Blessings
Author: Dragon's Daughter 1980
Spoilers: Post-Harvest
Disclaimer: CBS has ownership over Numb3rs. That being said, I'm just borrowing the cast for my own enjoyment and I promise to return all characters unharmed.
Bracing the basket of freshly laundered clothes against her hip like her mother had taught her, she walks quietly down the carpeted hallway to the master bedroom. A small wistful smile passes her lips as she thinks about the long walks of her childhood, when her mother's petite, but strong and protective presence, had led her and her sisters down to the river, balancing baskets of laundry on their hips. She remembers the cheerful chatter that swirled around her as the adults gossiped and beat the clothes clean with rocks and handmade soap. She can still recall the sunny afternoons filled with her friends' joyful shrieks while they waited for the clothes to dry in the warm sun. She can also remember when she realized everything wasn't perfect, that there wasn't enough food to go around. The older children went hungry sometimes so the younger ones could eat. Her elder sister's marriage dowry cost the family nearly everything they had; it was clear then that it would be impossible for her parents to provide four dowries for all of their daughters. She had expected to never marry, to never have a future outside of her maiden home. It seems like another life…and it was.
Everything had changed. Everything is different. Even now, she's still not sure whether or not to curse the day the strange man came to her village, offering much-needed money for something that had seemed so simple: a thousand dollars, a fortune, for a free trip to the land of dreams and back. What fools they were to have accepted, but who could have ever imagined the horrors that they experienced? And now, two of her traveling companions are dead because of it.
But, by some miracle of Vishnu, she and her sister had been spared. Instead of dying in a foreign land, far from any aid, they are being sheltered by so many kind people who are more than willing to help them make better lives for themselves, giving them a future they had only dared to dream of before. She still worries about her family back home, wonders how they are doing and if they are still fearful for her and her sister's futures. She wishes she could hug her elderly parents now and tell them not to worry, but she must content herself with a handwritten letter placed in the hands of strangers and their word that it will reach her family. A friend of Amita's has promised to do his best to contact their family to reassure them of their middle daughters' safety. A second bracelet dangles from her wrist now, a puja that she and her sister will thrive in America, perhaps even one day to be able to bring their family to this land of hope.
She enters the airy, spacious room where there are two neatly-made twin beds with matching pillows. There's a little stuffed bear on one of them. She stifles a giggle; she hasn't teased her sister about her attachment to the smiling creature…yet. Her sister still startles at loud noises and has only just begun straying away from her side. She's going to give it a few more weeks — when her sister begins to smile mischievously and play practical tricks again — before she starts her teasing.
Walking over to her bed, she puts down the basket of freshly laundered clothes down on the soft mattress. She still can't believe that she's not dreaming as she sits down on the bed and runs a hand lightly over the thin comforter. The reality she's in is real. A hand settles lightly on her shoulder and she looks up into the smiling face of her younger sister.
"Santi," her sister says quietly, "We are safe now." She can't help but smile at that statement and she pulls her sister to sit down next to her so she can embrace her sibling.
"I know," she says, resting her head against Prita's. 'And I thank Vishnu every day for that.'