Sullha #2
"You don't know that. You might discover that you are.
Besides, some of the tasks are about organizing supplies and other things that don't involve direct interaction with the children.
Come to the meeting. Listen. If at the end you decide that it is not for you, you can leave.
But you should at least give it a chance, even if it's just for the spirit of camaraderie.
You can volunteer for as much or as little as you are comfortable with. "
Karina seemed conflicted, which was good because she wasn't refusing outright.
"I will think about it," she said.
"We are meeting at the playground this evening at six. Come so you can hear what it's all about and then think about it."
"I will think about it." Karina closed the door.
Burda and Sullha stood in the corridor, staring at the closed door for a moment. Then Burda turned and started walking.
Sullha followed. "She's not going to come."
"She might," Burda said. "She didn't say no. I'm surprised that she said she would think about it. That was more than I expected from her. You are good at this."
"Thank you."
The next four went more smoothly. Perhaps because Sullha's delivery improved with each subsequent attempt, or maybe because the mothers were just more positively inclined.
Gindah, Mirumah, and Zohara had needed a little coercing, but all Baruha had to hear to agree was that her daughter Asira would be there.
"Who's next?" Burda asked.
"I've already spoken to Rohilah and Asira about the teaching position, so I only need to tell them about the meeting. I'm saving my mother for last as you suggested."
"Is this an attempt to get closer to your mother?" Burda asked. "Because I don't see any other reason to offer her a position like that."
Sullha nodded. "I figured that if I want her in my life, I need to work harder at making it happen."
The teaching position wouldn't help them get closer because it was just a pretext, but getting her mother off the island might do it.
"You're a good kid." Burda put her hand on Sullha's shoulder. "Your mother doesn't deserve you."
After speaking with Asira and Rohilah, Sullha and Burda headed to the laundry building.
The heat coming off the walls was oppressive, and it wasn't even noon yet.
Sullha took a breath and walked through the laundry door, with Burda by her side.
Leehy was at the same pressing machine she'd been working the other time Sullha had come to see her, and her face was already shining with sweat. Her friend Miral was at her folding station, and she glanced up when Sullha and Burda walked over to them.
"Sullha." Miral's voice was warm. "Twice in one week. You are spoiling your mother."
"I need a moment with her. Could you cover the press for a little bit?"
"Of course." She turned to Sullha's mother. "Take a break, Leehy."
At first, her mother looked confused, but then it changed to the blankness she wore like a shield.
"What do you want, Sullha?"
"Just come outside with me for a moment. I have an offer for you."
Leehy looked at Burda, who nodded at her and even put on a smile, which was so rare on her weathered face that it took Sullha a moment to recover from the shock.
Leehy hesitated, then stepped away from the press, wiping her hands on her apron, and followed them out into the slightly cooler air of the courtyard.
They sat on the bench, with Leehy sandwiched between Burda and Sullha.
"What's going on?" Leehy asked.
Sullha looked at her. "I am gathering a group of women at the playground this evening. We are meeting at six o'clock, and Saphira is going to talk about the school. We don't have enough teachers and assistants, and we need more help with the children. I want you to come."
Leehy's face closed.
"I am not a teacher."
"That is what I keep hearing today. None of the women I approached are teachers, but they all could be. Tonight is about what kind of help is needed, and how each of us could contribute."
"I have nothing to contribute."
"That's not true."
"It is."
"Mother."
"I work in the laundry. I don't have any other skills."
"You can read and write, and you can do math. That's more than some of the other women have, but they are still willing to assist in other capacities."
Leehy looked away.
Sullha could see the set of her mother's jaw, the way her hands had folded together in her lap, which meant that Leehy was bracing for a fight.
Sullha had been having this fight with her mother in various forms for years, and she'd always lost it.
Leehy had always retreated into her dead-woman-walking routine, and Sullha had always given up and walked away, and the relationship had continued in its narrow, tired channel.
The helplessness of the situation with her mother hurt worse than even the enforced breeding because it didn't have to be like that. It was totally up to her mother, and she had refused the offered hand time and again.
Sullha couldn't lose the fight today.
"I am tired of this," she said.
Her mother looked at her.
"Of what?"
"Of you pretending to be dead as a way of coping and refusing all my attempts to help you. Just for once, I want to see a spark of life in you. Come to the meeting and just listen. You do not have to volunteer. You do not have to speak. Just come and sit and be there."
Her mother shook her head. "I don't know what you want from me, Sullha."
"Yes, you do. You said you would walk through a door if it was open. That's what the meeting is about."
Her mother's expression changed, that small red glow making an appearance behind her eyes, those embers of hope that had been smothered but not put out completely igniting.
"That's just talk," she said, but she didn't sound sure.
"It wasn't just talk. The door I was talking about is not opening tonight, but the people I am gathering tonight are the ones I want standing with me when that door opens.
And if you are not one of those people, you are going to miss out, and the next time we have this conversation it will be with you on one side of the door and me on the other. "
Her mother's expression froze, and Sullha had the sinking feeling that she'd lost again.
"Leehy," Burda said.
She turned to her.
"Sullha is asking you to come to a meeting tonight.
That's all. The meeting will be at the playground at six, and other women will be there to listen to Saphira talk about education for the kids.
You will sit, and you will listen, and you will leave when the meeting is over. That's not much to ask."
"That is not all she is asking."
"No. It is not. But it is the only part you have to agree to today. Everything else is for later."
Leehy looked at Burda for a long time.
"Do you know what this is really about?" Leehy asked.
"I only know what Sullha told me, which is the same thing she told you."
"You know more than that."
"I know that your daughter is trying to do something important and that she asked me for help. I'm helping, and so should you. She is your daughter."
Leehy nodded. "Fine. I'll come."