“Can I have it now?” chorused the children.
“Rustom Uncle has yet to go and get it,” said Dina. “We don’t have an icebox like yours to store it. Here, have this for the time being,” and she popped sugar crystals in their mouths from the ceremonial tray of garlands and coconuts.
Later, while she cleared the table with Ruby helping, Rustom decided it was time to go for the Kwality Family Pack. “In case they don’t have strawberry, which one — chocolate or vanilla?”
“Chocolate,” said Xerxes.
“Lanilla,” said Zarir, and everyone laughed.
“Lanilla!” teased Rustom. “You always have to be different, don’t you?”
“I wonder from where he got the trait,” said Nusswan. “Certainly not his father,” and they all laughed again. He seized the opportunity to add, “But what about you two, Rustom? Time to start a family, I think. Three years is long enough for a holiday.”
Rustom only smiled, not wanting to encourage a discussion. He opened the door to leave, and Nusswan jumped up. “Shall I give you company?”
“Oh no, just relax, you’re the guest. Besides, if we walk, it will take too long. Alone, I can go on my cycle, return in ten minutes.”
Dina set out clean plates and spoons for the ice cream, and put the kettle on. “The tea should be nice and ready by the time he is back.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were still waiting. “Where can he be? The tea is getting so strong. Maybe you two should drink yours now.”
“No, we’ll wait for Rustom,” said Ruby.
“There must be a big rush or something at the ice-cream shop,” said Nusswan.
Dina boiled a second kettleful to dilute the infusion. She returned the pot under the tea-cosy. “Forty-five minutes since he left.”
“Maybe it was sold out at the first place,” said Nusswan. “Strawberry is very popular, always out of stock. Maybe he went somewhere else, further away.”
“He wouldn’t, he knows I would worry.”
“Maybe he got a puncture,” said Ruby.
“Even walking back with a puncture would take only twenty minutes.”
She went to the verandah to see if she could spot him pedalling in the distance. It reminded her of the nights when they would part after the concert recitals, and she would be on the upper deck of the bus, trying to keep his disappearing bicycle in sight.
The memory made her smile, but it quickly faded under the present anxiety. “I think I’ll go and see what’s the matter.”
“No, I’ll go,” offered Nusswan.
“But you don’t know where the shop is, or the road Rustom would take. You might miss each other.”
In the end they both went. Seeing how tense Dina was, he kept repeating, “Has to be a perfectly simple explanation.” She nodded, walking faster. He had to make an effort to keep up.
It was after nine, and the streets were quiet. In the lane at the end of which stood the ice-cream shop, a knot of people had gathered by the footpath. As they got closer, Nusswan and Dina noticed that the police were also present.
“Wonder what’s going on,” said Nusswan, trying to conceal his alarm.
Dina was the first to spot the bicycle. “It’s Rustom’s,” she said. Her voice had turned into a stranger’s, sounding unfamiliar to her own ears.
“Are you sure?” He knew she was. The bicycle was mangled but the saddle was whole. He pushed his way through the crowd towards the policemen. A roaring storm filled her ears, and their words reached her feebly, as though from a great distance.
“A bastard lorry driver,” said the sub-inspector. “Hit and run. No chance for the poor man, I think. Head completely crushed. But ambulance has taken him to hospital anyway.”
A stray dog lapped at the thick pink puddle near the bicycle. Strawberry ice cream was in stock, thought Dina numbly. A policeman kicked the sand-coloured mongrel. It yelped and retreated, then returned for more. When he kicked it again, she screamed.
“Stop that! What harm is it doing to you? Let it eat!”
Startled, the policeman said “Yes madam” and stepped back. The dog slurped hungrily, whimpering with pleasure while keeping a wary eye on the man’s foot.
Nusswan obtained the name of the hospital. The sub-inspector took his address, and asked Dina, who was staring at the twisted bicycle, for hers. The bicycle would be retained as evidence for the time being — in case the lorry driver was found, he explained gently. He offered to give them a lift to the hospital.
“Thank you,” said Nusswan. “But they will be wondering at home what happened.”
“It’s okay, I’ll send a constable to say not to worry, there’s been an accident and you are at the hospital,” said the sub-inspector. “Then you can explain everything later.”
Thanks to the sub-inspector’s help, procedures were expedited at the hospital, and Nusswan and Dina were able to leave quickly. “Let’s take a taxi,” said Nusswan.
“No, I want to walk.”
By the time they reached home, the tears were silently streaming down her cheeks. Nusswan held her and stroked her head. “My poor sister,” he whispered. “My poor little sister. I wish I could bring him back for you. Cry now, it’s all right, cry all you need to.” He wept a little himself as he told Ruby about the accident, in whispers.
“Oh God!” sobbed Ruby. “What is the meaning of such misfortune! In a few minutes, Dina’s whole world destroyed! How can it be? Why does He allow such things?” She composed herself before waking the children, while Dina went to change out of her blue frock.
“Can we eat the strawberry ice cream now?” asked Xerxes and Zarir sleepily.
“Rustom Uncle is not well, we have to go home,” said Ruby, deciding it was better to explain gradually.
Dina soon emerged from her room, and Nusswan went to her side. “You must also come home with us, you cannot stay here alone.”
“Of course, absolutely,” said Ruby, taking her hand and squeezing it.
Nodding, Dina went to the kitchen and began making a package of the leftover pulao-dal. Ruby watched curiously, half-fearfully, before asking, “Can I help?”
Dina shook her head. “No sense wasting this food. On our way home, we can give it to a beggar at the corner.”
Later, Nusswan would say to whomever he was recounting the events that he was really impressed with the dignified way his sister had behaved on that cruel night. “No wailing, no beating the chest or tearing the hair like you might expect from a woman who had suffered such a shock, such a loss.” But he also remembered their mother’s dignity on a similar occasion, and the disintegration that had followed in its wake. He hoped Dina would not follow the same pattern.
Dina packed her valise with a white sari and other things she would need for the next few days. It was the same one she had brought with her three years ago on her wedding night.
After the funeral and four days of prayers, Dina prepared to return to her flat. “What’s the rush?” said Nusswan. “Stay here a little longer.”
“Of course,” said Ruby. “Here you are with family. What will you do there all alone?”
Dina wavered easily, for she did not feel ready to go back. The most difficult hours were the ones before dawn. She slept with one arm over a pillow. Sometimes she nudged the pillow lightly with her elbow, her signal to Rustom that she wanted his arm around her. When the human weight did not materialize, she awakened to emptiness, relearning the loss in the darkness before sunrise. Occasionally, she called out his name, and Ruby or Nusswan, if they heard her, came into the room and held her tight, stroking her hair.
“It’s not as though you are going to be a burden on us by staying,” said Nusswan. “In fact, you will be company for Ruby.”
So Dina stayed. Word got about that she was temporarily at her brother’s place, and a stream of relatives
