Page 52 of Lau Ahi
The government is guilty of far more crimes than the people.
When she hadn’t responded I waited anxiously for her to say something. Sasha was the only one I had a soft spot for. Sharing a womb meant we were naturally protective of each other and I wasn’t surprised that she was trying to calm her temper before she went off. The silence was about to wreck my nerves and my manicure as I sat picking at my nails. The lack of response got so bad that I had to speak up.
“Sasha—”
“Don’t. Just don’t. I cannot believe after all you’ve battled in this world you’re willing to lie down for the betterment of an entire country of people over saving yourself.” Her voice, a mirror of my own, was frigid. Lacking the usual joy that I sometimes envied.
“Yes. Yes, I will, actually. If it means that things somewhere get better, then yes. What is the suffering of one for the salvation of millions? And it wouldn’t even be suffering because nothing about my life would really change.”
A lie I could tell her, since it would be awhile before she came to visit.
“How do you even know that it will be the salvation of millions?”
“Maybe not salvation but a vast improvement over how the conditions currently are. Can you fault me for not wanting to be selfish?”
She scoffed angrily as if I’d forgotten who I was speaking to. “Yes, I can, actually.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because you’re always bloody selfless, Asha, that’s why! It’s not a bone in your body that’s selfish. That’s your problem now. You’re chronically giving and it angers me. And I wish that there was someone who would absolutely fall on their sword for you the way that you do for others.”
My mind shouldn’t have but it went to Ori. I couldn’t believe I was thinking he was trying to be heroic in any of his dealings with me but he seemed…decent. And that was far better than I could say about any other man so it was high praise.
“What do you want from me? There’s only so much that I can do to make any part of this world better. My writing only goes so far; my work only helps so many. These are our people for whom I’m stepping on the line for. We already live in a gilded cage, Sasha. I’m just trading the current one for another.”
There was no truth to the idea of freedom. Our father’s profession and his wealth made us targets especially because he was African. They, of course, would want to do anything they could to extract as much wealth from him and we were easy targets. His hold on us had tightened when our friend Nev had been betrayed by her own bodyguard. It hadn’t loosened even when she was returned safely. Unfortunately, when he relaxed a little the worst possible thing happened.
“There’s no way in the world that I’m going to deal with this on my own. Hold on.”
My sister's side of the line went quiet and I didn’t bother to hang up. I knew that she was going to gather backup and I needed to do more to keep my nerves settled for the people Iknew were going to come on the line. Instead of fighting it, I stood up and headed toward the wine fridge and didn’t bother with a glass. I propped the phone up on the marble countertop beneath the glass shelves before bending down and grabbing a bottle blindly. I didn’t care what it was; I knew it was going to do the job of numbing whatever frustration arose from what they said.
“Malbec. That’ll do.”
I muttered my approval mainly to myself before reaching up on the glass shelf for the corkscrew to open the bottle. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirrored backing behind the shelves before my sister’s voice brought me back to what was going on. I didn’t look like someone who was in the process of having her life turned upside down so I could at least be thankful for that.
“Now everyone’s here.”
I looked back at the tablet screen and saw the faces of the three women I loved most staring back at me. Instead of doing anything grand I gave a nod of my head to acknowledge them before taking a long drink of my wine.
“Asha, your sister is being her usual extra self. She says that you’re getting married. I don’t know why she feels the need to be hyperbolic today but please put this to bed.”
Teegan was looking at me confused as to why Sasha was saying what she was. My other friend Nev was sitting there glancing between what I assumed were the three of us on her screen and I could hear her son and husband in the background.
“For once she’s not being dramatic. I am getting married.”
“You’re what?!”
“I bloody well told you!”
“To whom?”
The three of them spoke all at once and I wanted to laugh at the comical nature of it all. Our bond had been formed years agowhen we met and the distance, near-death experiences and our individual successes hadn’t broken our bond.
“You good?”
I heard Nev’s husband and knew he was worried that something was wrong. Over the last few years, Midas had proven to be her match in every way and I was thankful that she’d met him. I could count on one hand the men I trusted and he was among them. And even then, I probably wasn’t as nice to him as I should have been. Thankfully, he understood and didn’t hold it against me.
“I’m fine, it’s just that Asha is getting married.”
