off stating that Qui Than has pulled the curtains down.
And sitting under a coconut tree, one sunny afternoon, Koran smiled.

(To be continued)