The Care

I had a mild headache from the sun. I went to town with azem and Dodo. I tried to get rest by sleeping but I just couldn’t sleep. I had finally fallen asleep for a while but I was awake before the headache was gone. So I took a paracetemol tablet and went back to bed. Karma was not home yet. It was 7pm. He went to watch football match.

I told them to have dinner—that I had to go to bed and I didn’t want to eat. I was in bed, splashed in tears. I was unhappy. I needed him home with me. But when I called him, he said that he was coming after having dinner at Gonpo’s house. I knew how long that meant.

I didn’t want my mother to see me crying but she came inside and she just wouldn’t let me go. She coaxed me into taking suja. So after blowing my nose several times, I got up and took suja and zaw. She sat beside and we talked. She poured her heart. I know how she feels, though she tries to be very strong.

So, we sat there…talking and remembering past. We didn’t speak it but we knew what both of us were thinking. We wanted to be home. A home we had once—where everything bloomed into flowers and there was not a pinch of wrong