As if she had heard the question in my head, she said, ‘I fell down the stairs.’
‘Strange stairs.’
‘I know. They are stairs I climb every day and yet they . . .’
She hadn’t expected me to believe her. She wanted me to stop looking. We shared our lunches and still couldn’t finish all the food.
‘Pack your lunch and come with me,’ she said.
‘Where?’
‘Shahrazad.’
‘That’s a slippery slope, Brahmi. Are you sure? Are you really going? I guess you are.’
She didn’t share my pessimism which was strange. We went to the abandoned classroom again. Shahrazad had grown even fatter in a week but looked healthier. As if Brahmi’s love had healed her, exactly what I was scared about. She came hobbling to see Brahmi, her enormous belly swaying from side to side. Soon she was eating out of Brahmi’s hands, wagging her tail gustily.
‘Don’t be scared. She won’t bite,’ she said.
‘I’m not scared of her biting me.’
‘Oh please. Don’t overestimate yourself.’ Then she talked to Shahrazad in a baby voice. ‘Raghu here thinks you will fall in love with him, my little doggy. Who’s the cutest doggy in the world! You are!’
‘No, I don’t think that.’
‘Of course he does, Shahrazad. He thinks he’s so lovable that people or dogs will miss him so much god forbid he does something to himself.’
‘Now you’re just mocking me. Also, stop with that baby voice.’
‘My fat little doggy, will you tell Raghu bhaiya that it’s not so?’ she said.
‘Brahmi. We are late for class.’
Shahrazad hobbled on to Brahmi’s lap, nuzzling her nose into her armpit. Brahmi said, ‘Aw, you missed me! Tell Raghu bhaiya that maybe no one, including you, will miss Raghu bhaiya as much as his floating-soul-thing would miss us. Ah! Maybe that’s what he’s REALLY scared of.’
‘Fine, whatever,’ I said and patted Shahrazad, whose eyes reduced to little slits.
Brahmi laughed. ‘And now pat her with your other hand. See! She likes you. Look at her wagging her tail.’
I did as asked, first to get Brahmi to stop and then because I liked how Shahrazad’s warm tongue felt on my hand.
‘I know you called, Raghu,’ said Brahmi just as we were leaving Shahrazad. ‘STAY, STAY,’ Brahmi had to tell Shahrazad to keep it from following us.
‘I didn’t—’
‘I know you did. Next time, you can speak. My Taiji thinks something’s going on if no one says anything.’
‘Did you know this all the time?’
‘I knew it the second time the phone rang. I don’t have secret admirers or anyone here who would want to trouble me. There’s only you.’
Brahmi could have screamed at me, slapped me around like she would have been by her Taiji for my recklessness. She could have paraded her welts and accused me for it. It was incredibly stupid of her to exonerate me in front of her Taiji when she could have blamed me for everything. She didn’t have to be nice to me when I didn’t deserve it. Why strengthen bonds and make it harder to snap them?
Couldn’t Shahrazad not have been cute and cuddly? Couldn’t Maa–Baba just be bad people, making it easier for me to leave them and Dada to themselves?
‘I’m sorry,’ I said as the guilt coursed through me. Maybe Brahmi is right about me. My floating-soul-thing would miss them.
‘You don’t have to be sorry. You are my friend.’
