All I Want To Do...

Jaya Moon Singh's father, Arjuh Singh, died when she was a little girl in Jaipur, India - where she was born to him and her mother, Saavani Singh. He was on a schooner going to work when a tourist in a car crashed into him, isn't totally understanding the country's traffic. Jaya doesn't remember him much, she was only three when he died.

Saavani moved them to Guthrie, Oklahoma when Jaya was eight, ripping her away from her cousins and aunts and her grandmother back home. Jaya will miss them but she will always respect her mother, so she will do whatever she wants. Her mother is her best friend and the only parent she has left.

Jaya wishes her mom had chosen some bigger town in America to live, but again, she doesn't complain. Guthrie is, after all, significant for its collection of late 19th and early 20th century commercial architecture. The Guthrie Historic District includes more than two-thousand buildings and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. It's an old and historical town, so Jaya can deal with that, despite being the only Indian student in her small populated school. 

Right now, Jaya is slushing her way home through the middle of town. She and her mother live in an apartment above her building. Saavani is the owner of a clinic for those without health insurance. She takes elderly, young adults, teenagers children. Blacks, whites, Mexicans. They have an apartment right upstairs, a two bedroom.

"Hey, Jaya!" Tory Jacobs calls out as she walks over. Tory is a classmate and he's the daughter of the Guthrie mayor. "You did amazing in school today today, like always. You're so smart. You should totally be a teacher. I saw you in the tutor hall."

Guthrie Middle School had a tutor hall and Jaya happens to be one of the tutors.

"You helped a failing student pass and graduate eighth grade, you help Liam pass so he can actually go to high school," Tory says as the girls carry on walking. "I never thought Liam Prince would go to high school."

They graduate from Guthrie Middle School tonight at seven-thirty and they're super excited for high school.

"I think the high school also has a tutor hall," Tory admits and they arrive at the clinic. "Can I hang for a while?"

Tory is also Jaya's only friend in this small town.

"Yeah, come on up."

Jaya and Tory head into the clinic and Jaya locks the doors. They walk upstairs and the apartment is... quiet. No Indian music. It doesn't even smell like the curry Saavani cooks because Jaya loves it.

"Something feels... off here," Tory comments.

"Yeah, I agree." She frowns. "Mom!" Jaya moves through the apartment and she goes to her room. Her mom is asleep. "Mama, you're sleeping in? It's three-forty in the afternoon. I graduate right grade in a few hours."

No response. Jaya's voice is always enough to wake Saavani up, even when she's dead asleep, even if Jaya whispers. Jaya walks over and touches her mom, but she's cold.

"Mama?" Jaya speaks and nothing. She checks her airways and... "No... TORY! WE NEED AN AMBULANCE!" Jaya cries.

"Jaya?" Tory runs in. She sees how pale Saavani is. "Oh, my God."

"She's not breathing, Tory!"

Tory fumbles with her phone and she quickly calls 9-1-1. She watches as her best friend cries over her mother's obviously dead body. They need confirmation of death and a time of death. Tory is scared that Saavani knew she was dying and waited until Tory was at school. She's been secretly sick for a while, only Tory knew because she overheard her talking to a hospice doctor. She had a terminal illness that happens to one in a million people.

"Mama! No! Mama! Wake up. You have to wake up. Mama!"
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Tory grips her friend's hand after she places the urn holding her mom's ashes into her Aunt Nalini's car. Nalini was married to Jaya's uncle, Mohan, who died, too, recently. In Saavani's will, she wanted her brother and / or his wife to take care of Jaya and Mohan is awaiting her elsewhere, in their Heaven, they're together in peace.

"What do you want to do now?" Tory asks her best friend, who is officially an orphan.

"All I want to do is make my parents proud."

"And you will," Nalini says to her niece, who is the spitting image of Saavani. "Are you ready?"

"I guess."

"Devi!"

Nalini's daughter and Jaya's cousin/best friend, Devi, came with her to Guthrie to pick Jaya up. She wheels herself put in the wheelchair she is in. After her dad died, her legs seemed to stop working.

"Ready to go, cousin?" Devi asks.

"No, but I'll be fine."

Jaya hugs Tory. "Call me sometime."

"Every weekend when I'm not studying," Tory promises, "or my dad isn't having an event."

"An event?"

"Tory's dad is the Mayor of Guthrie," Jaya says.

"It was nice to meet you, Devi and Devi's mom," Tory says. "I'll miss you, Jaya. Enjoy high school, yeah?"

"I will." She gets into the car. "Auntie, does the high school where you live have a tutor hall? I tutor kids."

"In middle school?" Nalini smiles. "How smart are you?"

"Very."

'Mom and dad, I love you. I'll be fine with Aunt Nalini and Devi.'

'All I want to do now...'