Sapna — Chapter 1

Well...Two posts in a day! What a record! :-) Anyway, I have taken a long break from my other story about Jazz and the dragons, and I decided to write another story that is a little more realistic. Here's a bit of the first chapter. Let me know how you liked it!

Chapter 1

“Good morning, bitiya. Did you sleep well?” Sapna opened her eyes and rubbed them groggily. Her mother was sitting by the foot of her bed, smiling down at her. She had pulled the curtains open, and the sun was pouring in through the windows. Sapna’s mother liked to call her bitiya, an endearing Hindi word for daughter. “Yes Amma, I will come downstairs soon. What’s for breakfast?” Sapna asked excitedly. Her stomach was growling. Amma, her mother, smiled. “Your favorite!” And she hurried downstairs.

Sapna leapt out of bed and ran to the bathroom. She hurriedly showered and dressed, then flew down the stairs as the enticing aroma of breakfast wafted up to meet her. “Pancakes!” Amma exclaimed as soon as Sapna entered the kitchen. “With syrup?” Sapna inquired. “With syrup,” Amma replied, and Sapna enveloped her slender mother in a warm hug.

The feast was all laid out on the table when a knock sounded on the door. Sapna ran to open it and found herself being lifted into the air and spun around. “Papa!” she screamed with ecstasy. Amma stood by the window, smiling, as the sun slanting in turned her hair a beautiful shade of gold. Putting Sapna down and coming over to Amma, Papa embraced her, and she laughed. “Come now, you must be tired. You are just in time for breakfast!”

The family dug in. After they had all satisfied their ferocious appetites, Sapna asked Papa, “So how was your day at work?” Papa often worked overnight for little pay. “Well, one of our clients found a bug with the software we provided them and I spent the night fixing it.” Amma sighed. “Sapna, why don’t you go upstairs and work on your painting? Papa and I have to talk about something.” Hanging her head, Sapna obediently went upstairs.

“A touch of blue there, and now her hair. Hmm...let’s see...blonde! Yes, blonde.” And with a few smooth, quick brushstrokes, the painting was finished. Sapna stepped back to admire her work. A pretty blonde girl with startlingly blue eyes the color of the sky stared back at her. Sapna always dreamed of going to America. She knew it was the land of promises, where no one worked overnight for just a few rupees. Where children ate pancakes and candy every day, where they frolicked to school on clean buses that drove on clean streets in clean cities. Where students at high schools put textbooks in lockers and went from class to class, learning from teachers. Where they didn’t have to go to the library to check out a huge stack of forty books to learn what Sapna wanted to learn. Adults and children lived in harmony. They swarmed crowded cities with loud music and beautiful beaches, clean beaches. Snap out of it, thought Sapna. You’re never going there. “Hi! What’s up? Howdy, partner!” she said, in a Southern American accent, giggling to herself.

“Sapna? Beta, come down please,” Amma’s voice floated up to Sapna’s room. She went down and took a seat at the dining table. Amma took a deep breath. “We have made a decision, Sapna.” Sapna stared at Amma inquisitively. “We have decided to send you to a high school in America.”

Sapna immediately jumped up from the table. “What? America? I can’t believe it! Sachchi? For real?” She pranced around the table once, then hugged her parents tightly. Amma smiled, but her eyes were filled with sadness. “But you will have to leave your grandparents, friends, and pets behind.” Sapna stopped and frowned. “But Arya is my sweet, sweet goat! She won’t do anything wrong. I promise she’ll be good,” she pleaded. “No,” said Amma, turning away from the table and busying herself with a greasy pot. And that was the end of the discussion. Sapna’s unconditional love for Amma told her to keep her mouth shut, so she quietly stepped out of the house.