Unmarriageable(74)

Alys, however, was not as forthcoming as Kaleen would have preferred. He did not like her tone at all when she said, ‘Beena dey Bagh certainly enjoys praise and compliments.’

‘Why shouldn’t she?’ he snapped, thanking his lucky stars yet again that he’d avoided marrying her, and he took over the exaltations until they were parked in his driveway.

Once Sherry settled everyone in for the night, she tiptoed to Alys’s bedroom. Alys opened the door, her smile matching Sherry’s. Sherry went straight to the almirah and extracted a pack of cigarettes from under a pile of spare quilts.

‘This used to be Kaleen’s daughter’s bedroom before she returned to England, and now it’s my smoking room.’ Sherry opened up the pack. ‘It’s also the most remote room in the house, and I thought you’d like that.’

Alys cranked open the window. A heady scent of night-blooming jasmine wafted in. The two friends discussed Beena dey Bagh and Annie. Annie seemed a nice enough girl, they decided. Alys mentioned that Darsee would not be as miserable with her as she’d like him to be.

Alys informed Sherry about Wickaam and Miss Jahanara Ana Aan and assured her, as she had Nona, that she was quite the opposite of heartbroken. She entertained Sherry with tales from school and of Mrs Naheed constantly gloating about how Gin and Rum had both been proposed to on account of looking irresistible in their QaziKreations outfits.

‘I have a good mind,’ Alys said, ‘to tell her that maybe the proposals should be directed to the outfits. Anyway, Rose-Nama’s mother is still demanding that I apologise for saying the desire for sex can lead to early marriages. You know better than most, Sherry, that legal sex is a big reason people in Pakistan get married.’

Sherry told Alys that she was quite enjoying the conjugal duties of being Mrs Kaleen, even though they slept in separate bedrooms.

‘Kaleen snores like a truck, and apparently I snore too; thus he very shyly suggested that we should try separate rooms for sleeping purposes. I jumped on the offer. I’ve been sleeping alone for too many years to suddenly be comfortable with someone else in bed. Of course, I hop, skip, and jump to his bedroom for a visit when he asks, which is often, and I always return very satisfied. Since I don’t have anyone else to compare my husband to, I’m quite sure it’s as good as it can get. In fact, it is everything I’d dreamt of and more. I’m married, and yet I have my own space.’

‘I’m happy you are happy,’ Alys said simply.

‘And how is Jena? Better?’

‘Much better,’ Alys said.

‘My mother was saying the same thing.’ Sherry dropped her cigarette butt into a bottle with water. ‘Allah ka shukur hai, thanks be to God. I was worried about her. No man is worth losing one’s heart or one’s looks over, especially if one looks like Jena.’

‘A lot of good her looks have done her.’

‘Kismet,’ Sherry said. ‘Look at me.’

‘You’ve always sold yourself too short.’

‘Now that Kaleen has bought me, I quite realise my worth.’

‘Yuck,’ Alys said, smacking Sherry on the arm. ‘What a way to put it!’

Sherry opened the cabinet and took out a spray deodoriser. ‘This thing is so expensive. But I can afford it.’

‘Which reminds me,’ Alys said, ‘I would like to spend my morning in bed, lazing away, without being hauled off anywhere if that’s all right with you.’

‘Fine by me.’ Sherry showed Alys how to buzz through to the kitchen. ‘If your majesty wants tea, breakfast, et cetera, in bed.’

‘I want,’ Alys said.

‘Imagine,’ Sherry said. ‘This buzzer could have been yours, and I could have been visiting you.’

‘Be quiet,’ Alys said as she climbed into bed, ‘and goodnight and sweet dreams, before I remind you of my views on that.’





CHAPTER NINETEEN





The following week was spent sightseeing and picnicking at Faisal Mosque, Daman-e-Koh, Rawal Lake, and shopping in Jinnah Supermarket. During the evenings, they would gather around a TV drama or a romance or action film before bedtime. Alys and Sherry would catch a quick midnight smoke and chit-chat. Sherry hosted a luncheon for her new friends, who were the wives of Kaleen’s friends. They were nice enough women, interested in being skinny, holidays and shopping, throwing costume parties, outdoing each other through their children’s accomplishments, and bonding over the incompetence of their servants. When Alys teased her about her new best friends, Sherry was a good sport.

‘Rather happy dimwits than a cynical crab like you,’ Sherry said, smiling. ‘Anyway, I have my translation projects to keep my brain oiled and, honestly, Kaleen encourages me to buy all the books I want.’

That evening, when Alys made her routine phone call to Jena, she acknowledged that while Farhat Kaleen could be faulted for many a thing, being a miserly husband was not one of them, and both sisters were pleased for Sherry.

Alys sensed a returning melancholy in Jena’s voice. Nona confirmed that Jena was certainly less lively than she’d been the previous week, and Nona suspected the cause. Had Alys seen the current issue of Social Lights?

‘I recommend you suffer through this issue,’ Nona said. ‘Bungles, Hammy-Sammy, and gang are prominently featured.’