Pallavi's eyes fluttered open and the clock showed that it was 11 am. She tried closing her eyes again, but sleep could only give you company for so many hours. The door to her room was wide open and it disturbed her greatly.
"Get up, Pallavi. Get ready, we need to get the groceries today," her mom shouted from the kitchen.
"I don't want to go. Can't you go alone?" Pallavi mumbled, still lying on the bed.
Vijaya watched her daughter from the kitchen. Today she will get her out of the bed and out of the house. To hell with what the neighbors thought. Some fresh air would do good to Pallavi. She hadn't stepped out of the house once and had started to become lazier by the day. A few times she had reprimanded Pallavi, but her state of mind seemed to be sensitive and she had thought that perhaps it was best if she was a little easy on her daughter at this time. But with each passing day, she seemed to be getting duller. It had been already a week and there had been no communication from Prithvi or his family. Something was terribly wrong with what was happening. She had asked Pallavi if her in-laws were troubling her and she simply shook her head. With dreaded hesitation, she had also managed to ask if another woman was involved with Prithvi, and she again shook her head, though after some deliberation. When pressed for details, she would turn hostile and threaten that she would go away, look for a job and live on her own.
"Pallavi!" Vijaya shouted again from the kitchen grabbing tomatoes from the fridge.
"Oh, mom! Why are you always screaming?" Pallavi's voice startled Vijaya. She turned around and found Pallavi smiling behind her. Vijaya blinked her eyes a couple of times. "Can you make some coffee? I will go freshen up by then," Pallavi said cheerfully and disappeared into her room. Vijaya breathed in relief started making coffee. Finally, Pallavi seemed normal.
A few minutes later, mom and daughter sat on the couch and sipped on coffee. "There is a new store that opened nearby. The talk is that it has lots of new fashion salwars and sarees, and there is also a sale to welcome new customers. Shall we get some groceries and check out this store in the afternoon?" Vijaya asked.
Pallavi examined her nails while replying in a subdued voice, "Yes, sure."
The lady adjacent to their house on the left had settled on the terrace stairs as she peeled garlic while humming a song. Vijaya hoped that she wouldn't notice Pallavi getting into the car, but could that ever happen?
"Emma Pallavi? Eppudu vachev?" Pallavi? When did you come?
Pallavi turned to the lady and smiled. But before she could answer anything, Vijaya quickly chimed in, "She just came yesterday."
"Oh, really? I thought I saw her four days ago too," she said.
Vijaya started to reply but Pallavi nudged her and said, "Let's just go, mom."
Pallavi remained silent and grim for the next few minutes as the car made its way to the vegetable market. The days were getting hot, even though it was still March. Pallavi bought a chilled water bottle, drank half of it and gave the remaining to her mother. "It is getting so hot; every year the weather seems to get a little more worse!" Vijaya said grabbing the water.
She gulped down the water in no time, threw the bottle to her side and exhaled in relief. As they started walking again, Pallavi glanced back at her mother. "Why did you throw the bottle there? Right in the middle of the road!" Pallavi demanded.
"Aah, it's okay, Pallavi. Everyone does that." Pallavi glared at her mother, furious. She walked back angrily, picked up the bottle and walked back to her.
