where all that noise was coming from. And she asked you outright.”
“I just didn’t think about the crust! So sue me. Since when is it my job to kowtow to heathen vegetarians, anyway?”
The door opened and Janya stalked out. She went straight to Wanda.
“This heathen will no longer force her presence on you. Then you will not have to do this kowtowing, whatever it is. And you certainly will not be required to cook for me, since all foreigners are so foolish we dare to have preferences about what we eat, or who and how we worship.”
“Janya—” Tracy started, but Janya shook her head emphatically.
“I will remove myself from this house and Wanda’s life. I would go all the way back to India if I could, but since that is impossible, I suggest that you ignore me entirely and pretend my house has no one in residence.”
She was gone before Wanda could say another word in her own defense.
“Well, damn,” Wanda said, when the door closed behind Janya. “Was it something I said?”
“Oh, go home,” Tracy told her. “Titillate old men. At this rate, those are the only friends you’ll have left.”
Wanda sniffed and followed Janya’s path out the door.
chapter seventeen
Janya wasn’t certain why she was so unhappy about the way the evening at Herb’s cottage had ended. Hadn’t she known that Wanda felt superior to her? That every difference between them was magnified in the other woman’s mind, and Janya herself shrank in comparison? Wanda was like so many people everywhere. She knew and understood one way of conducting her life. Those who were not like her were simply wrong.
And yet Janya was hurt by the encounter. She didn’t think Wanda had set out to trick her. Wanda hadn’t set out to denigrate an ancient religion practiced by millions of people. But doing so, without setting out to, was even worse. Because this meant Wanda’s feelings were so deeply ingrained that they could never be changed and any appearance of friendship between them was only on the surface. Janya, who had begun to look forward to spending time with her neighbors, now wanted to shun all contact.
On Monday morning she didn’t take her usual walk, afraid she might run into one of the others. She wouldn’t stay inside forever, of course, but she hoped that in a day or two her feelings wouldn’t be so raw. Instead, after the newly returned Rishi went to work, she busied herself mopping and dusting. Although Rishi never seemed to have much appetite for dinner, when she had finished cleaning she searched the cookbook of American favorites she had borrowed from the library and settled on a recipe for spaghetti sauce.
She wasn’t certain why spaghetti, which was obviously from Italy, was considered American in this book, but with a few changes to make it more palatable, she was determined to master it. She read the recipe again and made notes. There were far too many herbs and too few spices to suit her, and not enough vegetables. She had bought a perfect cauliflower at the supermarket, and a bag of yellow potatoes. She added these to the recipe, along with a mixture of mustard and cumin seeds, turmeric, cardamon and coriander. When that didn’t suit her, she ground cloves and added those, as well.
She decided to serve the sauce on rice. She was not so fond of pasta.
She was chopping the potatoes when somebody tapped on her door. She considered ignoring the summons, but respect won the day. She was relieved to see Olivia. She greeted her with a smile.
“So, to what do I owe this visit?”
“Nana’s taking a nap. I thought maybe we could make something.”
In the two weeks since Janya had pulled out her art supplies to entertain the girl, Olivia had become a regular visitor. Now that school was officially out for the summer, Janya thought she might be seeing more of her. It seemed a shame that the child had no one to play with here.
“Would you like to sketch?” Janya asked. “You are getting good with charcoal.”
“That would be fun.”
Janya was glad that this friendship, at least, was un-complicated. She and Olivia were both lonely, and they had found common ground. Certainly it was a shame the rest of the world couldn’t follow suit.
As Olivia’s visits had become more frequent, Janya had put together a plastic tub of supplies. Now she got it and brought it to the table. She had an assortment of charcoal and highlight pencils,