WE SHARE... Part 4

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Author: Divya Saksena

“Why? Why did you clean my grave?”

“Eh?” He was momentarily speechless, and Father Antony quickly intervened. “This is Mr. James Browning. The grave is…ah…his family’s.”

The child’s parents exchanged swift glances, then her mother said gently, “Preeti, go and ask Father Michael for two red candles and a lighting taper. Papa and I will finish up here. Hurry or it will start getting dark.”

“Okay! But why did he clean it first? We always do that on my birthday!”

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“Yes, we do. But you see, it was his family there first, long before us.”

“Hmmm…so we share it with him?”

“Yes, if he doesn’t mind sharing with us.”

Before Preeti could fix him with her questioning stare again, Browning spoke up hastily, “I assure you, I don’t mind at all.”

“All right then, I’m going for the candles.” As she hurtled away towards the side portico of the church, in her apparently customary headlong fashion, Browning asked a question uppermost in his mind. “Why would she call it her grave? She’s much too young to be worrying about things like that!"



Preeti’s father smiled apologetically. “You must excuse her, she doesn’t understand. As you say, she is much too young. But we do come on her birthday and light candles here.” He went on, “But, please, you must think us very rude indeed. Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Rajan Paul and this is my wife Anita. I teach History at K M College and my wife teaches literature at Carmel Convent. Preeti is our first and so far only child.”

Anita broke in. “I’m sure you must want to know why she is so possessive, almost, of your family grave. You see, we knew we wanted our child’s name to reflect love, so we called her Preeti. But somehow,,. Preeti Paul seemed an incomplete name. We were arguing about other names for her when we brought her here to St James to be baptized.”

To Be Contd...


About the author:
Dr Divya Saksena earned her PhD in English from The George Washington University, USA I 2003. She has taught English and Women's Studies in the USA, Canada and India for over 18 years. She is an avid reader and prolific writer.


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