Unmarriageable(66)

‘She should try,’ Alys said. ‘She has a brain. And don’t tell me that, no matter what, it’s disrespectful to speak of one’s parents like this.’

Jena sighed. A sparrow hovered over one of the wrought-iron chairs. The sisters looked at it for a moment.

‘We are,’ Alys said, ‘a society teeming with Austen’s cruel Mrs Norrises, snobby looks-obsessed Sir Walters, and conniving John Thorpes and Lady Susans.’

‘The whole world is full of these types,’ Jena said.

‘Aren’t you sick of everything, Jena?’ Alys asked. ‘I’m sick of the hypocrisy and double standards. It’s like they break your legs, then give you a wheelchair, then expect you to be grateful for the wheelchair for the rest of your life. How can you trust anyone? How could anyone be happy with a Farhat Kaleen?’

‘Everyone’s standard of happiness is different,’ Jena said. ‘Sherry’s settling down and she’ll be well settled.’

‘Settling down. Well settled.’ Alys laughed derisively. ‘That’s the golden ticket.’

‘Can I tell you something?’

‘What?’

‘I keep thinking,’ Jena said, ‘that maybe if I’d worn something more flattering, something more alluring, he might have proposed.’

‘Oh please.’ Alys swallowed back tears. ‘Jena, it’s not even just the men. We dress to impress other women. Everything is a competition, and the reward is the other women’s envy. But Mummy is wrong about style and looks outweighing everything else. It doesn’t work that way. It can’t work that way. I won’t let it.’

‘Maybe it’s not my fault,’ Jena said. ‘If he was meant to get engaged to Jujeena Darsee—’

‘Of course it’s not your fault. And I’ll bet Bungles has no idea he’s engaged to Jujeena Darsee.’

‘Alys, stop it,’ Jena said. ‘His sisters were very clear that he and Jujeena Darsee are to be engaged.’

‘His sisters!’ Alys stabbed apart the baklava layers. ‘Hammy wishes Bungles and Jujeena would get married. She thinks that will lead to Darsee marrying her.’

‘Alys, it makes complete sense to me that Hammy and Sammy would choose Jujeena Darsee for their sister-in-law. They’ve known her for a long time, and Bungles must want it too, for no grown man allows his sisters to impose their will on him. I was simply mistaken in his intentions. He thought of me as a good friend and that was all.’

‘You sound like a film star denying a love affair. “We’re good friends only, blah blah blah.”’

‘I’d rather have mistaken his level of interest,’ Jena said, ‘than think he or his sisters are deceitful. Just let’s change the subject.’ Moments later she said, ‘And, anyway, why would Hammy and Sammy try to sabotage their own brother’s happiness?’

‘Because,’ Alys said, ‘their own happiness is more important to them than his. They are selfish sisters, selfish girls, who manipulate their brother without any qualms. They hide their ugly hearts behind dressing well, and so manage to fool people like our mother, who believes clothes-style-accessories-grooming reflects character. Hammy and Sammy think we are beneath them and so couldn’t care less how much their brother likes you. And he does like you. Very much.’

‘If he liked me that much, he’d call me. He’d show up. He—’

‘I’ll bet he wants to, but his dragon sisters and Dracula—’

‘Have they tied him up and gagged him? He’s not a puppet.’

‘The problem is that he trusts that they have his best interest at heart. No one wants to believe that relatives and friends can betray them for their own selfish reasons.’

‘I’m sure Aunty Tinkle said something to them about us,’ Jena said, ‘and you know how crucial good reputations—’

‘Stop,’ Alys said. ‘If you truly love and like someone, then nothing you hear about them should matter. Bungles is weak willed.’

‘Don’t say that.’ Jena pushed away her cappuccino.

‘Okay. And Sherry and I were going to spend our old age together, by a seaside, eating scones and samosas, two bachelorettes bingeing on the sunset forever.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Jena said with a wan smile. ‘Who eats scones and samosas at the same time?’

Alys grabbed Jena’s hand. ‘You’ll be all right. You’ll be perfectly all right and Bungles will be a footnote of a funny story.’

‘Maybe I should have cracked some jokes?’ Jena said, sadness settling on her face. ‘I was just being myself. I would be reserved with any man who showed interest in me. At least I didn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing I was in love with him. But should I have? A little bit?’

Jena’s eyes filled with tears. She laid her head on the table. Alys stroked Jena’s hair, and by and by Jena dried her eyes and they sat together as long as they could, until it was time to return home.



A week later, Falak and Nona arrived with tranquillisers Nisar had sent for his sister. Mrs Binat gave them an earful concerning Sherry. ‘Kitni chalaak nikli – what a schemer she turned out to be.’ ‘Aastheen ka saanp, a snake in our backyard.’ ‘Budhi ghodi lal lagam, an old mare dressed in youngster’s red.’ She was supposed to have made Alys marry him, instead she married him herself! Then Mrs Binat began on Alys yet again. Jena was obviously suffering from someone’s evil eye, which had prevented Bungles from performing as expected, but Alys had let an already netted fish escape. Kaleen should have been theirs. Instead, he now belonged to the Loocluses. Pinkie 0, Bobia 1.