“These days, it can be dangerous.” Her mother spoke softly, but her concern was clear.
“Mom, I’ve told you. We have security precautions.” On this, Annika was patient. The world was becoming a different place, and school shootings were not unheard of. It seemed anyone who wanted to could get a gun. There had been an incident in her school a few years ago, and strict protocols were now in place.
Nilay spoke up. “Yeah, but what about that dad from the first day.” His eyes blazed as he clenched his jaw.
Annika had shared that story with her brother, and he’d wasted no time telling their parents.
“Exactly!” her mother compounded. “I worry about these things. Her safety—”
Annika was about to make an attempt to allay her mother’s fears, when her father surprised her.
“Usha. That is not a reason. We cannot be afraid of such ignorance. People like that exist in every facet of society.” He sighed and looked at his wife. “Don’t you remember when we tried to buy this house thirty years ago?”
Usha nodded. “Yes.” She glanced at Sajan. “Our own real estate agent told us we could never afford this house. He assumed we had very little income.”
Sajan’s eye bugged out. “What?”
Nilay chimed in. “Yep. But Papa bought the house and made it work.” He beamed with pride at his father.
Sajan stared at her. “What happened to you?”
She relayed her story. Sajan’s eyes darkened in anger, and he stopped eating for a minute.
“What are you doing about it?”
“Well, I told my principal, and I’m going to be me. I’m going to teach.Allthe children.”
“That’s right,” her father quipped. “Don’t let that fool scare you from what you want.”
“What kind of security is there?” Sajan’s brow was still furrowed.
“Anyone entering the building has to sign in and out. If a teacher wants to come in early, he or she has to be escorted by the officer on duty. There’s always an officer on duty.”
Sajan nodded his approval. “We have similar things at the hospital. Though it’s harder to monitor, given that it’s a hospital.”
Annika nodded her understanding. She stared at him. Then it struck her, like lightning. Her parents looked happy and relaxed. Her mother looked at her with an extra little twinkle in her eye. They had never looked this way when she had brought Steven over.
They had been right about Steven. There had been a reason they were uncomfortable around him, and it had had nothing to do with the fact that he wasn’t Indian. Annika had hidden behind that reason and had been unable or unwilling to see that Steven simply was not the man for her. It took a miscarriage and Steven leaving for her to figure that out. Unbidden, her heart ached at the thought of what she lost.
“So how long have you been teaching?” Sajan asked as Usha refilled his plate, despite his insistence that he could not eat another bite.
“Well, this is my first year with my own classroom.”
“That must be very exciting.” He beamed at her.
“It really is.” Happy to have a receptive audience and to change to a more positive topic, Annika told him all about her class and basic lesson plans.
“So, parents’ night comes up soon?” he asked.
“Oh, not until early January, and it’s during the school day, so they can see how their children spend their time in school.”
“Good luck.”
The conversation turned to Diwali celebrations and who was still in the area that Sajan might remember. The evening passed amiably and quickly, everyone seeming to have had a nice time. Even her.
After Sajan left, laden with leftovers and the diya he had come for, they cleaned up together. Everyone in the house had a job: her dad did dishes, her mom put away the food, Nilay did floors and Annika wiped the countertops.
“I told you I wasn’t ready to meet people.” She scrubbed the countertop with her back to her father and mother.
