Kismet & Priya Meet an Assassin (Please Crit)

Continued from the previous article.

A Summary of the First Part of the Novel ( Needed Here for Understanding this Part)  

Kismet (and this is not his real name) leaned of Alisha, the so called Campus Queen, during his years at Oxford University, UK. Whenever he went to debates, dinners, shows or whatever function, she would be there beautifully dressed and surrounded by a several eligible bachelors. He heard about her often but there was never any scandal associated with her. As far as everyone was concerned her record was impeccable.

About two months before the end of the term, to his total amazement, he received a personal invitation from her to have dinner with her.

Over the weeks that followed, she overcame his instinctive wariness and then in a single mad moment proposed to her.

They married in a magistrate's court in Oxfordshire but once the papers had been signed she walked out of the building and he never saw her again. After numerous investigations he discovered that she had left the country.

Overcome with a sense of despair he decided not to pursue the matter any further, He also decided that he was not in a fit state to return to Udaipur and would rather go to any other country to recover his self belief.

He decided somehow on going to Durban, South Africa, and while there to become a cab driver, perhaps the most incognito trade of all.

One of the issues that he had to face was that he was officially married. It was something that he had to think about and then take appropriate action.

Introduction to the Part given Here.

Priya has decided to invite Kismet to meet her family. He was just a friend, she told her mother.

This story tells of Kismet's penchant for getting into remarkable situations. Ones' that may never be encountered by most other people.

This Part  

The golden taxi was travelling on and on, seemingly without any effort. Kismet and Priya were on their way to Pietermaritzburg. He was about to meet her family for the first time.
Sitting in the back seat was Susmita. She was Priyas best friend and confidante. Before Priya met Kismet, the two were always seen together. It was no wonder that when she had heard that the two were planning to go to up country for the weekend, she had insisted on coming along.

It would be the first time that Kismet would meet her family ad, to prevent any possible misunderstandings, she had it made quite clear, on several occasions, to her family that Kismet was just a friend and not a suitor. She had tried, rather unconvinncingly,  to tell her mother that he was on a journey of self-discovery and needed time to find himself.

Her mother had been nonplussed.
"Self-discovery? What is that? Why doesn't he discover some girl? What is the matter with him?"
"Mama, it's very simple. He has had some trouble in the UK. He's now trying to forget all about it."
"Then let him come here. When he eats our cooking and becomes part of our family he'll forget everything. Papa will ask some people to come over and make music. When he leaves here, he will have forgotten all about his English problems."
Her words were somewhat prophetic. When Kismet eventually went back to Durban, after that weekend, his whole life had changed forever. 

The taxi had been steadily purring on while they covered mile after mile without incident. Then, without warning, the engine coughed once or twice and went silent. Kismet looked aghast at the fuel indicator.
"Priya! I simply cannot believe it. The tank is empty. I forgot to fill it as I had planned to do. I'm so sorry ! What an idiot I am."

Susmita, sitting at he back, rose up to look at the guage. She was aghast.                           "I can't believe it. The great Kismet has  let us run out of gas?"                                             Priya turned sharply around and glared at her friend.                                                           "Don't be so damn bitchy, Sush. He knows what to do. Leave him alone, will you." 

Then she turned to Kismet and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.     

"It's okay, Kismet. Luckily we're on a long downhill. We'll find a place. This isn't the middle of nowhere, you know."
"You're quite right. Let's hope that we'll find a suitable place soon and buy some."
After coasting down the long slope for a while, Kismet exclaimed with a note of despair.
"This is terrible. We're already getting to the end of this downhill and we haven't seen a filling station yet. But look, do you see that farm gate over there? I think that we should stop there. It seems to be a well-to-do place. Anyway, it's really our last hope."
Then he began to steer the car off the highway towards the gate. 

They were able to unlatch the gates and to push one of them open wide enough to pass through and then they carefully closed the gates again behind them. While they were walking along the sand road towards the farmhouse, they began to hear in the distance the faint but frightening rhythmic grunting of a large beast loping towards them.
As they came around a bend, they suddenly saw a huge dog with fiery red eyes blazing at them. Saliva was drooling out of its open mouth. It looked more like a wild predatory animal than a dog. It seemed to have the name "killer" written across its furrowed brow.

It immediately began to approach them to the accompaniment of a low but fearsome growling. Priya and Susmita quickly ran and stood behind Kismet. As they did so he softly whispered to Priya.

"I thought that it's wrong to stand behind someone like I did in the Maharani when I stood behind the waiter. Now you're doing the same thing."                                                            Priya stabbed anxiusly at his back with her forefinger.
"Stop that, Kismet. There's no time for that kind of talk. Look at that monster. Do something. Didn't they teach you self-defence at Oxford?"                                                      Susmita voiced her concern as well. "You're from India. Where are your magical powers now? Now that we really need them?"

He rubbed his chin as if deep in thought
"Wait a minute, I did learn something over there. I don't mean in India but in Oxfrdshire. In a movie house. Watch this, don't move please. I need to concentrate." 

He took a step forward and then knelt down on one knee. Slowly he extended his left hand out towards the animal. His hand was clenched except for his index and little fingers. They were stretched out and pointing towards the dog. What happened then was a strange and surrealistic event. Time seemed to stand still. Not a single leaf, nor a blade of grass moved. Nothing existed but the man and beast. It was a cosmic confrontation.
What happened in the next minute or two mesmerised the two women. The animal, seeing the hand gesture, had immediately stopped dead still in its tracks and had begun to tilt its head to one side. It had developed a quizzical frown on its forehead.

The dog had become incredibly quiet and had then even begun to whimper. It lowered its body to the ground and submissively crawled up to Kismet. With its now rather sad looking eyes, it appeared to be pleading with Kismet to stroke its head. When Kismet actually touched the dog's forehead with his two still extended fingers, the dog's eyes softened and began to reflect total love and devotion.

Kismet turned around to look at Priya. Her mouth was open in astonishment. She held a hand to each side of her face. Susmita was just as surprised.
"Come, you two, it seems to be okay now. Let's walk on, but don't do anything unusual, please."
Priya looked at him and the dog in great disbelief. With some suspicion she and Susmita walked next to Kismet but on the side opposite to the dog. 

Eventually they reached the farmhouse and knocked on the door. It was opened by a tall, well built and sun-tanned man. He looked at them first and then all around. To his surprise he could not see their car. He looked at them and then at the dog. He was obviously deeply confused.
"How did you get here?"
"Sir, we walked to here from the main gate. You see, we ran out of fuel."
"And this is my dog? Is this my killer watchdog? His name is 'Assassin', by the way. Look at him, he's ignoring me and looking at you with those big adoring eyes."
"We didn't do much, Sir. I can assure you that."

"Oh, come on. I can see that you're Indian. Did you use some guru magic? Did someone who sleeps on a bed of nails give you a magic potion? You can tell me, you know."
"Well, it was nothing like that at all. This is all that I did."
He then demonstrated how he had extended the two outer fingers towards the dog. As he did so, Assassin whimpered in sublime delight and rolled over onto its back waiting to have his stomach scratched.
"Man, where did you learn that trick? Somewhere in the East? In Nepal or Tibet?"
"No, Sir. I saw it in a movie called Crocodile Dundee."

The man stared unbelievingly at Kismet and then at the two women. Then he burst out laughing. He put his arm around Kismet's shoulder.
"Man! That's the best story that I've heard for a long time. There's my Assassin, my Ninja dog, lying there with his chin on your foot! It's incredible... but I'm afraid his watchdog career is over. I can see that so clearly now. He'll never ever be vicious again. His hormones have evaporated."
"Anyhow, come inside and have some tea. It's not your fault."

After tea and some happy conversation, it became time for the trio to move on.

The farmer found a can of gas for them and them took them back to the farm gate in his 4X4. He smiled as he bid them adieu.
"Well, I've lost a great watchdog, but I've enjoyed your company."
"May I ask you something? When you come again, please don't get out of your car at the gate. Wait for me. I'll come and fetch you there. I can't afford to lose another watchdog!"

After a final round of joking, laughing and greetings, he bade them farewell and soon the orange taxi was once again on its way to Pietermaritzburg.