Mrs Jayanti pops up
"That's it! I love the blue of the sea perfectly reflecting the blue of the sky. That's where I am going."
"Yes, Mom, now what is it? Think you're going somewhere?"
"Amalfi Coast." Mrs. Jayanti scrabbled in her shoulder bag and triumphantly brought out a colourful travel brochure. "Here, take a look. A 5-night cruise stopping at Sorrento, Capri. What magical names!"
"That's going to take you at least 2 weeks of total travel. I can't think which one of us is going to be able to give you so much time. You know how Dablu is when his movie is being planned.
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And I'm certainly too …"
Mrs Jayanti interrupted. "I'm going alone."
"Alone! What are you talking about Mom? You can't even go to the bank on your own."
"That's just the problem! Why don't I have my own cheque-book? Why do I always have to be accompanied?
"You're the one who's always asking one of us to go with you."
"No more. I'm going to go alone. That's something I was thinking too. Why don't I have my own bank account?"
"You've never had your own bank account. When dad was alive he set it up like that. You never
needed to think about such things for a minute. Wasn't that great? You had so much time to do your gardening, meet your card-playing…"
For the second time that her daughter could ever remember Mrs. Jayanti interrupted a speaker.
"All that's going to change."
"But what if you get trapped by some Italian smoothie and he swindles you out of your whole
fortune or something? Come on, Mom. OK I'll arrange for one of your close friends to go with you. How about Aunty Iris?"
"I hate Aunty Iris."
"Well, then, who do you want to go with?"
"I want to go with a man!" She was surprised to see herself feeling explosively liberated. A dome, like that of an Italian Renaissance building, bloomed over her head. She looked at her daughter, who was gaping, with a compact stillness.
This story is part of a collection developed in a creative writing workshop run by Shazia Omar. If you would like to join the next workshop, please email her: [email protected]
