Invisible Lives by Anjali Banerjee

Author:Anjali Banerjee [Banerjee, Anjali]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781416517054
Google: mPDklAEACAAJ
Amazon: 1416517057
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2006-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

When I get home, the house feels different—older and creakier, wiser and darker. Nick drove me in silence, a mountain of ice between us. A lump grows in my throat as I watch him drive away. The knowing slips back into me and curls up in the corner of my mind.

This house is no longer the innocent abode of my mother and me. We both have secrets. The images of Ma and Mr. Basu hide in the corners. And I see the shadow of Nick. His kiss lingers on my lips, a ghost.

On the couch, the cats dream their secret dreams. I won’t sleep so easily. I’ll toss and throw the covers into a Kama Sutra tangle. But I fall into a dreamless slumber.

Sunday evening, Ma is home, reading the newspaper and sipping tea at the dining table. The setting sun reveals streaks of gold in her graying hair. She’s in her usual kurta and slippers, yet she looks not like my mother but like a woman with an invisible life.

“How was your weekend?” she asks. Out-of-focus baubles of happiness play in her mind.

“Fine. The usual.” I avoid her gaze. I didn’t tell her about my visit with Nick and his family. She doesn’t know that I can be as wild as she is. As deceptive.

“You watched some movies last night, nah?” She opens the afternoon newspaper.

“Yes, a movie, Ma. It was about a woman who pretended to be a virgin but who was actually sleeping with some guy she worked with.”

“Why on earth would she pretend? Was she married?” Ma peruses the Life & Arts section.

“She had been married once and had been deeply in love, in fact. She even had a child, who still missed the father, and, well, when the child found out—”

“Sounds like the woman had quite a lot of fun.” Ma’s lips curl into a little secret smile. Why haven’t I noticed that smile before? Or perhaps I have, but I didn’t understand its true meaning.

“Actually, the man was taking advantage of her. She was lonely and unsure of herself.”

“Sounds like a strange movie.” She gives me a sharp look.

“How was your weekend, Ma? How was Sonia’s?”

Ma pretends to read, but I notice that a clothing ad takes up the whole page. “Lovely—the same as usual.”

“How’s her arthritis? Her hands?”

“Oh, paining her, paining her as usual.” Ma looks up at me, and the bright baubles come into focus. “Everyone is so thrilled for you. They’re all saying how happy they are that Ravi Ganguli has shown such interest, which is of course not at all surprising.”

“Not at all.” I scrape my chair back and go to my room.

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.