A World Between: A Novel by Emily Hashimoto

Author:Emily Hashimoto
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Feminist Press
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

MAY

It poured on graduation day. Situated between two classmates she had never met, Leena sported a clear poncho over her purple gown and salmon-pink hood, an infinity sash that draped over her clavicle then down both sides of her back, signaling her master’s in public health. This mass costuming exercise was absurd, but her mother had issued a plain, efficient, and to-the-point threat: “This is important. You will do it.” From where she was in Yankee Stadium, she couldn’t see her parents or Binita. Far too many faces to scan, difficult to make out anyone’s individual features.

Her graduate school experience had drawn to a close. The expansion of her mind, the real-world problems she’d wrestled with, the irksome classmates, educational internships, tedious internships. A chapter closed. She grieved the loss of office hours with professors. Researching in the library. The fresh Word document before she started an assignment.

Once the ceremony was over and she was officially commenced, she received her sister’s call. “Where are you? Let’s meet.”

Leena sighed. “Yeah, no shit. Let’s meet.”

She cursed the slowly moving hordes of purple robes in front of her, like cells in a sluggish bloodstream. She checked her email while she waited, to see if any more organizations had replied to her applications. With the weight of her student-loan payments approaching, she was in a submitting frenzy: coordinator jobs, analyst roles, data-evaluation gigs. Some organizations required a master’s in public health alongside years of experience that she didn’t have. Other roles were parttime without benefits, or temporary for six months. Nothing was all that appealing. It was not a job seeker’s market, not with the recession still in the rearview mirror.

Once she passed through the gate, she rushed through the clusters of family and friends hugging, finally catching sight of her own family, chatting while looking for her. “Hi!” she called. She wished Ba was there, but at the last minute she wasn’t well enough to make the trip.

Binita grinned and waved, holding her digital camera up to Leena’s face.

Leena put her arms out over her face in a definitive X, but lowered them as she approached, hugging everyone loosely in turn. “So, now what?”

“Now we eat,” her dad said. “Of course.”

“We need to take pictures,” her mother insisted. “Binita, ask a trustworthy person to take it with your computer camera. Try to find someone Indian.”

There was so much future ammunition in her mother’s demand, words to be mocked in front of her and behind her back. She looked at her sister, snickering in tandem. At a New York University graduation, it was not difficult to trip over an Indian family. Their graduate gladly took their photo, following their mom’s required-shots list with a very patient “Yes, auntie” at every turn, umbrellas over their heads holding the rain at bay.

They found their way in the sea of families to her parents’ Toyota, the maroon car in which she had learned to drive. She climbed into the back seat with her sister, her parents up front.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.