Fiction - The Mythical Indian - Novel - BLG#6

Photo byPrad

I was thinking about a lot of things, what was going on with her was she comprehending what was going on with her?

“When are they releasing you, did they say anything?” I asked her

 “No, not yet, nothing till now”, she replied

I left her there, taking her drawing with me. Over my shoulder, I could see her looking at me till I passed that secure door.

Sachi was waiting outside. “So how was it. How is she doing. What did she say”. 

“It was good, she is doing better. She said she wants to come home too.” 

“I told her that she needs to demonstrate to them that she is doing better and has all the help that she needs”. 

“Did they say, when they will release her”? 

“No, she doesn’t know but she will find out from the doctor tomorrow”. 

“He is supposed to come and check her tomorrow morning”.

We left the facility and came home. 

The next day I was sitting in the bedroom. Sachi came over to me. She sat down next to me; I could sense that she was a little tense.

“What happened, are you ok, what is bothering you”. 

She pointed outside where Bihu was “she wants to go back to India. She cannot live without Akash”. 

“We had talked about this earlier that she can sponsor his visa and then get him here. What is the problem”. 

“She will continue sponsoring his visa but wants to go back to India and stay with him”.

“She will file his papers here through her lawyer and then go back. Her idea is that by that time she must come back to maintain her green card, and he will also get his visa”

“Sachi, do you realize how long it takes to get the visa. It is not a joke”. 

“They are mature people; they know what they are getting into”.

“Does Akash know about this”

“Yes, he does, I did talk to him earlier and he said the same thing that she cannot stay here without him”

“He said, Sachi Didi, I don’t want to ask you at this time but just as a favor to me, can you book her ticket and send her to India, I will deal with her when she is here”. 

“Every day we are fighting, I can’t handle it. She should come back”

Having stated her conversation Akash Sachi stopped and stared at me. 

“Please for the last time do it. I won’t ask you again for anything else. I am helpless and feel like I am getting squeezed in the middle”.

I searched for the tickets on the various sites and finally found an 1800-dollar, one-way ticket, 2 days from now, on “booking.com”. I booked it and gave the details to Sachi, to pass it to Bihu. 

“She is just trying to take advantage of you, and you are falling for it”.

“I know but what am I supposed to do”.

“She knows what we are going through and instead of offering us any help, she is coming up with all these things,” I said. “Don’t you see it. She knows we also need money for Patty’s medical payments and is still coming with new demands each day”.

“What is the urgency of going in two days? Does she not know that tickets purchased on short notice are more expensive” 

“She could have at least asked you to book the ticket for a day when it was least expensive”.

“When you are dependent on others, this is the least you can ask”

“I know, let’s just send her and be done with it. I don’t want to keep her here, any longer, I am also sick of her”, Sachi said. 

I shrugged my shoulders and, in a way, agreed with her. 

Both of us, Sachi and I dropped Bihu to the airport on Friday and were waiting for Sunday the day we were told that Patty will come home.

Finally, Sunday arrived. Sachi, Jag, and I went to the facility. We told the receptionist there that our daughter was getting released today and we had come there to pick her up. Some 20 minutes later Patty came out through the secure door holding a plastic bag and wheeling her bag behind her.

We hugged her and were overjoyed to see her. She was too “I can't wait to get back. I just put my clothes in this plastic bag, did not want to waste one more minute in this facility, than what was needed, in putting them in the bag”.

Chapter 3. Patty’s adjustments

Having brought Patty back home, obviously relieved I looked at her and said “Patty, you have been in the facility for 14 days.  I hope you will learn from this experience and find out ways to cope with your ups and downs”

“Life is beautiful, you need to be able to look at different ways for the things that are causing your anxiety”. 

“It is the next few years that are crucial. You have just 3 more months of school. College life is different, but you will enjoy it”. 

“There would be situations which will be stressful causing you anxiety. You would need to find a way to deal with them”.

“Think about this as being your new life, like you have been reborn today”. Somehow her note was still in my mind.

“Yes, papa I will try to fight things and find new ways to deal with problems”.

“I will probably want to rest tomorrow and will start school on Tuesday”. 

She restarted her school, unfortunately, the 14 days had made her skip a lot of work. She was behind in her assignments. This also started giving her anxiety. 

“Patty, you know two weeks is a long time and a lot of work would have been done in that time. Talk to your teachers and ask for additional time. I am sure they will understand”. 

The next day I got a call from Patty she was crying. “Papa I am at the nurse's office and the counselor is also with me, she wants to speak to you”.

“OK,” I said

“Hello, Mr. Parth, Patty had an exam today and was feeling a lot stressed about it, so she came over to the nurse's place”.

“How is she doing now”

“She is much better, but we wanted her to go home today instead of going back to the class”.

“OK, I will come over and pick her up”

“Call us, when you are here, and I will escort her outside, so you don’t have to sign in and come inside”.

I collected the keys to my car, put my wallet in my pocket, and took Imi with me to school. I called Patty and saw her coming after 5 min with her counselor. She sat and we came home. Imi was excited to see her but did not receive the same response from Patty.