From Twinkle, With Love(71)

Dear Jane Campion,

Today I was moping around after school. Mummy was substitute teaching again (sometimes she likes to stay late to help grade tests) and Papa was at the youth home, where he’d be all weekend. I’d hidden in the library at lunch again and had pretty much avoided or been avoided by all the people I didn’t want to see. Once I caught sight of Sahil coming down the hallway and leaped into the janitor’s closet. Does that surprise you? I think it’s pretty clear by now that I don’t always make the best choices.

Anyway, I was sitting on the couch, watching some show about a police dog who was getting a medal for bravery (why does everyone else’s life have to be so full of colorful, interesting things?) when Dadi came to sit beside me. She just sat there and watched with me for a while, but I could tell from the way she kept shifting around and drumming her fingers on her sari-clad thigh that she was bubbling with something. There should’ve been steam coming out of her ears and nose like a pressure cooker.

Finally, during a commercial break, I muted the TV. “Kya hua, Dadi? I can tell you want to ask me something.”

“Beta,” she said. “I require your assistance in a most urgent task.”

Uh-oh. Dadi only talked like that, all formal and stuff, when she was cooking up some cockamamie plan that would usually end up with something valuable broken. (Once it was her little toe.)

“Uh-huh,” I said, waiting.

“Twinkle, Chandrashekhar has informed me that all is not well within your soul.”

I glanced at Oso, who side-eyed me suspiciously from his dog bed and then put his head back down with a snuffle.

“He did?”

“Yes. And I feel that in order for you to feel more peaceful, we must look into your future.”

I studied Dadi’s clear, eager eyes. “My future?”

“Yes. Perhaps if we find some answers, you’ll be able to rest more easily, hmm?”

“I guess. I mean, I do have Midsummer Night tomorrow, and …” I stopped before I could tell her the entire saga with Maddie and Sahil and everything. A girl needed to preserve some mystery, even from her omniscient Dadi.

“Exactly.” Dadi beamed, patted my thigh, and then stood. “Come on,” she said, bustling off.

With a sigh, I stood and followed her to her room.

Dadi’s laundry closet/room was just big enough for a cot and a table. On that table, I saw, was a gigantic wooden bowl full of water.

“Help me, beta,” she said, and then proceeded to lift the wooden bowl. It looked heavier than Dadi; I didn’t see this ending well. Between the two of us, we managed to lift the thing up and then Dadi began to guide me out into the hallway again.

“Where are we going?” I grunted, walking backward. My arm muscles were already aching with the effort of carrying the bowl and we’d gone maybe four steps. I should start doing push-ups in my room after school or something.

Dadi smiled. She looked like she was carrying a ball of cotton candy the way she was beaming. “Just to the kitchen table.”

Great. I tried to keep my face neutral as I walked down the hallway through the living room and to the kitchen, all backward. It was the first time I was happy we had such a tiny house.

I helped Dadi set the bowl on the table, and then we both sat in chairs across from each other. Oso took his spot by Dadi’s feet. I looked at her over the top of the bowl, massaging my biceps. “So, now what?”

Dadi reached for a small white candle and a box of matches, which she’d already set on the table. “Now we scry.” She held them out to me.

“Light it?” I asked, curious in spite of myself. Whatever you thought of Dadi’s “experiments,” they were never boring.

She nodded. I lit the match and it sizzled to life, the burnt sulfur smell singeing my nostrils. I lit the candle next; the flame danced in Dadi’s brown eyes. A twinging excitement worked its way into my belly. There was so much in my life I wanted to know the endings to right now.

“Now turn the candle sideways so the wick is directly above the water, beta. Then let the drops of wax fall into the water until you feel like stopping.”

“Okay.” Biting my lip, I pivoted the candle gingerly on its side and watched as one drop of wax after another plopped onto the surface. The wax hardened immediately, floating on the surface. I kept going until a big wax piece had coalesced in the center of the bowl. I blew out the candle and looked at Dadi.

She nodded, her face solemn. “Now, pick up that big chunk and look at it. Tell me what you see.”

I did as she asked, the cold water dripping off the tips of my fingers and running down my wrist. The wax was thin and cold, and I flipped it over and over in my hand, thinking. “It looks like an archipelago: lots of islands clustered together, almost holding hands.” I tilted my head and squinted. “And there’s a heart shape here in the center, but it’s got little fissures in it.” Looking back up at Dadi, I smiled, feeling a tad embarrassed. “How’d I do?”

Her answering smile was soft and loving. “Beautifully, munni. Just beautifully.”

I set the wax piece down carefully on the table and wiped my hands on my jeans. “So … what does it mean that I saw those things?” My heart pounded; I was more nervous than I had thought I’d be. I didn’t really believe that Dadi could see the future … but I didn’t really not believe it either.