Joy

Prompt: Joy |  Genre: Memoir |  Word count: 1500 words

Joy loved dinners. Dinners and power cuts.

Joy was not supposed to go out after seven. Seven was the time when the sun would go down and all the other kids would go home. It was also the time cheta* would come and call her home. Joy loved to pretend she didn’t want to come. Because when she pretended, cheta would come and pick her up in his arms, and they’d play tug all the way home. That was fun.

Like the shadow game Dadda played. Whenever it used to rain very, very loud—that she couldn’t see Julie’s house two blocks away, and there would be scary, exciting lights in the sky that would clap so hard she had to close her ears—there would be a power cut. Mamma would then take out all the candles and there they would sit in their living room waiting for the lights to come back. And Dadda would make shadows dance on the walls; sometimes a deer, sometimes a dog, sometimes a bird. And Joy would run around trying to catch them all.

Joy loved the rain. Not the slow, drip-drip ones but the hard, thick rain that would hit her face and soak her clothes in an instant; the ones that would gush down so eagerly, she would run to catch all the drops and hop happily in the puddles.

But most of all, she loved the sea. With its waves playing hide-and-seek—up and down, up and down, come and go, come and go—and Joy running back and forth. Dadda would take cheta and her into the sea, in turns, till the water would reach their chins, and there they would pretend to swim while Dadda held them tight by their tummies.

When dinner came, the entire family would sit at the dining table, and talk. Dadda would make jokes and Mamma would talk about how the day went, and cheta would just sit quietly and eat, and Joy would tell all about Julie and Joy’s adventures.

Ok, maybe not all of their adventures. Like the time they went behind the school building, and found a strange man with a large broom, and they got so scared they ran like the wind. Or the time they broke the rule to step outside the street and cycled all the way to Prachi’s house. Or when she beat up the street bully after the girl had tried to act too smart with Julie. The girl ended up at Joy’s doorstep with her mom, bawling her eyes out. But Julie told the truth and Mamma sent them off packing.

Or the time they decided to come home from school…. walking. Their school was far, far away. But they had a plan, and they were feeling very brave. They filled their water bottles, and hid from the bus uncle who had been bringing them to and back from school since they were little. When the bus moved out of the school gate, they started walking. They walked, and walked, and walked some more. The road was hot, and suddenly very empty. But their houses were still very far, far away even though they reached the main road leading out of their school. Their water, by then, was over and they were not feeling so brave anymore.

So when they saw a Cross by the road, they sat under it and prayed. They say God hears little children. Maybe it’s true. Because shortly after, a man in a rickshaw, who knew them and their mothers, saw them crying and brought them home. They both got a good spanking that day—Joy more than Julie because she was the brains behind the ‘adventure’—but she didn’t mind at all. She was home and she was safe.

To try a different adventure another day.

But one of her greatest adventures took place when she didn’t even know what the word meant.

Joy was four. She was a big girl now. It was time for her to swim on her own… in the sea she loved so much. Only, she didn’t know how.

Until, one day, Dadda revealed the secret to her. Fish.

Joy hated eating fish. Their bones would always get stuck in her throat, no matter how small. She would gulp a ball of rice or a big slice of banana, sometimes even both… but still the bone would stay. Mamma would then have to put her hand in and pull the bone out. Once, the bone was so big, Joy’s throat bled. Since then, she stopped eating fish.

But Dadda told her that if she wanted to learn how to swim, she needed to eat fish… at least two pieces a day. Joy didn’t believe Dadda at first. He always made jokes. But this time he looked so serious. Dadda knows about everything. Joy trusted him with her life.

Literally.

But that’s going too far ahead in the story.

Joy ate her two pieces, every day. Like a bitter medicine, she gulped them down, praying the bones won’t get stuck. After a month of sheer dedication, she felt she was ready. It was the day Dadda took them to the beach.

Off they went in their car to the beach near their house. Joy was very excited.

When they reached the beach and got in their swimwear—which was nothing but their underwear—Dadda took them into the water, in turns. But Joy wanted none of it. Besides, she knew how to swim now. She had been eating her fish, after all.

So when Dadda held cheta’s hand and walked towards the sea, Joy followed. Mamma was talking to a friend who had come along. Dadda was looking ahead. Joy, a full three feet tall, stayed right behind Dadda’s back so he couldn’t see her. He obviously wouldn’t have let her swim on her own, even though she knew how.

That’s what made her so mad sometimes. Just because she was small, they would sometimes not let her do things. Like go beyond the street they lived in. Or drive the car. Or swim in the sea. They’d tell her to wait till she grew up. But she had grown up. Her clothes from last year no longer fit.

So off she went, tiptoeing behind Dadda.

She could feel her heart thudding, in time with the water lapping against her… thud, thud, thud, whoosh… thud, thud, thud, whoosh…

The sand under her feet was soft; she could feel it squish and ooze between her toes. The waves bobbed up and down, and she felt herself grow lighter and lighter, bobbing up and down more and more, the deeper she went. And deep she went, the cold water licking her legs, then her thighs, her waist, and finally her chest.

Wow, this was better than what she’d expected! She was already swimming so well. But she knew her greatest test would be when she got off her feet. If she could manage that, she would prove to everyone, including herself, she had finally learned how to swim.

Almost in answer, she saw a huge wave, gathering its folds to loom over her like a tower of frothy glass. Joy braced herself. This was her moment. This was her test. This was her walk through fire, or water, that would prove once and for all if her fish diet worked.

The tower of froth bore down upon her. She could almost feel that it recognised her as the child who played hide-and-seek with it.

No, that’s not true.

She didn’t really have time to imagine all that. One moment the tower was standing tall before her, the next it tumbled straight on her head.

Joy went down. Her feet were off the sandy ground. She couldn’t see a thing in the murky, salty water. All she could feel was that she was floating, her legs dangling awkwardly, her hands frantically searching for something solid to hold onto. A feeling that would continue to haunt her forever.

She came up once.

She could see Dadda. But his back was facing her. Before she could form a sound to call him, she went down again.

You’d think the first emotion anyone who is drowning would feel is fear.

For Joy, it was confusion: ‘I ate fish! How come I still don’t know how to swim?!’.

Her confusion turned to disappointment: ‘I ate all that fish for this?!

And finally, fear: ‘What if he never realises I’m here?’

All in a space of 3 seconds.

Before she could think anything else,  she came up a second time.

This time she saw Dadda walk towards her. She felt hope, but then she went down again.

Joy started to panic when she felt it; a hand pulling her up and hoisting her on his shoulders.

As Dadda took her back to the shore, Joy learned one very important life lesson: Fathers don’t know everything. You can’t learn to swim eating fish.

*Cheta = honorific for elder brother in Malayalam, a regional Indian language