Bonzer Words!: The Bracelet Coiled Like A Snake
...'Yes,' she said in softly accented English. 'It is a big case but there is always a kind gentleman like Tom to help me.'
Taking in at a glance Rani's lovely face and her huge kohl-accented eyes, Susan thought, I bet there is...
But is Rani all that she seems? Colleen McMillan tells a surprising tale.
Susan called, 'Tom, over here Tom,' as she pushed her way through the crowd and towards the luggage carousel. She reached it just in time to see him lifting an expensive maroon leather suitcase down and placing it on a waiting trolley. He looked up quickly but before he could speak Susan was in his arms. 'Oh, Darling I'm so glad you are home. I was worried when I heard the plane had been delayed for so long in Delhi.'
Tom gave her a reassuring hug and said breezily, 'Oh, some sort of security scare, even made us take our shoes off, but I'm safely home now.'
He then turned to introduce her to the tiny sari clad figure at his side. 'Susan this is Rani, I was just giving her a hand with this monster of a suitcase of hers.'
As Rani extended a slim ring-clad hand in greeting, Susan could not help but notice the heavy jeweled bracelet circling her wrist.
'Yes,' she said in softly accented English. 'It is a big case but there is always a kind gentleman like Tom to help me.'
Taking in at a glance Rani's lovely face and her huge kohl-accented eyes, Susan thought, I bet there is.
Tom spotting his suitcase going around for the third time smiled apologetically and went to retrieve it. Susan then turned to utter some pleasant platitude to Rani only to see her disappearing through the crowd, doubtless to find herself another 'kind gentleman' Susan thought, as she explained to Tom that Rani had not waited.
Next morning as Susan was getting breakfast she heard Tom gasp as he looked up from his paper. 'Listen to this! Drug bust at Sydney Airport. A young woman leaving flight 396 from Delhi (that was my flight) has been detained and charged with bringing a prohibited substance into the country. The suspect, an Australian national, is thought to be travelling on a false Indian passport.'
Susan, her mind racing had stopped all attempts to make breakfast as Tom read doggedly on, 'An observant customs officer thought it strange that a young Indian woman of obvious social class should be travelling alone and indeed it was when she was struggling with a large suitcase that she first noticed the bracelet. Miss Rani Singh, as she claimed to be, became most upset, incensed in fact, when the officer asked to examine it more closely. Initially she claimed it could not be removed and this did appear to be true until this astute customs official (a woman with an eye for jewellery it seems) noticed a mismatched somewhat larger stone. This, when pressed opened a spring lock which in turn revealed a cunning device concealing the illegal cargo within the hollow bracelet.'
For a few moments Susan and Tom said nothing at all. They just gazed at the photo of the bracelet lying there coiled like a snake, expelling its poisonous venom.
© Colleen McMillan
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Colleen writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
