5. The Civet Cat

Sive woke up tired and angry; his body ached all over. There was a pandemic recently and him being the god of death, it fell upon him to collect the souls and to cremate them, all by himself. His beloved demon was busy with family life. Sive had left all that and had settled down in the Cemetery of Heaven. On the ashes of the dear departed, he found peace. Death was the ultimate dance of passion for Sive. He loved every bit of the human drama. On days when he is relatively free, he'd dress down as a human and roam around on earth. He was proud of his ability to merge into the crowd. Of course, he'd always be hit on — by men and women, both. He had that thing about him; he looked rather genderfluid. Sive smiled at the thought. Someone right then was frantically knocking on his front door. Sive walked lethargically to the door. It was the Minister of the Heavenly State.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Krsna?"

"My lord... My liege... He has left.. For good.. Please ascend the throne... You are the only hope. Earth is in chaos."

"Did he ask you to come to me?"

The minister nodded.

"That a*se. I'm going to drag him back one day soon."

"Until he's back, please, my lord. Please honour the human race by being the Heavenly Father."

"Prepare for the ceremony. Unlike some people, I take my duty seriously."

"Thank.. Thank you my lord. I'll start the preparations right away." The minister ran before Sive had the chance to change his mind.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

An angry civet cat pounced on Kris; he let out a menacing laugh. The cat snarled back, and so did he. In a moment's time, it grew to an enormous size and jumped onto Kris's body. Kris fell down and the cat opened his mouth to bite his head off.

"Ahhhhhh.." The dream was too real. Sive was angry. He has always been angry, true. Life has been unfair to him, although he was a god. He never knew where he came from, nor did he have a sense of belonging. He was the first to arrive to heaven, as a child. It was empty then. He waited for centuries before the earth was created, and then the rest of us, and the beings on earth. He devoted those years of solitude to spiritual awakening, although he was just a kid. He was known to us under a different name then : Aum. That was the only word we had heard him utter, until much later. To say that he was a very quiet child would be an understatement. He never spoke. But as he grew older, he became strongly opinionated and vocal. He had quite a temper, too. The transformation was unbelievable, but we all did change.

Kris rubbed his temple as he sat up; the pain throbbed against his forehead. This was a first for him, these banal human experiences. Up until a couple of days ago, he was the supreme god of humankind and today, he was just another human being who woke up after a bad dream and with a headache. So strange. He went out of the room. Mira was talking on the phone. He could hear her faintly.

"Not only did he insult the professor, he made a fool of me. I don't know how he managed to get that ring on my finger, but he really is a dangerous person. I can feel it in my skin when I see him. What would the prof say? He said he believes me, he said he thinks that this man was a trickster of another kind and that he would contact me soon. I doubt if he will. Ever. This a-hole has made sure of it. I'm so dead depressed, Bells. This is a disaster. My life is a disaster. "

Kris was still rubbing his head. Should he tell her who he is? Would she believe him? Chances are low. He needs to stay by her side a bit longer before he came out to her. Although he was particularly good at these little pranks, with her, nothing worked. She had an intensity that he could only feel not understand, for he had never felt a love this divine.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Mira.."

It was dark when she tried to open her eyes. Too dark, apart from the moonlight streaming in from the balcony. I'm in the dream again, she thought. She was alone in the room. The husband from the other dream wasn't there. Mira gently got up, without making any noise. She walked to the balcony and stood gazing at the moon. It looked enormous. As if this moon was hers alone to see. The music of a flute permeated her auditory senses. It was aural pleasure at its peak. Mira could feel her body shudder with pleasure and desire as the music picked up pace. Slowly, Mira started swaying her arms and moving her feet, as if in a dream. Her lips moved to sing the wondrous love of her Lord. At that moment, she was not Mira alone, she was Krsna too. What is love, if not for this music which moves you? What is love if there's no Krsna in Mira?

The music stopped and before her stood a young man, clad in yellow silk which made his dark skin look even more exotic. He smiled. "Miraah." Like a spell, her name unfurled from his tongue. At any moment, heavens would shower flower upon her, at any time, nature would start dancing, singing the praise of Lord Krsna. The moment was transcendental. Mira swooned in dizzy rapture, and Krsna reached out to her.

"----------Mira!!?" She opened her eyes. Kris was holding her close to his chest.

"Heavens! I thought you wouldn't open your eyes."

"Your face," she muttered, "just like Krsna's".

She went back to sleep, right there, at the bottom of the stairs. Kris slowly picked her up and went to the room.