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Authors: Sadaf Zulfikar
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skirt, smiling only slightly. “She could’ve rather said about something brewing in town. Oh yeah. I heard that Peter Smith is getting divorced because his wife cheated on him. Poor guy, he loved her a lot.”
Rashi wore the crown of ‘Gossip queen of Castle Pines’. Though gossip was a way of life for most people around, Rashi mastered it. She stored names, ages, relationships, details of people she knew of (or even otherwise) in her brain’s database and connected bits and pieces efficiently. Alice still remembered a guy freaking out when Rashi blurted all she knew about him though he belonged to a neighboring town. He told her, ‘Hey, strange lady stop stalking me!’ and rushed out.
It was kind of like a quest to her when Alice landed there. She wanted to know all about her but Alice wasn’t ready to give all the details; it was scary for her condition to be known to a town of people. And so Alice had initially made up a sad, fake story of her parents’ death so that she wouldn’t try to dig any deeper. It had worked, and it was also a good thing that she’d made a cover story she could relay also to Anna and Franny−though Alice was sure Franny would’ve heard it from Rashi even before Alice brought it up.
“Good timing dear, I was just telling Rashi about an incident that happened to me,” Franny waved them over.
Alice had heard the story twice already. The way Franny had chased the thief down the road and once she got a hold on him, pushed his head towards a brick wall and cornered him with his hands behind his back. The thief almost cried to let go, she’d said. Alice didn’t have a hard time believing it because Franny was still strong. Her friendly handshake itself crushed Alice’s hands; Franny could almost kill her with a punch. Even her body frame was about double that of Alice’s. Having very little food and dealing with all the mental stress she was under had drained all the energy from Alice’s bones. Caffeine and a few meals now and then kept her running, but she wasn’t up for a fight even with a kid.
By the time they walked over to Franny, a customer entered. “Get to work girls. I have work to do, too. I’ll be back after lunch.”
There was a flurry of customers for an hour or so before the place cleared out. Rashi did a check on the book database stored in the computer and updated Alice about the new arrivals. Alice was well aware why Rashi was the most important employee to Franny. Even with her wealth of gossip, she worked efficiently, keeping track of titles and sales, and also many of the customers enjoyed small talk with her.
Alice saw herself reflected on a big glass window. Her chestnut hair looked a lighter shade; so did her eyes. Her body muffled with images passing from the other side making it look like a hologram until someone’s picture closed in from the other side and stood there merging with hers.
Derek, Alice recognized at once. He waved and smiled. He looked really smart in a black suit and tie. He came inside.
“Hey, Alice,” he said. “What do you know, it is a small town.”
“Nice to see you again,” Alice wondered if she meant it.
“Hey, Derry.”Rashi called from the counter, and he went over to her. The smile still clung to his face like it refused to leave. They were conversing in Hindi. Hindi? Derek knew Hindi? Whatever it was, Alice couldn’t understand. The only words Rashi had taught her was ‘pagal aadmi’ meaning ‘crazy man’. She kept occupied silently, checking shelves for what book she could read next.
“Alice” he finally included her after five minutes. “Rashi says I can speak in almost the right accent. Do you know Hindi?”
“Nope.” Alice swapped two cookbooks. “You sounded pretty good while speaking. You didn’t stop to think.”
“Well, my mom is half Indian and her husband is
Rashi wore the crown of ‘Gossip queen of Castle Pines’. Though gossip was a way of life for most people around, Rashi mastered it. She stored names, ages, relationships, details of people she knew of (or even otherwise) in her brain’s database and connected bits and pieces efficiently. Alice still remembered a guy freaking out when Rashi blurted all she knew about him though he belonged to a neighboring town. He told her, ‘Hey, strange lady stop stalking me!’ and rushed out.
It was kind of like a quest to her when Alice landed there. She wanted to know all about her but Alice wasn’t ready to give all the details; it was scary for her condition to be known to a town of people. And so Alice had initially made up a sad, fake story of her parents’ death so that she wouldn’t try to dig any deeper. It had worked, and it was also a good thing that she’d made a cover story she could relay also to Anna and Franny−though Alice was sure Franny would’ve heard it from Rashi even before Alice brought it up.
“Good timing dear, I was just telling Rashi about an incident that happened to me,” Franny waved them over.
Alice had heard the story twice already. The way Franny had chased the thief down the road and once she got a hold on him, pushed his head towards a brick wall and cornered him with his hands behind his back. The thief almost cried to let go, she’d said. Alice didn’t have a hard time believing it because Franny was still strong. Her friendly handshake itself crushed Alice’s hands; Franny could almost kill her with a punch. Even her body frame was about double that of Alice’s. Having very little food and dealing with all the mental stress she was under had drained all the energy from Alice’s bones. Caffeine and a few meals now and then kept her running, but she wasn’t up for a fight even with a kid.
By the time they walked over to Franny, a customer entered. “Get to work girls. I have work to do, too. I’ll be back after lunch.”
There was a flurry of customers for an hour or so before the place cleared out. Rashi did a check on the book database stored in the computer and updated Alice about the new arrivals. Alice was well aware why Rashi was the most important employee to Franny. Even with her wealth of gossip, she worked efficiently, keeping track of titles and sales, and also many of the customers enjoyed small talk with her.
Alice saw herself reflected on a big glass window. Her chestnut hair looked a lighter shade; so did her eyes. Her body muffled with images passing from the other side making it look like a hologram until someone’s picture closed in from the other side and stood there merging with hers.
Derek, Alice recognized at once. He waved and smiled. He looked really smart in a black suit and tie. He came inside.
“Hey, Alice,” he said. “What do you know, it is a small town.”
“Nice to see you again,” Alice wondered if she meant it.
“Hey, Derry.”Rashi called from the counter, and he went over to her. The smile still clung to his face like it refused to leave. They were conversing in Hindi. Hindi? Derek knew Hindi? Whatever it was, Alice couldn’t understand. The only words Rashi had taught her was ‘pagal aadmi’ meaning ‘crazy man’. She kept occupied silently, checking shelves for what book she could read next.
“Alice” he finally included her after five minutes. “Rashi says I can speak in almost the right accent. Do you know Hindi?”
“Nope.” Alice swapped two cookbooks. “You sounded pretty good while speaking. You didn’t stop to think.”
“Well, my mom is half Indian and her husband is
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