Poetic Sensibility

32 - Permissions And Conditions

        Kiara tentatively knocked on her mother's door, afraid that she would be asleep. She sighed in relief when her mother asked her to enter. She was all cuddled up under the duvet. As Kiara entered, her mother sat up on the bed and patted her lap. Kiara grinned as she dived under the covers and rested her head in her mother's lap. This had to be her favorite mummy-cuddle position. As her mother began to stroke her hair, Kiara decided to broach the trip topic.

"So maa, there is something I need to ask of you," Kiara began.

Her mum continued stroking her hair, which was very comforting and said, "Go on."

        For the first time, Kiara felt nervous when it came to her own mother. Her mother had always been her go-to person. They had never had any feuds and she always joked that Kiara was a model child and they had a running wager that there would be a major disagreement between the two by the time she was twenty five years old. Well, that's 2 more years to go. Kiara really hoped that today was not the day when she would lose that wager.

"The people from my poetry group are planning a 14 day trip to Paris. Do you think I can go for it?"

        Kiara's mother immediately straightened. Not a good sign. Kiara sat up and looked at her, sending silent pleas with her light coloured eyes. Her mother always talked about how Kiara's eyes were so honest and intense. She was fervently hoping for that to be true. If she could only make her eyes bigger and gooey.

"Is Sarah coming?" she asked.

Uh oh. "No. Sarah has a project that she needs to work on so she can't make it."

        Kiara sounded pretty deflated. Now that her mother knew Sarah wasn't coming, there was no way she was going to allow her to go. And it had taken so much courage to tell the group that she'd be coming.

"O....kay. Who is going then?"

"Well, the person who hosts these sessions, Sarah's friend Romi. Then Sarah's other friend Samay and Romi's friend Keshav and Rishi."

It was at that last name that her mother's eyebrows shot up. "Rishi is going to be there too?"

"Mm hmm," Kiara replied, nodding.

"Alright. You can go," her mother replied, giving her a big smile. Kiara gave a whoop. And she never whooped. "But before that, I want to meet everybody who is going. And do ask Rishi over for dinner. I like that boy."

Kiara almost added, yeah, me too. But then she checked herself and hugged her mom. She had never been much of a hugger, just a cuddler, so this definitely surprised her mother. Pleasantly so. She then hopped off to her room and typed an e-mail to Romi who had requested a comprehensive list of all the things she wanted to see in Paris so they could start building up an itinerary. She wanted to participate in that too but she would suggest that to Romi when they met at this weekend's session.

Hey, so my mother agreed! Here's a list of the things I want to see in Paris. They are listed with the top priority ones on top and so on. It's okay if we miss a couple. Let me know if you need me to do some leg work or research for the trip.

1) Eiffel Tower

2) Catacombs

3) Notre Dame

4) The Louvre (specifically the Egyptian section)

5) Love locks bridge

6) Ecole Militaire

7) Les Invalides (Napoleon's tomb)

8) Versailles

I'm sure that most of these will correspond with your list. If there is an issue or a query, let me know!

        Kiara fired off the e-mail and immediately flipped out her mobile phone to call up Rishi who answered on the second ring.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I need you to come over for dinner tomorrow," Kiara said quickly. She couldn't believe she had just gone and said that outright. The idea of going on the trip was far too exciting to feel nervous and self deprecating right now.

"Umm.. okay. Why?" he asked.

"Because I just asked mum if I could go to Paris and she agreed. And then she suggested that I extend a dinner invitation to you."

"Oh that's nice. I mean it's not like you really want me there or anything," Rishi replied sarcastically.

Kiara could feel her face go red. "No no, I do. It's just that I don't want to do anything to botch this whole trip thing up. So it'll be nice if you join us tomorrow. I do enjoy your company." Oh dear, please please please let him agree.

"On one condition," he replied, and she could almost hear the amusement in his voice.

"Which is...?" she asked warily.

He hesitated before speaking. "You will show me at least one of your sketches and one of your poems from your notebook," he answered.

        Kiara knew which notebook he was referring to. A part of her was miffed and wanted to hang up right away. But she couldn't. It wasn't like Rishi was asking her to be his slave. And she really did want to go to Paris. But all those sketches and poems were so private. They were a part of her and she didn't really want anyone prying into that. Oh but it was just one sketch and one poem. She could chose which ones. Rishi cleared his throat on the phone as he waited for answer. He probably knew she was thinking about his condition which only served to frighten her. He could read her so easily.

"Alright," she finally said.

"Great!" Rishi replied. "I'll see you tomorrow. Should I bring anything?"

"Just yourself," Kiara replied. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Kiara then dashed to her shelf and plucked out her notebook. She had to figure out what to show him. It was going to be a long, long night.