MARIA
Maria sighed in disappointment. Her husband rolled off of her and lay staring at the ceiling. "I think this is the night, Maria," he said, out of breath, even though he had only lasted a minute inside her. "We have conceived our first child."
The cold was biting her erect nipples. Pulling the bedsheets over her bare breasts, she looked at her husband. "Did the Holy Christ school call you back, ichaya?"
"No. Not yet," he said. "But I think they will... soon."
Maria wasn't happy with that answer. Even though she didn't say a word, her ichayan (husband) still sensed it.
"Don't worry unnecessarily, Maria," he said, sounding a little irritated. "So what if I didn't get that job? We're doing fine."
"It's a good thing then that our first tenant is coming tomorrow," she said, turning. "We need the money."
The next day...
A dark, burly man, carrying a duffel bag, lifted the latch and pushed the gate open. Maria waited by the threshold of her house, fiddling with a bunch of keys. Her husband Jude stood beside her with a welcoming smile on his face. They had last talked to the man a week before, discussing the terms of his tenancy.
Maria and her husband were both school teachers at a Christian private school. They had been teaching there for the last eleven years, and in eight of those they were married. Their life would have been swell if it went on that way. But alas, it was not so. Her husband was fired for using 'bad language' in the classroom. Allegedly, he called some boy a faggot. That was the first one. After that, the complaints started piling up. After the firing, things became tight. Carefully assessing their situation at length, they decided to rent out their first floor.
Shekar placed the duffel bag on the steps leading to the porch and took something out of his shirt pocket. "The first month's rent, as promised," he said. After her husband collected the cash, Maria handed over the keys.
In the coming days, they realized what a model tenant Shekar was. He made himself inconspicuous and never inferred in their affairs. He would leave for the hotel, where he worked as a security guard early in the morning, and would return in the evening. That was when he had the day shifts. At her husband's behest, he used the staircase outside the house leading to the first floor when coming and going. So they never saw him.
So all appeared to be well... until.
Shekar came out of his nest one evening. Maria had just returned from school. His large frame filled up the kitchen door when he stood there expressing his grievances. "The tap in the bathroom isn't working," he said in his gruff voice. Maria headed upstairs and found that it was true. The only tap on the first floor was not working.
"What do I do for water now, madam?" he spread his arms.
"Take the water you need from the ground stairs bathroom," she said. "I'll have this fixed soon."
Shekar nodded and smiled wide.
It was 7:35 a.m. the next day. Jude had left for his early morning coaching classes.
Maria dried her hair after her bath and came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a red towel. To her shock, she found Shekar standing there with a bucket in hand and a repulsive grin on his face. He was in his underwear, a nice bulge forming there as he stared at Maria's chest without even a hint of shame.
"Good morning, madam. I'm here for my bath," he said, scratching the hairiest belly she had ever seen in her life.
"Good morning," she said curtly, her lips a thin line. He kept on staring.
Maria looked away and hastily walked to her room. She had goosebumps all over. The way Shekar's mouth salivated on seeing her, she thought that something might happen right there. Maria shut her bedroom door and stood with her back against it, her heart in her throat, pounding. "Good thing that I didn't come out naked like I usually do."
