Half Girlfriend

choosing my words with care, afraid she would withdraw.
‘Soon. Let me move into mine first,’ she said.
‘I’m staying back tomorrow, to help you move in.’
‘You don’t have to. I hardly have any luggage.’
‘Exactly. You need to buy things. The shopkeepers will rip you off.
I’ll come with you, okay?’
‘Thanks,’ she said. I guess that meant yes.
We reached the ghats. I clasped her hand and held it until we got
off the plank on to firm ground.The old me would have asked her if
holding hands meant something. But the old me had screwed up big
time in the past. So I decided to ‘play it cool’.
We took an auto back from the ghats. I talked about the furniture
market near Nala Road, places to buy mattresses and the cheapest
vegetable markets. Of course, these stupid topics meant nothing
compared to the monumental development of her sliding two fingers
on top of mine.
We reached her hotel. She stepped off the auto.
‘Eleven tomorrow?’ I said.
‘Yes, thank you so much. And I loved the river-ride today.’
‘Which part?’ I asked and kicked myself mentally. Did I come
gums as fishing? Did it set off the ‘desperate’ alarm?
‘Everything,’ she said.
Miss Diplomatic Somani is not that easy a nut to crack, after all.