She called Shoshanna from Kam’s house. She did this from time to time without too much guilt. Kam had suggested once in a fit of fellow feeling that she could use the phone, they had some international calling card which discounted calls mainly to call India, but the same scheme worked for Israel, too. She looked at her watch. It would be evening at home, everyone would be back.
‘Eema!’ said Shoshanna, picking up the phone on the second ring. ‘I have some news. It’s going to be a girl, so Dr Goldstein said. We found out a couple of days ago.’
Ariel leaned back against the kitchen counter.
It seemed only yesterday that Shosha had been a little girl herself. Ariel and the two younger children would go to the beach, five minutes away from the house; Ari was always off by himself even then. She would sit down under a beach umbrella, taking in the bright blue waters of the Mediterranean, the ceramic blue sky with its pattern of white cartoon clouds, like the newspaper weather icons, with their flat bottoms and curved tops. One day, when he was about ten, Meir had suddenly run down to the water, all flailing limbs and delighted screams. Shosha had chased him down and grabbed him. They had had a wonderful time jumping the small waves that teased the shore. Shosha never let go of her brother’s hand. When Ariel had gone down for a swim a while later, the waters had been warm and calm, as soothing as an old friend.
‘You’ll make a wonderful mother,’ she said. ‘I wish I could be there right now.’
‘You’ll come, won’t you, Eema?’ Shoshanna said.
‘Darling, of course, I’m going to be there for three months,’ she said. ‘I’ll come right before the baby is born, and stay on.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’d better go. Things to finish up here. I’ll call you next week.’
Tara was at the dining table with her laptop.
‘E-mail?’ Ariel said.
‘No, I’m trying to get some writing done.’
‘What type of writing?’ She began emptying the dishwasher and putting things back in various parts of the kitchen.
‘Primary school textbooks.’
‘All of Kamala’s family seems to be highly educated! Sounds interesting.’
‘Pretty boring, actually. At least, I’m sick of it, after all these years.’
‘All these years! Did you start when you were eighteen or what?’
‘No, no, no,’ Tara said, laughing. ‘I’m not that young, you know!’
‘Well, I’d better be getting on with stuff,’ she said.
‘Oh, Kamala left a note for you.’
Ariel went to look for it. It was in the usual place, on her employer’s desk. ‘Why are all my whites streaked with pink?’ it asked in Kamala’s doctor hand. One of Lavi’s socks must have got left behind. She decided to ignore it.
‘Some tea for you?’ She pulled out a teabag that she had brought from home, and boiled some water on the hob. She sat down at the other end of the dining table with her cup of tea and stared out across the back lawn. Tara clacked away at an even tempo, consulting her notes from time to time. There was a stillness about her, something pulled back in her eyes. As though she knew she was being observed, Tara looked up and smiled at her, her mind elsewhere.
‘Your tea smells good.’
‘Supposed to clear the mental fog.’
‘I could do with some mental clarity,’ Tara said.
Lavi walked into the dining room, made a face when she saw them at the dining table, and opened the fridge.
‘Hi, Lavi,’ Tara said.
‘Whatever,’ the girl muttered under her breath.
‘That’s no way to talk to your aunt,’ Ariel said.
Tara gestured to her to say it was all right. Lavi walked out without looking at them, soda in hand.
‘Don’t know what’s got into that girl!’ Ariel said.
‘Just teenage stuff, I guess. She must resent that someone she barely knows has come all this way to babysit her, as she thinks. ‘
‘She ought to be happy that she has an aunt who cares! I can’t abide these American teenagers and their ways! Now, Rahul, he’s a good kid. Well, see you next week,’ she said, getting up.
‘I’m off, travelling. I’ll see you when I’m back,’ Tara said.
Sluggy was at the door, whining, tail rotating. The garage door rumbled. She grabbed Sluggy to prevent him from rushing out, and opened the door. Ranjan’s car was halfway in. He waved and smiled at her.
‘Hello,’ she said, ‘sell a lot of America’s Native Spirit to the Europeans?’
‘It was a good trip, yes, thanks,’ he said, as the dog leapt up at him, whining, and whacking him with his tail. ‘Hey, Slugger, hey, boy, yes, I’m back, I know, I know.’
‘Okay, see you next week. Bye, guys,’ she said. As she drove away, the strong spring sunshine caught the bracelet she had on. It made her wrist seem as if it was bound in a circle of fire.