Dhaba
The Wonderhouse

"As the trooper cantered off, Kim crawled round to the back of the house, where, going on his Lahore experiences, he judged there would be food – and information.  The kitchen was crowded with excited scullions, one of whom kicked him." Kipling, from Kim






ch.4

And so this mostly unheard of little swatch of sand spit they called an island at Sunset Beach became the paradisal home that only Atman had seen in those dreams of departure from his homeland so many years ago, where a blue here looked something much more of a painting and at sunset, if you watched closely enough at the great red ball slowly falling out of the sky and sinking into the horizon, you could see a green flash that tricked the eye much in the same way that a magician might pull green feathers out his clasped hand at a moment's notice.  Now that the dream of motion had been ceased, the Dhaba had found its ground, it was the seasons of the tourists that became the family way.  Peak seasons did not, of course, always coordinate with the school season, and so Atman had devised ways that the children did their lion share at the Dhaba when they were not at Sanibel School, and he and his wife reckoned with the other parts of the seasons when it would be just them...and truth be told, there was some peace to these days, despite more work. There were no orders to bark out, no splitting the bickering between Sanja and Cecilla and between three and four every day in the afternoon, as would be custom of a true Dhaba in India, they would shut the doors, turn off the lights, and they would walk the beaches together, hand in hand if the time were appropriate, and collect shells as all the others.  It was at this lull in the day that they might come to know and understand this paradise of sand and they came know many of the locals who had also found their time and space in among the tourist cycles.  The Ramseys had become great friends, Ms. Torres, from Long Island, had transplanted here, and could be found at the same spot on the same chair at the far end of Sunset beach. She enjoyed watching the local fisherman wade out into the shallows for sea trout or, when in season, the tarpon, which were notoriously frustrating to fish for.  The tarpon was an enormous silver fish, ranging sometimes from 6-8 feet long and finicky in diet.  The saying was be prepared to play backgammon for 7 hours if you want the tarpon by 8.  They had formed a small group of travelers and great eaters and would discuss local cuisine and would all stop by the Dhaba at various hours during the week giving Atman tremendous pride in his new concoction, always upping the ante, as he said, so that the menu does not become stale and we lose this paradise for no other reason than our being satisfied.  It had been such an afternoon in early spring that the Morays had come to watch what must have been a grandfather and his granddaughter take their daily kayaks out to the strait, anchor, swim, and come back, each day, same time.  This had seemed unusual because the strait was not usually a place for swimming -- many boats and, during the day, a strong current.  As the tide lowered, the current became less over the top, but it was still substantial, but the grandfather looked like he knew what he was doing and so they just assumed they had perhaps found an interesting structure below that carried exclusive shells...