“I want to
drink that.” She said pointing at the golden liquid in the glass.
“No, this
is my drink. You can’t have my drink. You have your own drink.” I said.
“What are
you drinking?” She asked.
“Whiskey.”
I said, making a hissing sound.
“What are
you drinking?” I asked.
“Lemonade.”
She said making a clicking sound inside her mouth and emphasizing on the‘d’.
She fell
back and rested herself on my chest, and felt the fabric of the tie hanging
limp from my neck.
“Will you
leave me?” She said looking at the tie.
“No. Why
would I leave you?” I asked in reply.
“You know
Aamir?”
“The boy
who saves you a seat every morning in the bus?” I asked.
“Unhunn!”
She replied shaking her head as she sipped the lemonade from the tall glass.
“Yeah!”
“His father
left him.” She said as I sipped from the glass.
“Oh! Where did
he go?”
“He died.”
She turned her head to look at me.
“Oh! That’s
so sad.” I replied looking at her eyes.
“Will you die too?” She put her glass on the
table and stood facing me, her knees on my thighs and hands on my shoulders. I
held her lightly, my hand on her back.
“Yes.” I
nodded slowly.
She stared
blankly at my face.
“Did your
father die too?”
I nodded
again.
“Do all
fathers die?”
“Everyone
dies.”
“Will mom die
too?”
“Yeah.”
“Daadi?”
She asked, still holding on to my shoulders and looking at my lips.
“Yes.” I
said pushing her hair back from her forehead.
“Why do we
die?”
“We become old and then we die.”
“Will I die
too?”
I smiled,
put my hand on her cheek and caressed it with my thumb.
“When you
are very old,” I said, “first this hair will turn grey,” I held a hair between
my fingers, “then this one will turn grey,” I said holding another strand, “and
then this and this and then all the hair on your head will be grey.”
She laughed throwing her head back. I laughed with her.
“Then what
will happen?”
“Then you
will lose your teeth. First this one,” I said holding her one front tooth, “and
then this one,” I said pointing to another, “and then you will lose all your
teeth.” I said rubbing my nose against her.
She
chuckled, showing a couple of holes in the set of bright teeth. She looked at
me calmly. I pushed her hair back from her brows again, looked into her brown
eyes trying to understand what was going on in her seven year old mind.
“Will I lose
all my hair too, like you did?” She asked innocently.
