In the bathroom, Sonya nudges Trisha away from the sink. “This is spooky.” She spits out her toothpaste and gargles with the mouthwash. “Are we going to see dead people?”
“Yes. A bunch of dead people are going to come and dance around you. They’re going to get closer until they grab you and you’re gone. Poof,” Trisha teases.
“We’re not going to see dead people.” Marin buttons her pajamas as she enters the bathroom. “It’s tradition. Mummy’s family did it when she got married and now we do it.”
“But why?” Her fear obvious, Sonya inches closer to Marin.
“It’s honoring them. Saying we wish they were here.” Marin turns to Trisha. “You need to be nicer to her.”
“She’s a baby.”
“Yeah, our baby sister. You have to take care of her after I’m gone, OK?” A desperate plea for even an insincere acquiescence. Whenever Sonya was ill, Marin had been pulled from her junior-high classes. The nursery school would call to say Sonya had vomited again. Marin would wait in the principal’s office, her arms resting on a stack of her assignments for the rest of the day. Her father would summon her with a honk from the parking lot, the used, pea-green station wagon coughing as it waited. The office secretary offered a small wave each time, a smile to conceal her sympathy.
“Whatever. Anyway, you’re coming back all the time. Right?” The first vulnerability Trisha has shown, Marin thinks. “Things won’t change?”
“It’s a little far for that. It’ll be hard to come all the time.”
“Why do you have to go live with him? Why can’t he live here?” Sonya demands. Their bravado gone, they stare at Marin.
“Those are the rules.”
“Whose rules?”
“I don’t know,” Marin snaps. “Daddy found someone for me to marry, and I’m marrying him.”
“You don’t even know him,” Trisha reminds her.
“I met him when we got engaged.”
“He could have the cooties,” Sonya interjects.
“Sonya, you’re too old to think cooties are real.”
“He could have AIDS.” Trisha starts to brush out her hair. “In science, we just learned that India has the fastest-spreading rate of it. He’s from there. He could have it.”
“Trisha, we’re from there too. And we don’t have it, do we?”
“I’m just saying. You should ask him.”
“I’ll ask him after the wedding.”
“That’ll be too late. You get it from sex.”
“Gross.” Sonya’s eyes widen. “I know about sex. It’s this.” She makes a circle with one hand and uses her finger to go in and out.
Marin smacks her hand gently. “Don’t do that again.”
“Why don’t you call and ask him?” Trisha admires herself in the mirror. “If he has it, then you don’t have to marry him.”
“I’m not allowed to call him.” Marin looks away.
“I don’t want you to go,” both Sonya and Trisha say at the same time.
Marin’s eyes shut as she pulls both sisters in tight, her childlike arms around their young bodies. “I know.”
RANEE
She wakes at the first sign of light, which slips through the curtains, teasing her like a gentle feather. Though only a sliver, it brightens the room. A reminder that no matter how much she welcomes the quiet of the night, the day will always follow. Today feels different. She lies still in bed, listening for the reason why. Yet again, she reminds herself that he is not in the house, waiting for her. Her mornings always started with dread. Sure that no matter what time she awoke it was still too late. He always seemed to be up a few minutes before her, angry that his breakfast was not ready.