naaley
December 19, 2006
- Arundhati Roy
The God Of Small Things
She touched him lightly with her fingers and left a trail of goosebumps on his skin. Life flat chalk on a blackboard. Like breeze in a paddyfield. Like jet-streaks in a blue church sky. He took her face in his hands and drew it towards his. He closed his eyes and smelled her skin. Ammu laughed.
Yes, Margaret, she thought. We do it to each other too.
She kissed his closed eyes and stood up. Velutha with his back against the mangosteen tree watched her walk away.
She had a dry rose in her hair.
She turned to say it once again: ‘Naaley.’
Tomorrow.
