Please note: There's never a dull moment in Kekirilanthaya!
It came as a surprise. No one in Kekirilanthaya expected President Siripala to do what he did to Prime Minister Sunil. No one expected him to sack Sunil and appoint in his place Rajawamsa. Rajawamsa after all, according to Siripala himself, had been planning to sent him, Siripala, six feet under ground. While most people were surprised, some were shocked.
[Transcript obtained by the omniscient à·ƒිලිබිරිà·ƒ්, aka 'Silly Breeze']
It came as a surprise. No one in Kekirilanthaya expected President Siripala to do what he did to Prime Minister Sunil. No one expected him to sack Sunil and appoint in his place Rajawamsa. Rajawamsa after all, according to Siripala himself, had been planning to sent him, Siripala, six feet under ground. While most people were surprised, some were shocked.
‘How could Siripala do this?’ they asked. And this question was followed by the obvious, ‘How could he do this to our Sunil, of all people?’ And then, this: ‘how could he dissolve parliament — our boys pulled off an amendment preventing him didn’t they?’
The logic was simple. They simply adored Sunil. He was a darling little fellow. He could do no wrong. In fact he could only do the right thing, ideologically and in terms of what these people wanted — to heck with the rest of the country.
Those were dark days. No one knew what to do. No one knew what would happen next. Finally, however, things started to come right. The Supreme Court of Kekirilanthaya, in its wisdom, determined that Siripala had no constitutional right to dissolve parliament.
‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ Beryl de Krester exclaimed to all her friends on Facebook.
‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ they responded, almost as though Beryl was in an echo chamber.
That wasn’t enough. She wanted to celebrate. She typed out a message on Whatsapp to the ‘We are for Democracy’ group. She had wanted to call it ‘We are for Sunil’ but Shirley Obeysekera had advised her against it: ‘that’s true darling, but we should try to sound neutral.’ Shirley knew a thing or two about politics.
Anyway, this is what she wrote: ‘Darlings…we won! Sunil will be PM tomorrow. Let’s celebrate! How about coffee at The Embassy?’
‘Makes sense,’ replied Savitri De Silva, known for her low-key caustic comments.
So they all met at ‘The Embassy’ a decent enough coffee shop usually frequented by young people but nevertheless liked by self-styled elites of Kekirilanthaya.
Beryl was the first to arrive. She was followed by Monica Rankothge. Shirley Gondamunne and Savitri arrived together. Sundari Manickavasagar was a bit late and arrived just as Beryl was about to order.
‘What would you have Sundari?’
‘Cappuccino.’
‘Regular coffee for me,’ Shirley said. ‘Me too,’ said Savitri. ‘Nothing for me dear, I just had dinner,’ Monica politely declined. ‘I’ll have tea,’ Beryl announced and proceeded to place the order.
‘So so?’
‘So so….it’s great. I am so happy for Sunil men,’ Monica expressed the shared joy thus.
‘I mean, who the hell does that godaya Siripala think he is? He’s President because of Sunil. Such a backstabber he is.’ Sundari was clearly annoyed at what had transpired.
‘Sunil should have known, after all Siripala started his campaign by stabbing Rajawamsa in the back noh!’ the politically sharp Savitri observed.
‘That’s true, but Samudrika said that he was a good guy!’ interjected Beryl.
‘That woman!’ Sundari didn’t have to elaborate.
‘Anyway, everything is fine now…gosh I was so worried!’ Monica was visibly relieved.
‘Yes, we should throw a party tomorrow when Sunil becomes Prime Minister again…should we invite him? Will he come?’ shirly was excited.
‘girls girls…..let’s not get carried away. This was about dissolution and not about the premiership,’ Savitri said slowly, stirring sugar into her coffee.
‘What nonsense men, the court almost slapped Siripala in the face…I wish I could do that for real…he has to appoint Sunil!’ Monica was excited by the prospect.
‘Savi is correct, but I think Siripala doesn’t have any choice,’ Sundari chipped in between sips of cappuccino.
‘Anyway, why spoil the moment…aren’t you all thrilled that the yakkos got well and truly what they deserved?’ Beryl couldn’t curb her enthusiasm.
‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ Monica, Sundari and Shirley exclaimed almost on cue.
‘I am so glad that there won’t be an election men…what for elections when we have power…’ Monica said.
‘I think this is the time to have an election…when we are riding a high!’ Beryl opined.
‘Don’t be stupid darling, you saw what happened in February?’ Savitri said at the risk of being called a spoilsport.
‘Nonsense Savi…that was such a long time ago!’ Beryl was quick to respond.
‘Yes, Beryl is absolutely correct. Everyone I talked with supported Sunil. It would be a massive win.’
The waiter in attendance, Karandeniya Arachchige Sampath Sulochana, asked ‘would you ladies like anything else?’
‘No, we are good,’ Beryl offered on behalf of the party.
‘We are good…we are thrilled…we are laughing!’ Monica added.
Sampath Sulochana smiled as he cleared the table. He continued to smile throughout the night.
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