Her skin on mine felt surreal and I lie down gazing at her eyes that finally look relaxed. "How do you feel?" I needed to know, because her eyes were always a fortress of her mind "I feel happy, relaxed and nice". Nice. Is it nice awesome or nice okay?? "And you KP?" "I feel so many things, but the topmost being complete" she smiles and gets out of the bed, "come lets have coffee". We walk down, hand in hand along the stairs and start brewing coffee. She hums a tune as she pours water into the machine, and I feel whatever she was holding back is gone. She seems her old self.
"Hey Tara, I want to ask you something" "Hm?" "Will you visit me in Atlanta sometime? Like a vacation?" She looks at me, her eyes still relaxed, and coolly moves towards her coffee cup and starts sipping. Ahem, didnt I ask a question? Should I ask again? I'm sure she heard me, but maybe she doesnt want to answer? Or does she think I'm asking her because of last night. Oh no the thoughts need to stop. My coffee mug rescues me and I take a sip, the flow of warmth through my throat instantly rejuvenates me. "Hey Tara, you wanna go for a walk? I need to leave by seven, the packers will be home by 730" she looks at her watch, of course she does, its five thirty in the morning. "Lets go KP".
We walk to the nearby park and there is cool breeze. This time of the year, it feels unusually cold for a desert, the wind slaps on your face with sharp stings. The park is an open one, right behind the airport and its a huge land of open space and dates trees along the periphery. As we walk a few steps, she takes my hand, her hands cold and we walk. So many flights taking off, one after the other and I've never known Qatar airport to be so busy. Maybe I've been blinded to all the goodness in this country and never called my house a home.
As we walk in silence, I wonder if she will ever answer my question from the coffee table but more moments of silence and I give up hope. We walk beneath the yellow and pink flowers and she finally opens her mouth to speak "this time of the year is so beautiful, isnt it KP?" I dont know where this conversation is going to lead but I nod my head "I mean there is so much beauty in our desert. These flowers, the migratory birds all of them come here to welcome something special. But then, what's more beautiful than these? What comes next is only the harsh summer right? After all these years, I finally agree, that the beauty of the desert is in summer, those bunches of dates that hang in the heat waiting to ripen, some waiting to dry and fall"
I get an intense lecture about the desert ecosystem, some of the things she told me fascinated me, that there is beauty beyond flakes of snow, colorful flowers and birds. We hold hands and walk back home, I shake her hands and say goodbye. I start the engine and my music player starts playing my mind. Iravingu theevai namai soozhudhe, vidiyalum irulai varudhe... as the song played, I replay the last evening in my mind, and as the last conversation relayed in my mind, word perfect, I realized she had given me an answer. Tara was going to visit me during the desert's summer.
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