Night Rendezvous

Cooper's Camp is well-known for the Ship House. This building is
actually shaped like a ship. It has five floors and is owned by the
Chatterjee family. The head of this family is the elderly Dolly
Chatterjee. Though the sixty year old lady takes all the major
decisions, the family is dominated by the men. Men, meaning her three
sons Derek, Barry and Neil. The Chatterjee family owns forty buildings
all over Calcutta. The income from the buildings makes them very rich
indeed. Derek, Barry and Neil have a lot of spare time and almost
nothing to do. The three are very fond of wrestling and have started a
wrestling club within their own premises. The members of this club are
feared all over Cooper's Camp for their strength and skill. In fact the
local people are even scared to look at any member of the Chatterjee
family. The walls of Ship House are high and forbidding. The only way a
person can enter the building is through its solid metal gates. And the
gates are always guarded by three men each seven feet tall. Despite
this Judy is not allowed to meet any outsider without prior approval
from her brothers. Judy is the only sister of Derek, Barry and Neil.
She is seventeen years old. Judy loves sports too. It is track and
field sports that interest her. Since she is not allowed to meet anyone
she spends her time watching track and field events on television.
There are three small houses outside Ship House. A pensioner and his
wife lives in one house. The second house is occupied by a young
teacher. No one is quite sure about the third house. Its occupant is
short, just five feet tall. He appears to be physically fit. It is
believed that he is an aspiring athlete though no one quite knows his
discipline. About a kilometre from the walls of Ship House is a shallow
stream that separates Cooper's Camp from Frazier Camp. There is a
wooden bridge over the stream but few people use it. This is because
there is not much water even during rains. A thick fiberglass pole has
been placed over the water and people walk on it to go from Frazier to
Cooper's or the other way.
One month remains for Judy's eighteenth birthday. According to Indian
law she is free to choose her husband after eighteen and also claim her
share of the family property. Her brothers are keen to marry her off to
one of the wrestlers. But Judy is not interested. In fact she wants to
marry a track and field athlete. She believes she has already found
one. One morning her room was found filled with tuberose bouquets. Her
brothers called the police. But the law-keepers politely informed them
that they could not help. Two wrestlers were asked to keep watch
outside Judy's door. But the grapplers went home after eight pm. One
week later Judy was found wearing a silk dress. The Chatterjee brothers
hated silk. They felt silk made people look gaudy and vulgar. Judy did
not agree with them. Now the brothers were sure that someone was
meeting their sister without their knowledge. But they did not know
how. They were sure that it was someone from outside. The other three
houses in Cooper's Camp were searched. When nothing was found the
occupants of the three houses were asked to leave immediately. Next
morning Judy was gone. Only three days remained for her eighteenth
birthday.
Seven days later Judy visited Ship House with her husband. She was now
the rightful owner of ten of the family's forty buildings. She refused
to meet her brothers whom she now called bullies openly. Judy spoke to
her mother about her husband with excitement and pride. He used to live
in one of the dwellings outside Ship House till he was forcibly
evicted. He was the athlete, Jeremy, who was just five feet tall. He
had seen Judy standing in her balcony and had liked her immensely. He
had figured that there was only one way to meet her. Though he was
basically a sprinter he was familiar with the art of pole vault. Using
the fiberglass pole over which people walked to cross the nearby stream
he would jump over the walls of Ship House. Directly to Judy's balcony
every night. They met like this for six months. A week back both Jeremy
and Judy decided that they could wait no more. The day after she became
an adult, Jeremy got married to Judy in court.