Innocent Questions

“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.