Ode to Broken Things by Dipika Mukherjee

Author:Dipika Mukherjee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ode To Broken Things
ISBN: 9781910924150
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2016-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Twenty-three

The front grill is jangling; I can hear Agni wrestling with the three locks and I hear her swearing softly, but there is no one to help. Zu is asleep already, as is the night nurse, gently snoring on the armchair by my bed. That is all they are good for, the hired help, sleeping the sleep of the dead.

But sleep does not come to me. I stay awake, praying for the child to reach safely home. I wait for Agni to return, even on the nights that stretch till dawn. I can hear the door creaking open, and now, the double locking click on the grill on the front door.

She should have a man by her who would keep her safe in this darkness. Then, sleep would come easier to me, especially now that Jayanta has come back. It was such a shock to see him – after so many years – and so whole and healthy. He was such an emotional cripple, unable to stop his circling hands, his stuttering… I expected him to be grotesque, hunchbacked by his wants.

I fear for my Agni. Young women are blown up in fields near the old airport and no one is hanged for it. The case goes unresolved from court to court. What hope is there for people like us when someone as evil as Jay returns?

Agni is peering into the bedroom, so I invite her in with a soft sound. “You should be asleep, Dida! It’s been such a long day,” she scolds me, but her tone is tender as she snuggles up to me, taking care not to roll over my outflung arm in the dark.

I smell the smoke in my granddaughter’s hair, but I breathe in deeply anyway, just stroking her hair in ragged lines.

There are too many secrets between us.

She murmurs sleepily, stifling a yawn. “I am so knocked out Dida.” She kisses my forehead. “You need to stop staying up for me every time.”

I grunt, and she touches my face softly.

“Try to get some sleep, okay?”

Then the door closes and she is gone.

There is the buzzing sound of a telephone and Agni’s full-throated laughter floats into the room, riding on a night breeze that is heavy with the fragrant quisqualis flowers unfurling pink and white. I had so little to laugh about at her age. I was already a wife and a mistress, with the burden of two men and a young child.

I wonder if Jay has called again, and pray that she is not laughing that laugh for him.

Jay called here this morning. He told the idiot nurse that he had lost Agni’s office number and she gave it to him, saying the number wrong the first time. I made a lot of noise, trying to distract her, but she just turned her back on me, put a hand over her ear and gave him Agni’s office and mobile numbers, looking them up on her mobile phone. I have to get rid of this nurse; she is stupid, and impertinent too.

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.