“What is that noise?” Mira grumbled.
“The alarm. Wake up”
Mira opened her eyes, still groggy from the sleep. She got off the bed and headed for the bathroom. “I need to start a book. The same boring routine day after day is killing me”, she groaned. “But, which book, though?” lost in her thoughts, she brushed her teeth. The images of the many unread books on her bookshelf floated in her head.
“How about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? You were excited at its launch two months ago”
“The Hunger Games prequel? Neh, I’ve been meaning to re-read the whole trilogy. Starting that one would mean committing to reading four Young adult books altogether, which is a lot”, replied Mira.
She grabbed the yoga mat from the balcony and set down, reluctantly, to doing her mum’s instructed sequence of many asanas. Her stomach grumbled with hunger.
After an hour of yoga, she slumped on the living room sofa, waiting to cool off.
“Good job with the Yoga. You’ve been at it for almost three months now.”
“Thank you. Still don’t like doing it, though. Now, which book?” she let out a sigh.
“How about the Palace of Illusions? The author is an Indian woman; you were worried about not having read enough books by people of colour”.
She considered that for a minute, and then replied, “But didn’t I JUST read The Alchemy of Secrets? It’s also a feministic book by a female Indian author. It’ll be monotonous”. Having cooled off, she hurried into the kitchen and fetched a bowl of cereal.
After finishing her breakfast, she went to take a shower.
“How about Prince Caspian? The series has been sitting on your shelf for over a year and you’re not even halfway through”
“The Chronicles of Narnia? Eh, Fantasy isn’t thrilling enough, for the time being”, she said, getting out of the shower and into her room. “Let’s discuss this after lunch” she added.
Having read the day’s newspaper (Coronavirus everywhere) and watching an episode of Vikings, it was time for lunch. She was saved from the post-lunch debate when she heard her phone ringing. It was a friend calling. It would probably be an hour-long conversation, given they last saw each other nearly six months ago. “I’m gonna lose my mind in this pandemic. Lockdown and quarantine. URGH…” she thought to herself, reminiscing about hanging out with her friends, feeling bittersweet.
It had drizzled while she was on the phone. Petrichor was her drug, so she decided to take a walk and freshen up.
“How about Doctor Who: Nuclear Time. You love the Doctor”
“Time travelling alien with two hearts? Hmm… I’ll read that when the new season of Doctor Who comes out” she said, breathing in the cool air. Something in the middle of the road caught her eye. It was a little black puppy. Mira smiled and thought, “He’s adorable. But is he lost, though? Where is his mother?”. She looked around, concerned. Suddenly, a car came speeding down the road, heading straight towards the puppy. Without thinking, Mira hurtled towards the puppy, reaching out for him, but she was just a bit too slow. She heard the screech of breaks and a loud crash, and everything went black.
“What happened?” Mira asked, opening her eyes. She felt dizzy. It looked like a hospital. Her mum was there beside her, looking pale, relief dawning on her face now. “You got hit by a car trying to save a puppy. You’ve fractured one of your legs. What were you thinking? I don’t know what I would’ve done if something-“, she broke down crying. “My brave girl”, she said in between sobs. Mira gave her a reassuring smile, “I’ll be all right, Ma. Don’t worry. But, what about the puppy?” she asked, fearing the worst. “He’s safe”, her mum smiled and ran a hand through Mira’s hair.
“I’m going to have to spend even more time sitting around now. How am I gonna pass the time?” she thought to herself.
“You can always read”, replied the voice in the back of her head.
“But, which book, though?” she asked, restarting their debate.
