Page 67 - Till the Last Breath . . .

‘Hmmm.’ Her mom’s eyebrows knitted. Even though her daughter was to

be a doctor a few years from now, she never believed a word other doctors
said. She always viewed them with piercing suspicion.
‘We can hope for the best,’ Pihu assured her.

Her mom stayed quiet for a while. ‘I don’t know why God did this to us.
We have never cheated anybody. You have been such a good girl. I pray

every day. Then why us? Why my little daughter?’ she said and patted
Pihu’s head as she ate. Pihu tried hard not to cry. Seeing her mom’s tears

made her maddeningly sad. But she had asked these questions a million
times and had never got around to finding an answer. It was time to stop

asking.
‘Maa, I don’t want you to cry. If you cry, I will too,’ she said.
‘But I had so many dreams for you. Your wedding, your kids, my

grandchildren. What had we ever done to deserve this?’ her mom wailed
and rushed to the other room.

Pihu knew she would not come out of her room before she cursed God
countless times for their pain. But she would still pray, and light diyas and

incense sticks. She felt sorry for her mother. Though she wanted to hug her
and assure her, she wanted her mom to prepare for the worst. She

concentrated on the food instead. A little later, the bell rang and her father
brought in twenty more boxes of their stuff, which were unloaded in her
room. Her father paid the driver and he left.

‘Mom’s crying again,’ she said as her dad joined her at the table.
‘What else can she do?’ he asked.

Pihu served him. He had not been eating a lot those days. She dumped a
lot of rice and pulses on his plate. His attempts to stop her fell on deaf ears.

‘Eat. You need it,’ she commanded. ‘You’re under a lot of stress.’
‘And you?’

‘I am okay.’
‘Are you sure, beta?’
‘I will be fine. Plus, I have the best parents in the world to help me deal

with this.’ She put her hands around her father’s neck and kissed him lightly
on the cheek. Her father didn’t say anything. After they finished the food,