Sam yelled up, “Ready.” Then he jogged down to stand with Meena and Wally.
One by one they descended the inside stairwell. Meena lifted the camera to her face to frame and take the photos. It was getting easier, as she rested the body of the camera on the cast and relied a lot more on her dominant hand to keep the camera in place, focus, and click.
Uma stepped out first. She wore a large, dark-brown rectangular box. It was glossy and covered her from neck to knees. Her face stuck out from a cutout at the top. Her arms and legs were clad in dark-brown fitted sleeves and tights. Her shoes were chunky and matched the rest of her. She stood to one side on the front stoop. Then Sabina came through. In the same costume but in all white. She stopped next to Uma. Then Tanvi floated down. The same but in pink. The three drew their arms down straight and moved to stand together so the edges of their boxes touched.
Sam laughed next to her, and the neighbors joined him in applause.
Meena leaned over and whispered, “I don’t get it.”
“Neapolitan ice cream,” Sam said.
Meena saw it and laughed.
“It’s candy time.” Tanvi held up her cauldron filled with treats.
The kids rushed past them to get their treats. Sam gave her a wave to prod her to the cider station he’d set up at the bottom of the steps. They went to work, pouring warm cider from the silver urn into paper cups for kids and their parents as they came and left with their goodies. Uma handed out full-size HERSHEY’S Bars. Sabina added little boxes of NILLA Wafers. Tanvi dropped in satchels full of strawberry STARBURSTs.
Meena took more photos. She waved a casual hello to the aunties’ husbands. She’d seen them in passing, and they’d waved, but she hadn’t formally met them. They weren’t in costume as they stood in the front yard and mingled with neighbors.
Through her lens, Meena saw the women chat with the kids as they handed out treats. They were in their element. They owned the stoop with their commanding presence. There was a bond among them in the way they stood together, as if they’d done this time and time again. And where had Neha fit in? Alongside them, adjacent, or in opposition? What Meena had learned of Neha so far didn’t seem to fit here.
She changed her focus to the miniature superheroes, animals, princesses, ballerinas, zombies, and athletes accompanied by a mix of costumed and noncostumed adults.
Before she outgrew trick-or-treating, Meena had gone around the neighborhood with her mom. Her favorite year was when she’d dressed as Wonder Woman, with her mom as Hippolyta. Her dad had stayed behind to hand out candy at their house. She’d held her mother’s hand as they went from door to door. Meena pushed back the memory. She forced herself to focus, as usual, on the images in her lens.
The urn was empty, the path strewn with ribbons and bows from costume malfunctions. The lively street was now muted as people on surrounding stoops began their cleanup efforts.
The uncles headed inside after bidding everyone good night. The aunties, their costumes discarded, sat wrapped in thick sweaters on the steps and munched on leftover candy and cookies. Meena was next to Sam on the stairs below with Wally sleeping between them. She stroked his fur as he snoozed. He’d had a blast running around the kids as far as the leash would allow. And he’d scored quite a few belly rubs and dog treats.
“Do you always wear a group costume?” Meena asked.
“Since we were little girls,” Tanvi said. “We’ve been condiments, Charlie’s Angels . . .”
“The Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus was fun.” Uma popped a cookie in her mouth.
“One year we were Amar, Akbar, and Anthony.” Sabina unwrapped a piece of candy.
“I don’t know who they are.” Meena scratched at the edge of the cast.
Sam shook his head. “She doesn’t watch movies.”
“That’s classic Bollywood,” Sabina said.
Tanvi patted Sabina’s shoulder. “We should have a movie night.”
“I’ll bring my DVD of Goldfinger,” Sam offered.
“No,” both Sabina and Uma were quick to reply.
Sam objected. “She’s never seen any Bond movies.”
Meena frowned. “That doesn’t sound like a movie I want to watch.”
He gave her an exaggerated hurt look. His bow tie had come loose and hung around his neck. A few curls were winning against whatever product he’d used to slick back his hair. Meena held up her camera. She wanted to capture him like this. Elegance undone.
In profile, he was accessibly handsome. She snapped a few pictures. There were crinkles on the side of his eye as if he laughed and smiled readily. He had a small dimple on the side of his chin. A faint scar next to it. He stared at her. Through the lens. And for a moment, she couldn’t look away. She saw the depth in his eyes. There was an abyss within him, if one was willing to search for it.
Uncomfortable, she lowered her camera.
“Sorry,” Meena said.
His eyes cleared to cover the depth. “I don’t mind modeling for you.” The uncomplicated casualness came over his face. “Vora. Sam Vora.”
“Your accent needs work, darling.” Tanvi spoke in a perfect upper-class British accent.
The aunties laughed.
To break the link between her and Sam, Meena stood and aimed her camera at the aunties. “I want to capture the aftermath.” Wally looked up to assure himself that everyone was still there, then flopped his head back down and closed his eyes.
“How did you decide who would be what flavor?” Meena asked.
“We figured it out during our planning meeting,” Tanvi said. “Sometimes it’s easy and we naturally fall into it. Like of course I’m Curly, Uma is Moe, and Sabina is Larry. It was like that this time.”
“Because my personality is dark.” Uma made an exaggerated frown.
“According to this one”—Sabina pointed to Uma—“the world is a terrible place, and we have to spend every waking hour making sure we remember.”
Uma nudged Tanvi’s shoulder. “And try to change it.”
“Sabina is very obviously vanilla,” Tanvi said.
“Boring,” Uma added. “Pristine. Clean. Pure.”