ECLIPSE
by Sumana Khan
SHORT STORY COMPETITION WINNER
Sumana Khan is a research student by day and a struggling author by night. When not working on her thesis or manuscript (and trying not to mix up the two), she lurks around cinema halls in Berkshire. This is her first thrilling Writing Magazine win after a couple of shortlists.
There is never a good time to get out of a bad marriage. She’d been trying to break free right from the early years, when she had just peeped into her twenties. Thirtyfive years later, she was still making half-hearted exit plans. It was a joke, really. She could barely make her way to the railway station without getting lost, even in this small, dusty town folded away in a corner of Uttar Pradesh. Life was not like that English movie, no? The one where the woman went eating, praying and loving in different countries?
The thought that she did not exist occurred to her as she rolled out chapatis for dinner. Perhaps that’s why she never managed to crawl out of the carcass of this marriage. Of course, she had stayed on for Dipu. She had promised herself that she’d walk out the day Dipu turned eighteen. Then, the deadline got pushed to the day Dipu settled down with a job. Then she figured she’d stay on till he got married.
Dipu had crossed all the milestones, including becoming a father himself, but she was still—
‘Is dinner ready?’
She did not answer at first. She was a bit slow that way.
‘Dinner?’ Dilip repeated, voice raised.
‘Ten minutes. I—’ Dilip walked out. He came back after a minute and said, ‘Switch on the goddamn chimney. The whole house smells of your burnt chapati.’