When the Water Rises by Yael Treidel

Author:Yael Treidel [Treidel, Yael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

***

Saturday morning. My first day in the new apartment, with no roommates, parents or partner—all mine. A sense of freedom surges through me. As the kettle warms, I start to organize my new nest. Who knows what will happen here—anything is possible! Around ten a.m., I get a text message from Anu. I leap up in excitement. It feels like ages since we’ve talked. The message includes a photo of a beautiful, wild-looking area with the caption, “Hi from my new place of residence. How are you? Are you still in India?”

Before I’m even done reading, I’m already clicking the video icon. Anu’s smiling face appears on the screen. She is beaming, telling me she’s moved to southern India and found work as a Western medicine advisor at an Ayurvedic healing and recovery center, somewhere in the depths of the jungle in the state of Kerala. She tells me about elephants and tigers, birds in every shade of the rainbow and giant squirrels that fly between the trees; her eyes are bright.

“I have all the time in the world to meditate, do yoga, walk in the forest and stare at our beautiful world, and I don’t have to worry about food and shelter. I’m more or less in heaven.” She smiles from ear to ear. “I’m just missing a little spice here, but in my little apartment, I can make things as hot as I like.”

I burst out laughing, mostly when I remember how she would weep chili tears when we ate together.

“How about you?” she asks. “Tell me.”

“Still confused.” I smile in embarrassment. Then I tell her about saying goodbye to Hannah, about Jeff and also about my latest mess with Ohad. “I miss the moments of quiet and clarity I experienced in Rishikesh, since my head is terribly noisy right now and it makes it hard for me to see things simply and clearly.”

“First of all, my dear, confusion is not a bad thing. Besides, I think the question ‘What do I want?’ can help you, although you don’t like it when I ask you that. Like a compass, it’s a question that directs you inward. It’ll help you connect to the free Maya, the one who sits on the roof or at the cremation ghat in Varanasi, or who flows with the Ganges.”

“That question annoys me because when I’m inside the mess, it’s hard for me to hear that Maya you’re describing. You and Hannah, I feel like you don’t understand how confused I am. You’re so connected to yourselves, but me, sometimes I’m so lost…”

“And I believe you’re more connected than you think you are. Look at everything you’ve done in the last few months. Maya, you’re not as confused as you think you are. Try to start with that assumption and let’s talk again next week. What do you say?”

“It’s a date. And keep having fun. You look like an ad for the good life… the really good life!”

My fridge is empty.

I get dressed and

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