This part is in Sagar's point of view, Enjoy!
"Can I get shoes to go with my new dress, Sagar?" my sister, Shalu asked for the tenth time since we arrived at the mall.
I was staring at a huge plastic-encased map of the shopping center, searching for the location of Girl Kraze.
"We'll see," I said, also for the tenth time. "It depends."
"And I need something for my hair." Shalu added. "Like a headband. Or some barrettes."
I nodded absently. "This way." I took off in the direction of the store, praying that this would be our last stop.
I had never realized how much effort it took to get a 7th grade girl ready for her first dance. We had been all over two malls, and Shalu still hadn't found the "right" dress. I was beginning to think that she'd have to wear jeans and a T-shirt to the big event. It was either that or find an outfit that had Shalu Pratap Singh written all over it.
But Shalu's dire need for the perfect outfit wasn't the only thing on my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about that group of girls I had seen in Roxie's boutique. There had been something about them....well one of them. But what?
"I think that girl in the fancy dress shop liked you!" Shalu exclaimed, breaking into my thoughts. "She was, like, totally staring at you."
I rolled my eyes. The moment Shalu had entered 7th grade, she had begun to talk nonstop about boys—and girls and boys. My little sister now saw romance behind every corner—or in this case dress rack.
"If only Mom were still here, I thought, as I did a thousand times a day. She would have known how to talk to Shalu about this kind of stuff. I was clueless.
"Nobody was staring at me," I informed my sister. "And you should be more worried about the spelling test you have tomorrow than who IS or ISN'T staring at who."
"Well, excuuuussseee me!" Shalu retorted. She flipped her long hair over one shoulder and glared at me.
I laughed. Shalu had a habit of getting on my nerves, but the girl was funny. And I HAD been thinking about those girls from the store. There was something about one of them.....I thought yet again as we headed home.
Not that I was interested in anything remotely romantic with anyone. I had learned that lesson the hard way. Don't go there, I told myself. What had happened last year was old news. The important thing was that I knew what I wanted—and what I didn't want.
I had sworn off the opposite sex until I was at least thirty. Right now I had my hands full taking care of my little sister. And that was all the headache I needed!
"Spell extracurricular," Dad told Shalu, glancing at the list of words for her test.
"E-x-t-r-a...." Shalu's voice trailed off and she bit her lip in concentration.
Dad, Shalu, and I had finished dinner half an hour ago. Now we were all lounging in various areas of the living room, and Dad was quizzing Shalu for her test tomorrow. This was our tiny family's nightly ritual—our way of keeping things at least semi normal, now that we didn't have Mom around to make our house a home.
I turned back to the novel I was reading for my English class. I was totally into the book, but my eyelids kept drooping sleepily. All of my years playing various sports hadn't prepared me for the amount of energy it took to spend an afternoon shopping.
"......c-u-r-r-i-c-u-l-a-r!" Shalu finished triumphantly.
My dad beamed at her. "Excellent, sweetheart." He exclaimed. "Now all you have to do is spell archaeology, and you're done for the night."
I put down my book and waited expectantly for Shalu to spell the word correctly. Before last year I hadn't been the type of older brother who worried about my sister's friends and tests. But now...well, everything had changed.
"......o-g-y." Shalu's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Archaeology!"
"Exactly right!" Dad announced. "you get an A."
Shalu grinned. "Can I go call Radha now?"
"Yes, you may." Dad put down the spelling list as Shalu sprinted off. He turned to me." Who's Radha?"
"Shalu's new best friend of the week," I explained. "They bonded during a field trip."
Dad sighed in this sort of wistful way that always made me feel sad. "Shalu really is growing up fast, isn't she?"
I nodded. "Sometimes when I overhear her talking to her friends, she sounds like she's older than me."
Dad took off his reading glasses and slipped them into his shirt pocket. "I guess there's nothing we can do about it—you can't stop nature."
"Nope," I wished there was something I could say to my father to make him feel better. But I knew that it was at times like this that he missed Mom the most. We all did.
"She would have loved to take Shalu shopping for that dress." Dad commented, as if reading my mind. I knew that "she" he was referring to was my mother. "And she would have loved to see you play in the basketball championship last winter."
"We're doing okay, Dad," I said softly.
And we were. All things considered. It had been over a year since Mom lost her battle with breast cancer. At first Shalu, Dad and I had walked around the house like zombies. We had eaten nothing but takeout and frozen pizza. The dishes had piled up in the sink, and nobody had bothered to clean the shower. It was dismal.
Then Dadi had come to visit. She reminded us that we couldn't stop living—that was the last thing Mom would have wanted. And so....we had gotten our acts together. For the most part.
My father nodded, and I saw his eyes drift toward a family picture that stood at the center of the mantelpiece.
"Before Uma died, I promised her that I would try to be a mother as well as a father for both of you." He sighed. "But seeing Shalu changing at the speed of light...I don't know if I'm doing such a great job in the Mom department."
"Don't worry Dad," I assured him. "Shalu is happy. And she's a good kid. She'll be fine."
"And how are you?" He asked me, giving me a penetrating state. "Are you hanging in there?"
"Sure," I gulped. Talking about my emotions wasn't exactly my forte. I preferred to be the strong-and-silent type.
Dad's gaze was so intense that I felt like he was looking straight into my brain. It was a talent that made him the excellent father he was. It was also unnerving.
"You should go out more, Sagar. Have some fun." He grinned at me. "I'm sure you would enjoy taking a girl out to a movie or to dinner."
"Dad, I'm fine," I repeated. "You're doing a great job of taking care of us. Really."
He reached over and gave me a paternal pat on the shoulder. "How about some ice cream?" He offered.
"Sounds good." I turned back to the photograph as Dad retreated into the kitchen.
Looking at the picture now, I still found it difficult to believe that Mom was actually gone. I would never forget the last months of her life. It was as if we were all living through a nightmare. Poor Shalu. She had been so young, so confused.
I closed my eyes, and images of that terrible time flooded through my memory. I remembered sitting in the waiting room of the hospital with Shalu, waiting for Dad to come out of Mom's room to tell us how she was doing.
I had known then that Mom's dad would be the hardest of all on Shalu. Her face had been so sad...It had broken my heart into a million pieces.
The waiting room. My eyes popped open, and I snapped my fingers. Now I remembered. I had seen the girl from the boutique in the waiting room of the hospital. I'd overheard the doctor talking about her mother's condition. And it wasn't good.
Her mom had cancer too, I recalled. The disease hadn't progressed as far as my own mom's but the doctors were pursuing a heavy-duty course of chemotherapy. I could still see the girl's tearstained face as she absorbed the news.
I wondered how she was doing—and how her mother was. I hope she didn't have to go through what I experienced last year. But I'll probably never know, I thought. Most likely I would never see that girl again.
I know that part was really sad, but I needed it in order for the story to become clearer! Hope it was okay! 😳
Luv ya all loads,
Meera
Book Talk
Anupamaa
