Page 19 of A Thousand Painted Hours
“I’m going wading.” I sat on the ground and tugged off my shoes and socks. Sweat itched down my back and across my chest. The air felt good against my hot toes. Wading into the water was instantly cooling. In delight, I called back, “You must try!”
Tanveer was already wading in beside me, his pants rolled up to his knees. He kicked water at me. It hit my back with a shocking splash, and I turned around with a shriek. “Not fair!”
I kicked water back at him, and he laughed. In moments, we were soaked, my dress and pinafore and chemise, Tanveer’s kurta. Gurdaya sat on the blanket she’d unpacked, legs stretched out in front of her. “You shall never get dry.”
Tanveer gave me wicked look, one I interpreted exactly. We moved as a unit, dashing toward Gurdaya and grabbing each of her arms. She screeched and yanked back, but together we were too much for her. We dragged her to the pond, and we all fell in with a great splash, sending water high in the blue sky. Furiously, she pulled free. “I hate you both!” she cried, trying to wade out with her tunic clinging to her legs.
“Wait!” I said, catching her arm. “Notice how it feels!”
She halted in water to her hips. The end of her braid floated on the water. I could see she was about to cry and was trying not to. “It is not the same for me as it is for you!”
I looked at Tanveer. He moved toward his sister. “Gudiya,we will be dry by the time we return. No one shall be the wiser.”
She slapped at her tunic. “How?”
He skimmed off his tunic, leaving him standing in an undergarment that clung to his thin chest. “We shall lay our clothes in the sunshine.”
“I am not a boy!”
“But you are not a big girl yet, either,” he said.
She wavered. Even though she was older, she often deferred to his advice.
To encourage her, I turned and offered the ties of my pinafore to him. When I was free, I tugged it off, leaving me in my thin muslin dress. I shed it, too, and stood in my shift and drawers. Covered well enough. “We are siblings!” I said. “And come, once we spread out our clothes, we can swim.”
“I don’t know how.”
“I do,” Tanveer said. “I’ll teach you.”
Gurdaya could hardly resist after that. She waded to shore and spread her tunic on a wide, flat rock in the sunshine. She wore a shift below, as I did. I spread my dress beside hers on a shrub, and Tanveer shed his tunic and pajamas, leaving him standing in shorts that showed his long thin legs. Free, we splashed into the pond.
It was one of the most wonderful things I ever felt, floating in that water, sun hot on my head, moving easily. Tanveer showed us how to move our arms and legs. Gurdaya took to it quickly, skimming across the top of the pond like a dragonfly, her arms strong. I was less coordinated, but Tanveer was patient, correcting me and practicing beside me until it clicked.
“Oh!” I said at last, and propelled myself like a puppy through the water, splashing loudly but happily.
Tanveer laughed.
By the time we stopped, starving and weary, we had grown comfortable. Gurdaya took down her braid to let the sun work its magic, and Tanveer unwound the bun on the top of his head, spreading it out across his shoulders. It was much longer than I expected. I unwove mybraid and combed my fingers through the heavy mass. I fancied that we could be mistaken as siblings, given our dark hair, our long limbs.
We gobbled strawberries and cold ham, jam puffs and tinned cheese biscuits, drinking great gulps of lemonade in between.
“We are being very wicked,” Gurdaya said, but she said it with her legs crossed, her hair falling around her body, and seemed mostly unconcerned.
“No,” I said. “We only swam.”
“In our underclothes!”
“With our siblings!”
“We are not your siblings,” she countered.
“But Tanveer is yours.” I bit into a strawberry. “And I do not think you are concerned with whatmyparents will say.”
“Oh, what do I care?” She fell backward on the blanket, her shins bare to the sun, and closed her eyes. I glanced at Tanveer and he grinned.
“Next time, we shall prepare.”
“Next time!” I echoed.
