New teacher. First day. Sunita thought about a new teacher — young, probably, inexperienced with this kind of thing — on a bus with thirty-two children in a flood. She thought about what that person was doing right now, in this moment, while Sunita was sitting on a sofa in Dehradun with her phone and her husband and the television and the luxury of being able to be afraid without doing anything about it.
She thought about that person and she thought: hold on. Please, just hold on. We are coming.
On the television, the regional news ticker was updating. School bus reported stranded on gorge road. Rescue team deployed. All children reportedly safe.
"Reportedly," Rohan said, reading the ticker.
"I know," Sunita said.
They sat and watched the television and waited, which was the only thing they could do, which was the hardest thing they had ever done.
