Men Writing Science Fiction as Women by Mike Resnick

Author:Mike Resnick [Resnick, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0756401658
Publisher: DAW Books
Published: 2003-11-02T21:00:00+00:00

We hid in a small apartment room up a flight of rickety stairs. The woman who stayed in it introduced herself as Ramani. She had a nose ring that glinted in the room’s dim light. I saw four sleeping pallets against the wall. I looked around and realized a large family lived in these two rooms.

Ramani’s youngest daughter approached me, bearing a tray of small cookies with bright sugar frosting patterns.

“You’re too kind, I can’t,” I started to say. But from the look in their eyes I knew it would be worse to refuse the food than to eat it.

Ramani handed me a bright yellow sari.

“Your shirt is ripped,” she said.

I took the sari and held it. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

Ramani smiled. She took out a pitcher of water.

“You are hurt here,” she said, and dabbed at where Ashwatthama hit me in the face. I relaxed and allowed her to clean my face. Her eldest daughter, just as graceful as her mother, served me tea. One of the women who had saved me peeked in. She helped wrap the sari around me when I began to fumble with the wide strip of cloth.

“That man has left,” she said. “Will you be okay on your own? You are welcome to stay as long as you need.”

Ramani handed me the cloth that had bound my chest. I slipped it under the sari.

“Thank you, no.” I stood up on slightly wobbly legs. I couldn’t take more of their hospitality. Already I felt like an undeserving thief. Just outside the door I turned around and looked in at the tiny, but neatly kept, room. “Thank you,” I said again. I didn’t know what else to say. I was dazed.

They waved good-bye from the door: brightly colored clothes contrasting with the khaki-colored walls.

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