Tara’s Reviews > Interpreter of Maladies > Status Update

“It means loving someone you don’t know.”
Miranda felt Rohin’s words under her skin, the same she’d felt Dev’s. But instead of going hot, she felt numb.
2/2

“Tell me something.”
He was silent.
“What does it mean?”
“What?”
“That word.’sexy’. What does it mean?”
He looked down, suddenly shy. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a secret.” He pressed his lips together, so hard that a bit of them went white.
“Tell me the secret. I want to know.” …
1/2

Sexy

His voice dropped to a whisper. “Say something.” She watched his lips forming the words; at the same time she heard them so clearly that she felt them under her skin, under her winter coat, so near and full of warmth that she felt herself get hot.

It was my only memento of a grandmother I had never known, and until Mr. Prizada came to our lives, I could find nothing to put inside it.

It was inappropriate, in my opinion, to consume the candy Mr. Pirzada gave me in a casual manner. I coveted each evening’s treasure as I would a jewel, or a coin from a buried kingdom, and I would place it in a small keepsake box made of carved sandalwood beside my bed, in which, long ago in India, my father’s mother used to store the ground areca nuts she ate after her morning bath.

“The first time I was alone in your apartment I looked in your address book to see if you’d written me in. I think we’d known each other two weeks.”
“Where was I?”
“You went to answer the telephone in the other room. It was your mother and I figured it would be a long call. I wanted to know if you’d promoted me from the margins of your newspaper.”
“Had I?”
“No.But I didn’t give up on you.”

A Temporary Matter

He was a mediocre student who had a facility for absorbing details without curiosity.