East Into Upper East by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Author:Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781619028814
Publisher: Counterpoint
Published: 2016-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

“Oh my God, that smell!” said Minnie as usual, on entering the apartment. She was right: besides everything else, a lot of cooking went on in there now, and volunteers had been taught by Ma herself to deep-fry fritters and breads and onions and spices. Along with hot meals, she was also glad to offer bathing facilities, expounding the benefit of oil massage for body and scalp, so that all the bathrooms were in constant use, including Tammy’s, Ross’s, and what had been Grace’s.

“Listen,” said Minnie, “you’d better get her out of here, but quick.”

“Yes,” Ross agreed. “As soon as we’ve found a suitable place to buy.”

Tammy gazed at him, startled, and so did Minnie, who asked, “You’re looking for a place to buy?” He nodded casually, and narrowing her eyes a bit, Minnie regarded him with more interest than she had ever shown him: “How much are you thinking to spend?”

It turned out that she was looking to sell her apartment, which her lawyer had managed to get for her as part of her divorce settlement. She hardly stayed there nowadays, spending most of her time with the Doktor, and anyway the place held horrible memories for her from her horrible marriage. But when she took Ross there to view it, it didn’t seem as though it could have any memories at all. Even the paintings had been chosen by the designer, who came in regularly to check up that everything was kept as he had arranged it, including the dining table set out according to his specifications, though no one ate there any more. Minnie gave Ross a guided tour, pointing out the French wallpaper, the rugs handmade by inmates of a jail in Kabul, the Tibetan wheel of life over the king-size bed. With regard to this bed—“I cannot tell you what went on there,” she said and went on to tell in detail. “And I thought I was marrying this decent guy who liked girls.” But thank God it was all in the past—a bad dream—and if only she could get this place off her hands, off her mind, out of her life—if only someone would come up with the money . . . It was a lot of money, but Minnie could hardly let it go for less, it was owed to her, after what she had paid for it in suffering.

Ross said he would take it. After another fund-raiser, he was able to pay for it in cash. The lady from upstairs actually sold her ancestral apartment and all its contents to pay for Minnie’s, so that she could move in there with Ma. Ross agreed to buy Minnie’s furniture too—he knew it wouldn’t be in their way, they would all just dispose themselves around it, the way they had done at Tammy’s. Tammy’s furniture meanwhile—the detritus of a hundred years—was appraised, and as soon as Ma moved out, it was carried off to the auction houses. Here it was sold for a very

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