Where are you?
At the beach.
Could you get undo from the bakery?
Is the bakery nearby?
She explained where it was…
20 minutes later….
Any luck?
I’m on my way to the bakery.
Oh, then don’t. I’m going to toast regular bread.
Wait, let me try and find the bakery.
Fine.
Another 20 minutes later I ring the doorbell.
Oh, you found the bakery! – she exclaims after seeing the udo in my hands. I smile in triumph & kept the bread in the kitchen.
Breakfast will be ready in two minutes, I heard her as I rushed to have a quick shower. When I got to the breakfast table, I saw eggs made in Bull’s-eye style and toasted regular bread.
No sign of the undo.
Bull’s eye is my favourite, she claimed happily eating away.
I’m more of an omelette guy, I say wearily. As a kid I often stained my clothes eating bulls eye. So not a bull’s eye fan.
We didn’t start the fire,
It was always burning….
We both agreed the song playing was a cover version of the original. I ate my bulls eye making sure not to spill, smudge or smear any on myself. And when I reached for the butter for my toast, she would end up taking it away to butter her own toast. It happened once, twice, & then I told her –
You are doing thos on purpose.
No I’m not, she laughed, smearing more butter on the already buttered up toast.
I want the undo, I laughed while not really wanting the toast.
Did you say thank you for the breakfast? She laughed, but really, wanting me to thank her. I did not.
The music changed – a Sinatra number.
I’m getting myself an undo, you can have yours later., she nodded to my statement with her mouth full as I went to the kitchen and came back with a single udo. While Sinatra played, we spoke about music, church dances & childhood uncles we liked growing up.
After breakfast, I read, she typed on her typewriter. I made two cups of filter coffee. She told me she won’t have it black. In another lifetime, I swore by black, but now I added milk for both of us.
As we sipped coffee, she showed me one of her poems about Hampi. I preferred her other works, but I didn’t tell her that. Instead I spoke of my plans once I got back home.
Her phone buzzed. She checked her message, then said.
I have to go do this thing & my friend S is giving me a lift to the place, she exclaimed and rushed to the shower.
15 minutes later, we left her house together. She, to her thing, me, back to my city. We hugged and left.
In the rickshaw I thought about the filter coffee sashay & 4 udos I had left back for her. The rickshaw sped away, to the train station where I left her and Goa behind.
A few days later, she did message, amongst other things she asked about the filter coffee. I pictured her listening to music, sipping coffee while buttering up undos. I smiled and let the image linger till it faded away taking its own sweet time.
appam stew n prawns patiyo 