Crow | Ramesh Avadhani When I woke up she was not there beside me. I rushed to the bathroom. "Don't come near," she said and then put the brush back into her mouth. I stood near the door and watched her gargle and spit out a white stream. I willed her to look at me but she didn't. 
 I knew then what had happened. It happened every month. "A crow touched you?" I asked in a quaver.
 She nodded without looking at me. She washed her face with soap and I crossed my legs, putting one foot on the other. The pain was beginning but I could bear it.
 I looked behind, at the backyard where a guava tree grew in unruly splendor. Farther up, near the wall that divided our house from the next, a mango tree stood, tall and slim. But there were no crows at all, no flapping, no cawing. From where did this crow come and touch her?
 "But Mama, how can a crow touch you so early in the morning?" 
 She had finished washing her face and was now blinking out the water from her eyes. Then she wiped her chin with a hand and reached for the towel on a peg.
 "I said a crow touched me, didn't I? Now be a good boy and go tell Daddy to prepare coffee."
 "You tell him," I blurted and went to the toilet. My head was hot, hotter than the urine that I directed all over the toilet, even on the tap. 
 "It's only for three days and then you can touch me," she said from behind. 
 I turned and ran past her, past the living room, to the verandah, down the staircase and on to the street. I looked around and picked up a stone that fit perfectly into my small hand. I stood there, waiting for the crow, any damn crow, to show up.  read about the author Contributors.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0
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commentary | poetry | fiction | chicago | winter 2008  
Single Life #8 | Amy Groshek Parallel Conservatory | Clare Kirwan Old & Strong | Robert Gibbons Crow | Ramesh Avadhani Driving Ninety | Mark Spencer With Her Own Things | Kristiana Colón Story of a Hall Porter | Edward Mc Whinney The Halcyon Days of War | B.E. Hopkins Three Stories | Laurence Davies Contradiction | from the editor Reviews On the Contrary Archives | SearchCapacity.htmlConservatory.htmlStrong.htmlNinety.htmlNtozake.htmlPorter.htmlHalcyon.htmlWinter-2008.htmlContradiction-2.htmlReviews.htmlContrary.htmlArchives.htmlshapeimage_6_link_0shapeimage_6_link_1shapeimage_6_link_2shapeimage_6_link_3shapeimage_6_link_4shapeimage_6_link_5shapeimage_6_link_6shapeimage_6_link_7shapeimage_6_link_8shapeimage_6_link_9shapeimage_6_link_10shapeimage_6_link_11shapeimage_6_link_12