Untitled Document

Waiting for the next knock
In the Land of Never Return, they had all gathered for an important meeting. Ranasinghe was there and so was Rajiv; Ranjan was there and so was Gamini -and even CV. They were not the only people present; there were many others: Alfred, Uma, Appapillai,and many others. Ranasinghe called the meeting to order.
"We are all gathered here today," Ranasinghe said, "united in a common cause."
"Yes," Rajiv said, "we are all here in the Land of Never Return today because of one reason: Mr. Pirapaharan as he calls himself now, wanted us to come here."
The others nodded in agreement. "And now, Mr. P is about to be let off scot-free for all the good deeds that he has done." Gamini pointed out.
"And that is not fair." Appapillai said, "for him to get all the rewards when it was we who first suffered for the same cause."
"Ah", Ranjan said, "don't forget that at that time your silence was all that he needed as encouragement."
"But," Appapillai protested, "if we spoke out earlier, we would have been here earlier."
"That's true," Uma agreed, "he will tolerate no opposition at all which is why I am here today."
"Of course," Rajiv agreed, "he bites the hand that feeds him."
"So," Ranasinghe asked, "what are we going to do about him."
"You will have to convince your present leader to be more careful." CV warned.
"Or else," Alfred said, "Mr. P will take everyone for a ride and then your friend might be knocking on our door."
"And only my successors seem to have realised this." Rajiv observed.
"I think my Boss has realised it too." CV said.
"And so she should," Gamini said, "because she too came so close to joining us here."
"But how can we convince everyone that Mr. P is not the Angel of Peace that he now appears to be?" Ranjan asked.
"Maybe we should make sure that everyone remembers we are here only because Mr.P wanted us to be here." Ranjan suggested.
"But my successor appears to be convinced that Mr. P has changed..." Ranasinghe said.
"And the people appear to believe that too." Appapillai said.
"I'm not so sure about that." Gamini said, "I think it is more a case of enjoying the ceasefire while it lasts instead of trying to be too worried about the long term outcome."
"That seems a good strategy and I think that is what my successor is getting people to do." Ranasinghe said.
"Which", CV pointed out, "would be quite the opposite of what his uncle used to do..."
"And what was that?" Alfred asked.
"Enjoying the war instead of trying to be too worried about the long term outcome." CV said.
"Whatever it is," Rajiv said, "we can only hope that the Mr. P won't take everyone for a ride yet again."
Just then, there there was a knock at the door. Gamini opened it to find Lalith standing outside.As everyone looked at each other, it was Ranasinghe who spoke first.
"As much as I want you here to clear my name," Ranasinghe said,"I don't think we can admit you here until we are certain that it was Mr.P who sent you here."
"Maybe we should ask our successor to look into that." Gamini said.
No one wanted to disagree.

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