Not For Use In Navigation by Iona Datt Sharma

Author:Iona Datt Sharma
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iona Datt Sharma
Published: 2019-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

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Back in London, on a Sunday morning hushed with snow, Meg curled up under a blanket on the sofa and let Deepika bring her tea. "Masala chai, just how you like it," she said, and Meg smiled up at her, breathing it in.

"You know," she said, idly worrying a loose thread on the blanket, "I don’t like your friends. Especially Pink Hair. She’s a twit."

Deepika blinked. “She has a name, Meg."

“So do I," Meg said. “It’s Meg. Meghna. Clouds, you know? That’s what it means. Like, up in the sky, though I suppose the Magellanic Clouds would also count."

"Meg, is there a point to this?"

"I'm getting to it," Meg said. "I didn't like what's-her-name, Annelise, either. I'm sorry I ran out on your party but I'm not sorry I was rude to them."

"You were rather rude," Deepika agreed. "Maybe I should trade you in for a better model."

"Maybe you should make new friends."

"Maybe I should," Deepika said, easily, and Meg was comforted by it. "Maybe I'd do worse things than that for you, you grumpy hidebound Luddite. Is your engineer okay? Did you let his family know?"

"I spoke to them myself," Meg said, "and I think he's doing all right. I mean" – she smiled at the thought – "I think he'll get to go where he needs to go. Deepika, don't make new friends."

"Oh, really?" Deepika said, fetching her own tea and taking a sip. “Have you come round to queerness as political, then?"

"I'm just a civil servant," Meg said. "No, that's not it."

"You're not just anything, Meg," Deepika said. "Well?"

Meg leaned back into the sofa, resisting the urge to fall asleep. One day, and then it would begin: one day before the legislative reveal; one day before the department went before Parliament and all around them a change in the weather. "Turns out she was right. I just saw some queers at the vanguard of transformation."

"Idiot," Deepika said, fondly, and went to fetch a plate of biscuits.

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