Read Online The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar - Free Book Online

was very hard, you know? No support from my parents, and his weren’t thrilled, either, him marrying a Hindu. I don’t know, it just felt easier pulling away, withdrawing into our own world.” She fell silent, twisting her hands in her lap. “I was also jealous, to be honest. I—all of you went on to graduate school. Armaiti making plans to go to America. Whereas me and Iqbal—we had nothing to talk about. I was only in my twenties and I was stuck at home giving French lessons to a handful of children. I felt so deadly dull.”
    Laleh stirred. “What nonsense,” she said. “We used to admire you and Iqbal so much for the odds you overcame.”
    Nishta smiled. “Yeah, we were the model couple, right? Hindu girl marries Muslim boy, pioneers of a brave new world.” She looked around her living room. “This is where the brave new world brought us.”
    “Anyway . . .” Kavita found herself saying. “We have some bad news, I’m afraid. Armaiti is sick. She has a glioblastoma. It’s a kind of brain tumor.” No matter how many times she said the words, they sounded lurid and melodramatic, as if she were reciting a line from a movie.
    They waited for Nishta’s reaction, but other than a muscle twitching in her jaw there was nothing. “She’s very sick,” Kavita repeated.
    Nishta nodded. “I know. One of Iqbal’s uncles was diagnosed with a tumor five years ago.” She snapped her fingers. “Bas, three months and he was dead.”
    Kavita felt a stirring of anger. “Well, Armaiti has more time—has been given more time.” Nishta’s reaction was annoying her. They had just told her that their friend was dying and she was reacting as if she’d been told that Armaiti had a cold. Worse, she was comparing her to some stupid man who had died within three months.
    “It’s always like this,” Nishta said softly.
    “Excuse me? What is?” Kavita said. She didn’t bother to keep the irritation out of her voice.
    “This. Life. This meeting and parting. This winning and losing. Here I was this morning, barely able to get out of bed. Didn’t have any reason to, you know? And this afternoon, I force myself to leave the house, to buy food for dinner tonight. It seemed like just another ordinary day. The kind that kills you by not killing you. Know what I mean? And then, the two of you walk into my life. Just like that. No warning, nothing. And I feel like someone peeled off twenty-five years of deadness and made me alive again. But then, it’s life, right? So something has to be taken away. So you tell me that Armaiti has a brain tumor. Now, what do I do with this? Where do I place this, Ka? To me, Armaiti is the girl who used to balance on the seawall every time we went to Marine Drive. The girl who once ate nine bananas on a dare. That quiet, serene girl who—” And suddenly Nishta was crying, silently, wordlessly.
    Laleh’s nose was that dangerous rust color again, but Kavita remained dry-eyed. In all the years she’d been friends with the other two, she’d never seen them cry, she realized.
    “She wants us to come see her,” Laleh blurted out. “In America. Before she . . . gets too sick.”
    Nishta looked puzzled. “Wants who?”
    “All of us. All three of us.”
    “But how?” The other two watched as a procession of emotions crossed Nishta’s face. “I wish,” she whispered finally. “But I can’t.”
    “Why not?”
    Nishta bit her lower lip. “I—we—we can’t afford it, yaar. Iqbal works for his uncle at his electrical shop. We could never afford anything like a trip to America.”
    “He left the bank?” Laleh asked.
    “The bank? Oh God, yes. Years ago.”
    “What if we paid for your ticket?” Kavita said.
    Nishta lowered her eyes. “I couldn’t accept that.”
    “Nishta. This isn’t for you. It would be for Armaiti. To fulfill her wish to have all of us together.”
    “Even if I agreed, Iqbal would never let me.”
    “What the hell? How could he stop you?” Laleh