Read Online Who Will Catch Us As We Fall by Iman Verjee - Free Book Online Page A

shivering in the slight chill that the evening brought with it.
    It had been a successful event and now the family sat in contented silence as Raj tapped his fingers on the wheel and hummed old Hindi film songs. The trunk of the station wagon was full of presents and leftover goodie bags, from which Jai had grabbed a Chupa-Chupslollipop.
    â€˜That’s not for you,’ Leena had protested from the other side of the backseat, lunging toward him.
    He dodged her snatching fingers easily, her seatbelt holding her back. He wrapped his tongue around the Coca-Cola flavored lollipop, sucked on it lightly before smacking his lips together. ‘I don’t know why I had to come to this lame party.’
    â€˜It wasn’t lame!’ It had been Leena’s first boy-girl party because her mother had conceded that she was now old enough to invite boys as well asgirls. She had worn her new outfit for it: a white, flower-printed T-shirt and a denim skirt that had a pair of shorts stitched into them. Culottes ,Pooja had called them the night she had returned from visiting her brother in London. Everyone is wearing them on Oxford Street. See how easy they are? You can sit, stand, jump, run, everything without your panties showing.
    Twelve years old and still a baby. Jai rolled his eyes and reached back into the goodie bags, found her favorite – Strawberry & Cream – and gave it to her. ‘Now you have one too so you can stop bugging me.’ He inserted the headphones of his new Sony Walkman into his ears and pressed play on his recently made mix tape.
    â€˜I want to listen with you.’ Leena grabbed his arm. ‘Let me listen with you.’
    â€˜You have your own Walkman.’ She had received hers that morning as a birthday present.
    â€˜I didn’t have time to make a tape!’
    â€˜Stop it.’
    â€˜Give me!’
    â€˜You’ll spoil the whole thing.’
    â€˜ Maaa .’
    â€˜ Baas .’ Nothing as loud as their father’s quiet voice, telling them he’d had enough. ‘Can’t you see I’m driving?’ He looked back at his children.
    â€˜Watch out!’ Jai leaned forward with wide eyes, pointing outward, and Raj turned speedily in his seat to see a man lying in the middle of the road. He slammed his brakes, heard the squealing protest of the wheels before the car came to a halt in a haze of rubber fumes.
    Parking the car up on the curb, Raj climbed out while instructing his family to lock the doors. He approached the man, whose only movements were the sharp jerks of struggling breath.
    Raj hiked up his trousers and knelt down. ‘ Mzee ,’ he spoke gently, not wanting to startle him. ‘ Makosa ni nini? ’ The man rolled, stretched out on his back and looked up at Raj with wet, unseeing eyes. He spoke in single words.
    â€˜Sick,’ he groaned. ‘Diabetes.’
    â€˜Where is your medicine?’ Raj was calm despite the cars veering narrowly by them, the sound of horns telling him that they considered this a nuisance, keeping their palms pressed down as they passed. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
    â€˜None.’ White foam had formed at the corners of his mouth, his eyes rolling and fluttering shut before he lurched back with a gasp. ‘And. No. Money.’
    Raj glanced back at his car. ‘I’ll be back,’ he told the man, dodging the traffic back to his family, knocking urgently on his wife’s window.
    â€˜What are you doing?’ Her relaxed disposition from the afternoon was slowly fading.
    â€˜We have to take him to the hospital.’
    â€˜No, we don’t,’ she replied. ‘Just get back in the car. It’s getting late.’
    Raj didn’t have time for an argument. Sticking his hand inside the window he unlocked the door and ushered Pooja out. ‘Get in the back, quickly. I’ll go and get him.’ He gestured for Jai to help him.
    Pooja shouted after them, the light-headedness