Short Story

Pet power

Chitra Premaratne – Stuiver

The young woman, who walked into the library on Monday morning, had an aura about her that captivated Visual Arts Librarian Tara Kalasuriya from the instant she saw her.

She was in her early twenties.

Her elegant dress showed off her slender figure. She wore matching sandals and carried a fashionable shoulder bag. Her complexion was dark, the colour of rich black coffee. Her lustrous hair was cut in a style that framed her lovely face. However, it was the haunted look in her large hazel eyes that captured Tara Kalasuriya’s attention more than her striking beauty. She seemed to have gone through a traumatic adolescence. Noticing the librarian’s observant look the beautiful young woman introduced herself.

“My name is Sasha”, she said in a soft tentative voice, “I am a Fashion Designer and I am looking for the latest books on Fashion Design. I need your help.”

She settled down with the books the librarian selected for her and spent the morning studying them while making sketches on a large drawing pad. After this initial visit Sasha started coming to the library regularly. She seemed to have found a sympathetic soul in the librarian. During the course of their exchanges about current trends in Fashion Design and new publications on the subject, Sasha volunteered bits and pieces of information about herself. She had moved recently from Galle to Colombo hoping to work with the celebrated Fashion Designer Tharuki Wijeratne.

An only child she was alienated from her strict and conservative parents. She was after a failed romance. She had just started volunteering at an animal shelter. The kind elderly director is providing her with a room and board in exchange for work with a large population of stray cats. She loved cats and enjoyed caring for them. Her designs were beginning to get recognition in the Colombo Fashion scene. Her beautiful eyes had a new sparkle in them when she talked about her life in the big city.

Tara Kalasuriya had taken a liking to the young library user. She was pleased to see her looking well. Unfortunately this happy state of affairs did not last long. The librarian started noticing a change in Sasha. She had lost interest in the books she was studying and merely turned the pages in a desultory manner. She was doodling aimlessly instead of sketching on her drawing pad. Her appearance was unkempt and she seemed disoriented. Her eyes had lost the sparkle. What concerned Tara Kalasuriya most was her unresponsiveness to her attempts at communicating with her. Sasha’s visits to the library became erratic and soon stopped altogether. Though the librarian missed seeing Sasha she was too preoccupied with her work to check up on the disturbed young library user.

A few weeks had gone by when Tara Kalasuriya, on her way to work, spied Sasha sitting at a bus stop. To her dismay the young woman seemed utterly alone and lost in a world of her own. Her elegant dress was filthy. Her dirty feet were in flip flops. Her unwashed hair had grown so long it was matted. A large tote bag stuffed with odds and ends was parked next to her.

Sadly, it brought to mind ‘a pissige pala malla’. When Tara Kalasuriya walked up to Sasha she was instantly drawn to the lovely multi-hued, bright-eyed kitten snuggling in Sasha’s arms. Instinctively she stretched out her hand to pet the kitten, while exclaiming,

“Oh Sasha your kitten is adorable. I love cats and my pet Tabby has just delivered four lovely babies.” “By the way” she continued, “I miss seeing you at the library.” Sasha did not respond to the librarian’s effort to be friendly. Instead, she drew the kitten closer to her, picked up her bag and started to move away. Noticing Sasha’s reluctance to make contact with her, she said good bye and continued on her way to work in a reflective mood. At work, even though she had a hectic day, she could not get Sasha out of her mind. She told herself that she will make enquiries about her after she returns from a month’s trip abroad.

On her returns she went to the animal shelter to enquire about Sasha. The Director gave her the news that Sasha had gradually sunk into a deep depression. She added that the troubled young woman was in the care of a good doctor who had encouraged his patient to adopt a new born kitten that was abandoned at the door step of the animal shelter.

Caring for the helpless kitten was working wonders and Sasha was responding well to medication.

“Besides”, continued the director, her parents have moved from Galle to Colombo and persuaded their only child to live with them. Despite their antipathy to pets they let Sasha bring the kitten with her. The kind director assured Tara Kalasuriya that the young woman had recovered enough to resume her Fashion Design work. After her discussion with the director the librarian went to work with a light heart.

A few weeks later Tara Kalasuriya was delighted to see Sasha in the library bright and early.

“Hello Sasha! How lovely to see you. How is your precious kitten?” she queried.

“Oh!” replied Sasha,

“My Patiya is very naughty and playful chasing after her toys in the evenings but she sleeps all day! Even my parents who forbade me to have a pet when I was growing up find Patiya irresistible.”

“Mrs Kalasuriya”, Sasha continued “you would be happy to know that the Fashion Designer Tharuki Wijeratne likes my designs and offered me a part-time job. I have just started working for her in the afternoons while Patiya sleeps away!”

After spending the morning looking through the new books on Fashion Design as well as books on how to care for pets that the librarian had selected for her, Sasha left with a cheerful.

“See you tomorrow morning Mrs Kalasuriya and thank you so much for your help”. The sparkle was back in Sasha’s beautiful eyes.

The positive turn her life had taken made Tara Kalasuriya happy and she looked forward to Sasha’s visits to the library.

Perhaps, the librarian thought to herself with a smile, her favourite young library user may go on to make a name for herself in the world of High Fashion.