Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom

Author:Katy Yocom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Novel, Literature, eco-fiction, environmental, romance, India, Tiger, Kentucky, animals, animal protection
Publisher: Ashland Creek Press
Published: 2019-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

Sarah

“One more after today,” Sanjay said as they walked past the hospital’s sliding doors. “And then you’re through.”

“It can’t come soon enough for me,” Sarah said.

“You Americans,” Sanjay tut-tutted. “So impatient.” He wore a little grin, like the one he’d given her the first couple of times they’d met.

I’ll be damned, Sarah thought. He finally wants to play.

“You Indians,” she said. “Not impatient enough.”

“All right, then. You Americans, getting married and divorced at the drop of a hat.”

She glanced at him. She wasn’t sure what he knew of her history, or what he’d guessed. “You Indians, who marry people you don’t even know.”

He twitched, as if she’d touched a nerve. “Colonizer,” he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

“I believe you’re thinking of William.”

“You’re right. The bastard.”

Sarah laughed aloud.

They had the waiting room nearly to themselves, aside from a young mother with a sleeping baby and a thin old farmer with a bandaged hand. Safe to say neither spoke English. Sanjay settled next to her. “It’s not so terrible, arranged marriage,” he said. “In your country, everyone wants a love marriage. And look how many end up divorced. Fifty percent.”

A love marriage. She’d thought she had one with Rob. “I took it as a lesson,” she said. “A long, painful, expensive lesson.”

She hadn’t told him before now that she was divorced. She thought he might apologize for bringing up something so personal. Instead he asked, “And what did you learn?”

“That what looks like safety isn’t always.”

“Safety? It’s not a concept I associate with you.”

“Why? Because I fall into rivers with tigers?” She shrugged. “At the time, I wouldn’t have said I was looking for safety. I would have just told you I’d found someone mature and thoughtful, unlike the men I crossed paths with in my job.”

“But later you realized you didn’t want a mature, thoughtful man after all.” He nodded sagely. She laughed and swatted his arm, and she saw him take note of that swat. Very familiar.

Across the room, the baby stirred. The mother began walking the infant around the room, bouncing softly on the balls of her feet. “Let’s just say what I thought was maturity turned out to be something more like … how to say this nicely? Complacency. Lack of passion.”

“Of all the people in the world, I can’t see you with a dull man.”

“You notice I’m not with him anymore.”

“But the journalists you worked with. They were too … ?”

“Hooked on adrenaline.” She grinned. “They were fun, I’ll admit that. But they were all reaction.”

“Indians try to be careful,” he said. “We do a lot to make sure the match is right. We compare horoscopes, arrange family meetings … ”

“You look down on love marriages.”

Again with the side-to-side headshake, a movement she’d begun to recognize as noncommittal. “They’re considered less than respectable.”

She shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s better to marry a stranger.”

“It’s better to be practical. Passion doesn’t last. We pay attention to the things that will.”

She turned to face him. “Name them.

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