After the Monsoon by Margot Webb

Author:Margot Webb [Webb, Margot]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781532035753
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2017-12-22T05:00:00+00:00

On Monday, as promised, Bahadur sahib, the tailor, came with his helper carrying school uniforms and play clothes. When he entered the house, Avu’s eyes grew bigger and bigger. He told everyone that he had the most clothes in the world. He had never seen such a quantity of wonderful things made just for him.

The tailor’s face showed his pleasure; Meryam was amazed at the speed with which everything had been done, and Suresh paid him a little more than the bill showed. After he left, Avu ran into the bathroom and tried on one outfit that fit to perfection—a white shirt and tan shorts. He couldn’t take his eyes from the mirror but finally turned around and told everyone that this was absolutely the first new shorts and shirt he had ever worn. He had always gotten his clothes from an older cousin who had outgrown and often outworn it.

Meryam felt humbled by this child who in a few weeks had taught her so much, with his courage, good manners, and undemanding behavior.

That afternoon, they visited Dr. Cohen, and she checked him out for the last time, gave permission for him to attend school within ten days, and told him how handsome he looked. Avu offered thanks again for fixing his head, and hoped that he and his mommy as well as Dr. Cohen would remain friends.

She assured him of that and took them both to her living quarters, where a chocolate cake and tea awaited them. “I am the luckiest boy in the world,” he said. “Everything changed since Mommy came to India.”

They savored each bite of the cake, and on the way home, he asked why Meryam was silent and didn’t talk.

“I am thinking about you,” she answered. “Can you understand me?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “You and Dhara talk English to me all the time, and I begin understand much.”

“You are a wonderful boy,” she told him, and hugged him right there on the street, while they waited for Juan to pick them up.

A few days later, Avu found a little boy, Amrish, near his age on the beach. They began to play together, and his new friend took great care not to hurt his head where he could see the stitches. Amrish lived a few houses away from Julia, and, best of all, he told Avu that he went to the same British school that he would attend. At first, it made Avu a little ashamed, but after a few minutes, Avu told him that he had never gone to school before. He would have to start with first grade. “You won’t be the only one,” Amrish said, “Many boys start school at eight years. You’ll see.”

Meryam went to Julia’s for tea and asked her about her son’s new friend. Julia enthused about the family from which the child came. “When we finish tea, let’s walk to the boy’s house, and you can meet his mother. She is an artist; her husband is an engineer, and they only have one child.

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