Aalo's dream broke and she found herself face down on the quilt. She had thrashed so much that her pillow had fallen off the bed. She lay still for a moment, afraid to turn her body.

"Aalo, get up." Pompom was pushing her arm. She tried to move her hand gently. It didn't feel swollen or painful. She sat up slowly, blinking.

"I'm sorry. I should've checked the dream before taking you into someone's nightmare." Pompom rubbed her back in a pacifying gesture.

Unbidden tears sprang up in Aalo's eyes as they rolled freely down her round cheeks, curving around her little dimple.

"You were hurt in the dream, so you should be fine in real life," Pompom explained. He was totally at a loss to know how to quieten her.

Her body shook as she tried to muffle the sobs and not draw in her mother's attention, but her tears just grew louder and louder. She was anxious, really startled from the last event.

The doorknob turned noisily at that moment. Her mother burst into the room and found her sobbing uncontrollably. Sensing her mother come in, Aalo came back to her senses. She looked around, but Pompom had disappeared.

She wiped her eyes vigorously, trying to stop the tears.

"What happened, honey? Why are you crying?" Her mother hugged her tightly, almost squeezing the breath out of her.

"I'm afraid," Aalo whispered.

"Oh sweetie, it was just a nightmare," her mother crooned, not understanding what was bothering her.

"Yes," Aalo mumbled, "it was a nightmare all right."

Her mother peeled her off her body and held her at arm's length. Then she took her face in her palms, wiping away the tears with both her thumbs. Aalo smiled unexpectedly.

"You can sleep with me tonight," her mother offered.

"It is okay. I should not be so weak, Maa. I am a big girl now," Aalo whispered unsure of herself.

"Crying never makes you weak. Don't let anyone feed that to you." Her mother's face was serious. "We become stronger after a good cry sometimes."

"They called me a crybaby at school." Aalo nuzzled her face in her mother's lap.

"Oh baby, did something happen?"

"Juhi and her friends were teasing me because I don't have a father. They were calling me names. When I told them I don't need a Baba, they called me a freak and made fun of me," Aalo blurted.

Her mother said nothing as Aalo buried her face in her mother's lap. Her mother ran her dainty fingers through Aalo's frilly hairs, ruffling them in complete silence. The silence was comfortable and all too familiar. Whenever this topic came up, her mother would either hug her or they would sit still. The conversation always landed at a dead end, and Aalo liked it that way. She knew there were particular things that were not supposed to be asked, and she didn't prod. Some days Aalo felt that life forced her to grow up more than the other girls of her age, owing to certain circumstances.

"Aalo, do you need a father?"

Aalo sprang up straight. "What? Who said that?"

"I am just asking. You are a big girl now. I didn't ask this from you for a long while, but it is time and I think your say in this thing matters," her mother sighed.

"Maa, I'm happy with you. I don't want a man to come into our life. We are better like this, Maa." She tugged at her mother's arms. Her mother didn't respond, just sat there, unblinking.

"You're frightening me," Aalo wailed, carefully reaching up to hold her mother's chin as she pulled her face towards herself.

"Look at me, Maa!" Aalo searched her eyes for a sign, anything that might say she was joking. Her mother just stared at her with the same glassy expression.

Aalo looked around frantically. Maybe Pompom could assure her that this was just a dream again and that she would wake up finally. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't real. She had seen these in the TV serials her Maa used to watch. She was not supposed to watch those, but it was so much fun hiding behind the curtains and spying on things that adults watch. But this was real life, not a TV show, and these events don't happen in real life, do they?

"Aalo, I think you'd love to meet Mr Chatterjee. He is a nice person, and he loves you so much already without meeting you. We could go to your favourite water park..."

"No," Aalo screamed, drawing back from her mother and scooting to the other side of the bed. "I have never seen my real father, and I was okay with it. Now you expect me to call another man as my Baba?"

"Don't talk in that accusing tone." Her mother glared at her. " Where did you learn that, anyway? That isn't the way to speak with your mother."

"But this is wrong," Aalo whimpered, unable to understand how to dissuade her mother from this entire idea.

"You will meet him this Sunday and I expect you to behave yourself," her mother said sternly.

"I knew I shouldn't have said anything about what happened at school." Aalo picked up her pillow and threw it to the floor. Her mother frowned, her lips forming a thin line.

"This is the reason I don't tell you what the mean girls say. I was afraid you would do this." She kicked her quilt off in her anger too.

"Enough!" her mother shouted. "You are not a toddler. Don't throw a tantrum. You are big enough to at least try to understand what your Maa feels."

Aalo stopped screaming and thrashing immediately. Her mother had never scolded her in that way before. There was no understanding in her eyes. It seemed like blind rage. Fresh tears sprang up in Aalo's eyes. Her mother's eyes glimmered. Aalo saw a hint of little tears gathering at the corners of her mother's eyes, but she got up from the bed abruptly and turned her face.

"Now go to sleep." Her mother's voice broke. She didn't utter another word as she slowly exited the room and slammed the door without switching off the lights. And for the first time that night, her situation seemed worse than the worst nightmare.

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Author's Note :

Are you liking the story so far?

Was Aalo's reaction justified? Was her mom's reaction reasonable? What shouldn't or should've been done instead? What do you think?