The God of Small Things - Get a Free Blog

She put the pen back into the pen-loop and shut the diary.
She took off her glasses, dislodged her dentures with her tongue,
severing the strands of saliva that attached them to her gums like
the sagging strings of a harp, and dropped them into a glass of
Listerine. They sank to the bottom and sent up little bubbles, like
prayers. Her nightcap. A clenched-smile soda. Tangy teeth in the
morning.
Baby Kochamma settled back on her pillow and waited to
hear Rahel come out of Estha‟s room. They had begun to make her
uneasy, both of them. A few mornings ago she had opened her
window (for a Breath of Fresh Air) and caught them red-handed in
the act of Returning From Somewhere. Clearly they had spent the
whole night out. Together. Where could they have been? What and
how much did they remember? When would they leave? What
were they doing, sitting together in the dark for so long? She fell
asleep propped up against her pillows, thinking that perhaps, over
the sound of the rain and the television, she hadn‟t heard Estha‟s
door open. That Rahel had gone to bed long ago. She hadn‟t.
Rahel was lying on Estha‟s bed. She looked thinner lying
down. Younger. Smaller. Her face was turned towards the window
beside the bed. Slanting rain hit the bars of the window-grill and
shattered into a line spray over her face and her smooth bare arm.
Her soft, sleeveless T-shirt was a glowing yellow in the dark. The
bottom half of her, in blue jeans, melted into the darkness.
It was a little cold. A little wet. A little quiet. The Air.
But what was there to say?
From where he sat, at the end of the bed, Estha, without
turning his head, could see her. Faintly outlined. The sharp line of
her jaw. Her collarbones like wings that spread from the base of
her throat to the ends of her shoulders. A bird held down by skin.
She turned her head and looked at him. He sat very straight.
Waiting for the inspection. He had finished the ironing.
She was lovely to him. Her hair. Her cheeks. Her small,
cleverlooking hands.
His sister.