CHAPTER SEVEN
Tanvi held conical candleholders, and Uma stepped out the front doors with more.
“Here, Auntie. Meena, can you hold Wally’s leash for a second?” Sam thrust the loop of the leash into her hand as he ran up the stairs to take the items from the aunties and place them on each step, next to the pumpkins.
“Thank you, Sameer.” Sabina stepped out with a box. “We looked for you, but you were out.”
“Wally needed a walk,” Sam said.
At the sound of his name, Wally barked and tried to climb up on the step to nibble on a pumpkin. “No.” Meena gently tugged him back, his harness straining with his effort to get to the others. She knelt and scratched under his chin until he sat down on the cold path.
“We knocked on your door too, Meena.” Tanvi pointed to the two of them. “I didn’t realize you were together.”
“We aren’t, weren’t,” Meena explained.
Tanvi and Uma raised their eyebrows while Sabina dragged out a bin full of decorations.
“It’s just that we met. Ran into each other. I was walking and he was walking.” Meena shut her mouth. It was unusual for her to be tongue-tied or awkward, but these women seemed to imply and assume there was something between her and Sam, and it made her wary.
“Don’t be so shy about it, there is nothing wrong with a shared walk,” Tanvi said. “More people should do it. Especially on a beautiful day like today. I love the colors and the crunch of leaves under my feet. They say spring is the perfect time for lovers. I disagree. There is something about prewinter coziness that makes you want to cuddle up with someone.”
Refusing to pick up what Tanvi was putting down, Meena gave Wally extra belly rubs. Sam stayed silent too and busied himself with the box of decorations.
“Ay, poet,” Uma said. “Less prattle, more spiders.”
Tanvi sighed and grabbed a few decorations.
“Sam”—Uma held up glittery ceramic ghosts—“can you hang these up next to the doors? I don’t have your height.”
Sam hooked them to the iron lanterns on either side of the front doors.
The pup was getting tired and flopped his chin on Meena’s feet. She sat on the ground, shuddered with the shock of the cold concrete, and stroked Wally as his little black eyes slowly closed in sleep. She’d never taken care of anyone or anything this small, and Sam had entrusted her with this tiny little fur ball. She smiled; it was nice being asked to help. Especially with such an easy and pleasurable task. Meena pulled him into her lap. He nipped a bit before settling down.
“I can take him inside,” Sam said.
“He’s fine.” Meena stroked Wally’s soft fur.
“Meena, you and Sam are in charge of hot cider and small paper cups,” Sabina stated. “I’m assigning you a shared task since you’re still new.”
“Make sure the cups are made with recycled paper,” Uma added.
Meena looked at Sam for an explanation.
“For Halloween.” Sam gestured toward the houses on either side of the building. “This street gets a lot of kid traffic from all over the city. The buildings up and down this block are known for decorations and lots of candy.”
“Every year we have a theme at the Engineer’s House,” Sabina said. “We spend the evening outside from six p.m. to eight p.m. handing out treats and hot drinks to kids and parents.”
The building and garden began to transform into something she could only describe with the term upscale terror, if there was such a thing. There were no down-to-earth cotton spiderwebs or ghosts made from sheets. The decorations looked expensive, made of glass, not plastic, with ribbons, not streamers. Sam strung orange and white fairy lights on the trees. Sabina wrapped purple ones around the railings. Tanvi added tall silk witch hats to the tops of the hedges that served as a fence to the garden on either side of the center path. Uma hung a violet-and-black wreath with small ceramic skulls on one of the doors.