The hills are alive.. (part 4)

"...So I pause and I wait and I listen,
For one more sound,
For one more lovely thing
That the hills might say!
The hills are alive
With the sound of music...."

Previous
A loud, rumbling, rolling sound filled the air like thunder - drowning the crooning voice of Maria - only that it never ceased. The dirt rose up into the air as the big driller went into work. The roaring was deafening. 'Oh! For God's sake!!' shouted the young one as she threw the remote at the wall in exasperation. Mother chided her for taking the God's name in vain and shook her head in disapproval. At 15, the young one is getting a little out of hands thought mother pensively, more than a little annoyed at the outburst of indignation. But yelling back would not be a good lesson, so mother controlled her anger and diverted her attention towards the source of the turmoil.

The construction work has been going on for a month now and the neighbourhood has lost its peace for a while. Afternoon siestas long forgone, even watching TV has become impossible. The men at work shouted to one another, yelling expletives at each other in a casual, jovial manner, to be heard over the din. A little baby screamed at the top of her voice from the little tent like houses contrived to meet the temporary need of accomodation for the workers. A group of such tents stood shabbily next to each other in no particular line or order. Dirty clothes flapped in the wind on the clothes line. Dirty kids frolicked in the dust and grime nearby.

Huge cranes arrived the previous day with a big rumbling noise. Mother looked out of the door in dismay. It is going to be a bigger deal than anticipated. Something about the whole construction did not feel right. There was a sense of impending gloom in her mind. She heard from father that this new building will have 10 floors to it and about 5 flats on each floor. A tin, metal sheet moved in the wind making a grating noise and announcing to the world of the soon-to-be apartment complex. It read "Woodland Hills Apartments - Your peaceful abode in the hills". Mother laughed sarcastically at the irnoy. The peaceful neighbourhood with the few beautiful houses scattered around was soon to lose its simplicity and spotless innocence.

The young one waited impatiently for a while for the sounds to die off so that she can go back to watching her favorite movie for the umpteenth time. The drillers and the cranes however were in full steam. It will be way past sunset before the dust settles down. Not able to contain her frustration anymore, she put on her running shoes and decided to take a brisk run in the hills to blow off the steam.

The magic in the hills brought about a dramatic change in her behaviour. The indignation slowly dissappeared and was replaced by a calmness that could only be brought about by the cool air and greenness of the hills. "My heart wants to sing every song it hears..... My heart wants to beat like the wings..." she hummed silently to herself, every moment the mood getting lighter. As she reached the familiar trail she broke into a light jog. The driller sounds got fainter and fainter at every step she took forward. Pretty soon, it is just me, the hills and the larks, she smiled with a poetic longing filling her heart. She was caught up in her thoughts that she did not notice the thin black wire that ran along the length of the trail. Soon she will reach the bend in the trail into the clearing, her preferred spot. She liked the view from the big rock where she took her first break to catch some air. She can see the foothills, with all the houses strategically hidden behind the mango trees and the salwoods.

Without the slightest idea that today is the day her little world will be rocked she jogged around the bend. As she turned, to her amazement, she saw big machines, as many as twenty trucks and a group of men all huddled in busy conversations, some of them scurrying around, glancing in her direction once in a while. She stared unbelievingly at the scene, the trucks were half filled with something that looked like huge pieces of rock. Before soon, one of the men saw her and screamed at her and started waving his hands. That drew the attention of the rest of the men and everyone dropped whatever they were doing and started waving frantically at her. Quite taken aback and not too pleased at suddenly losing her solitarity she stared back at them in confusion. They were pointing at the gound and making all kinds of gestures with their hands. It looked like they were asking her to come down or look down or lie down or something along those lines. In the confusion she looked down and then noticed the black wire for the first time. Slowly realization started dawning on her as the shouts and the gestures of the men became more urgent and clear. She looked up and some of the men were lying flat on the ground, getting up and again lying back on the ground. She understood.

She quickly fell to the ground and lay there motionless, fear shrouding her mind and numbing her to even feel the pebbles and sharp stones piercing into her skin. A loud explosion reverbrated in the air and the ground under her shook fiercly. The sound deafened her momentarily and a volley of rocks started tumbling down and some stopped just a few feet from her. Suddenly something hit her on the back of her head and a piercing pain seeped through her body. Everything around was blurring and darkness enveloped her eyes. The little purple flower inches ahead of her nose started going out of focus and everything went black.

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(to be continued)