The nearness of Fritz moving in to the same share house some what disconcerted Magdalene but but Raji and Fritz seemed to take it in good stance .Travelling now in to the mind set of Fritz one can read if one looked closely at him that he had been intrigued then got involuntarily being pulled by her as if she was a magnet who always seemed to evade and even ignore him while nearly all in the school were on friendly terms including the students to whom he had become a fan almost a hero to them but the only person walking onnegg shells around him was Magdalene and wondered why because nearly there was huge age gap of ten years.People observing with ordinary good eyes may not but mostly all were coloured glasses when estimating another person s personal life and would classify it as a moral breach of conduct and nothing more nothing less .

The first time Fritz began to take closer look at her was when he had come in on his first entry and was walking past the Music room and hearing a lone voice singing playing the piano arrested him in his walk and he stopped and went over to the room but the door was opened half way and he peeped in but found no one but the voice and music only was heard and he couldn't see from the door so he retraced his steps and walked back to the principal s room.

Ever since he wanted to meet the person and the following week when school reopened there was a choir a groups of girls and boys singing at Assembly and the music of the piano was heard as there was a small piano behind the stage used for Assembly and Functions .The same evening Magdalene being the Teacher in charge had send a circular to all teachers to wind up by 3 .30 p.m.
and had to make way to the Indoor Auditorium which had been arranged for Meetings by Principal with teachers and sometimes Parents Teacher Association were also conducted there.
He was given an introduction but strangely Fritz found that the voice of the person was good and he knew she was here in the school for over twenty years so a senior to him but she was unsmiling kept herself aloof and to him specially a sign board hung around her neck which said,' Keep off Me 'reminded strangely of the ,"No entry boards "hung on 'One Way' lanes, worse still like the sign board hung on luxurious houses ', Beware of dogs 'especially when ever he made the slightest effort to extend a civil hand the board will be hung before his fabce and he would subside in to angry silence for a Man s ego can get hurt too.

However the Sports day and her behaviour brought him to the brink of his patience and he verbalised what ever he had to say and found that it worked with her as she became a little bit civil with him not showing her dislike in an obivious manner as she did before .He began having some sort of a queer feeling creeping in him from silent admiration to intense appreciation and liking towards her but all he kept bottled up inside pushing it away but just looking at her being in the house and in school gave himmsuch a mystery kind of happiness bwhuch he has never felt before.

As he was growing he dud have some crushes on certain girls ah not many just two one in School which got crushed even as the School finals came to an end and as for College it would have flowered but his family saw many unforseen deaths in his Mother side and Father side and he had to play the God Father role for them .He had bundled his romantic tendencies and cast it away down in to the Seas and knew he being the bread winner had to work ,earn and help his family out of its hard times.

Fritz had now become so platonically friendly with Raji and each day saw them together in the hall reading newspapers and listening into the news until breakfast time and they were so mutually reciprocating to the other s jokes and daily events that Magdalene felt a pinge of jealousy creeping in on her for evenings after coming back from school Raji would wait in the hall for Fritz s arrival after his practice time between 5 to six o'clock at the nets for his students and then with a hot cup of coffee with the Renuka and Krishnan the cook and watchman cum gardener would join in and have the greatest if times laughing at the Tv programmes and the days News .Raji who seemed a loner now was becoming different and her face always lit up with 'easy - go', light hearted conversations of Fritz . Magdalene began to feel her ties with Raji her me times with Raji was considerably affected.

This was broken and the turn of events took place one Sunday evening .Couple of days it had been raining severely and there were pools of water just outside on the road to the Share house and Raji while making her way through it slipped and fell and even though it was a minor fall yet Raji having arthritis problem and high pressure lost consciousness .

Immediately Fritz and Magdalene took her to the near by hospital and the doctors seeing it was heavy muscle tear advised her to get admitted and thus both had to remain the night there and as they sat in the visitors section both without any cue began talking with each other .This set the road for the beginning of one of the most scintillating relationships and it very gracefully but slowly unwinded .which we shall see in the next chapter......

to be continued.......