Impossible to Forget

Chapter Two

I blinked rapidly, then squinted and tried to accustom my eyes to the bright light. Shading my face with one hand I scanned the crowd for someone who looked familiar. 

Before I left, my parents had shown me a picture of Mr. and Mrs.Vyas, so that I would know who to look for when I arrived. But so far, I hadn't spotted them. Of course, given the fact that it was extremely crowded and everyone around me had brown skin, black hair, and brown eyes, my task was just infinitesimally more difficult (please note the sarcasm).

I sighed. I had been inside an airport or on a flight for the last 24 hours and all I wanted was to take a bath and have a conversation with a decent human being. Was that too much to ask?

"Preeti?"

I turned, looking for the person calling me over the chatter of the crowd. When I spotted him I breathed a sigh of relief. Mr. and Mrs. Vyas looked just as they did in the picture. I recognized Mr. Vyas from his unruly curly hair, tall, thin frame, and crinkling eyes framed by round spectacles.

Right next to him stood his wife, a short but incredibly beautiful lady. Her green sari was elegantly draped across her shoulder and her long black hair was braided back with jasmine flowers. She smiled at me and held her arms out excitedly.

"Preeti! You are so grown up now! I haven't seen you since you were a little girl! How are your parents? I hear you have a little sister now. How old is she? What grade are you in? High school? My Ram is also a high schooler but he is one year senior to you I think."

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting so much energy to be packed into that petite frame of hers. She almost reminded me of one of my best friends at home. Amy was also effervescent, full of energy, bouncing off the walls, and her smiles and bubbly laughter always brightened everyone's day. I sensed that Mrs. Vyas and I would get along splendidly.

"Oh, yeah my parents are fine. They told me they really miss both of you though. My sister is almost 11 now. Thanks so much for letting me stay the summer with you."

"No problem! We are so excited. Our daughter Asha is so excited, she has been looking forward to this ever since we told her you were coming...."

She chattered away happily occasionally throwing in questions about my flight and if I had experienced any delays and such that I was able to easily answer without much thought. I was exhausted and relieved to be free of the claustrophobic feel of airplanes and airports in general...

I tried to breathe in the fresh air as Mr.Vyas gently took my cart of luggage from me. He hadn't really said much seeming content to let his wife do the talking, but I immediately liked him as well.They stood on either side of me guiding me to the car where their chauffeur was waiting to load the luggage into the back.

As soon as my bottom hit that comfortable leather seat, I was off in my own wonderland. I hadn't been able to sleep a wink for the last twenty four hours, the seats in the airplane were too cramped for comfort and in between flights I was too anxious of missing my next flight to relax.

 On the edge of unconsciousness I heard Mrs. Vyas say "Look at how tired she is. Maybe we should ask Ram to stay away for a while until she has settled down."

 At the time, I didn't fully register how weird this statement was.

I was graciously awakened by cold hard pavement hitting my butt as the wonderfully comfortable car door I had been leaning on was opened. I must have really freaked the chauffeur out because he let out a half strangled scream and just stood there in panicked shook as I groggily rubbed my eyes too lazy to actually get off the ground. I rubbed my eyes yawning and slowly I realized an aching pain in my rear. I stood up rubbing my bottom and trying simultaneously to dust any dirt on my clothes.