-A Lucky Fish-

"Tisha, I am unwell. I will stay in the room from now on. I will use the bathroom in this room. You will prepare meals and slide them through the flap in the door of my room. You will never enter this room. You won't step out of the house either. You have to promise, Tisha. Serve my food in the extra newspapers in that box at the corner. Once the cutlery comes in the room, it won't be coming out. So make sure you send cutlery only when necessary."

"But Ma, what's wrong?"

"I've been tested positive for the virus."

"But then you should be at the hospital!"

"They charge too much for critical patients. Besides, the hospitals are overflowing with others."

"Okay Ma."

"I'll be better soon Tisha. I will try to recover. For you..."

"And Ma?"

"Yes Tisha?"

"What about the groceries?"

"There is enough grain and spice in the back for the two of us. It will last for days. I'll get better before it's consumed."

"But what happens when you get better? We don't have any money in the house! And will Mrs. Iyyer hire you again? You said that nobody is hiring maids during the lockdown. What will happen to us?"

"Don't worry my child. I will find work soon."

"Goodbye Ma."

"Goodbye Tisha."

-X-

Ever since Ma locked herself in the room, the house has been eerily silent. There is no laughing in the house anymore. I miss the way Ma danced and sang as she cooked. I, however, have a hard time reaching the stove itself, but I manage. Before I lay my tattered sheets on the ground to go to sleep, Ma tells me stories from her youth from inside her room. Her voice is the reason I fight harder every day. It is the soft, peaceful sound that lulls me to sleep. It makes me forget the aching in my feet. At times, Ma's hacking cough and terrible retching sounds jolt me awake in the middle of the night. I heat up some water on the stove. Adding some spice in it, I pray that it helps Ma's cough as I slide it through her door. Our house isn't much. It has one bedroom, two bathrooms and a kitchen. The front door of the house leads right into the kitchen. The kitchen leads to another door- Ma's door. One of the bathrooms is adjacent to Ma's door while the other one is inside the room.

-X-

"Ma, are you alright?"

"Yes child."

"Ma, your voice doesn't sound right!"

"I'm okay, Tisha. Don't worry."

"But Ma-,"

"How about I tell you a story of how I escaped my father's wrath by climbing a tree back in the day?"

"Yes, yes! Please!"

"One day, my mother requested me to wake my father from his deep afternoon slumber..."

-X-

"I hope you get better soon, Ma."

"I love you too, Tisha."

-X-

Oh, how I long for my mother! One last word, one last touch, one last kiss! She doesn't speak at all now. I think her throat is hurting a lot. There's a pungent odor of decay emerging from the flap of ma's door and I get a distinct impression that she isn't eating well either. She must be keeping the leftovers inside the room itself. I am running out of cutlery now. The newspapers in the corner have been used up. The dishes and cups are disappearing quickly too. I walk to her door will a glass of warm water. When I push it through the flap, I notice the food I'd kept earlier had started rotting near it, untouched. I cry in dismay.