Chapter 7 — Mrs. Rane Tells the Whole Story

"Two voices," Tanvi said."Two voices," Mrs. Rane agreed. "When you can hear two voices, it's almost complete. The person is still there. But there's something alongside them, inside the same body, learning the last things. And then there's a point—"She stopped."A point," Tanvi said."A point where it's learned enough," Mrs. Rane said quietly, "to no longer need the person. And the person—" She stopped again. She looked at the puja lamp. "I don't know what happens to the person. I've never known. The body continues. Whatever is inside it continues. But the person who moved in—""Where did Reena go?" Tanvi said.Mrs. Rane looked at her steadily."I don't know," she said. "Babulal went into the flat. He came out white. He put a lock on the door. Whatever was left in that flat — whoever — he put a lock on it." She paused. "And then he found a new tenant. Quickly. Too quickly. And he put her in the flat with the mirror." She looked at Tanvi. "I'm telling you this because I should have told you on the first day and I didn't. I was afraid. I thought—" She stopped. "I thought if I told you and you left, he'd only find another girl. Another girl who didn't know. And at least you — at least you're still yourself enough to hear this." She leaned forward. "You're still more you than it, Tanvi. I can see it. But not for much longer if it keeps going.""How do I stop it?" Tanvi said.Mrs. Rane was quiet."I don't know," she said. "I've been thinking about this for forty years. Since Kavita. I don't know how you stop it." She paused. "But I know that Ramesh left. And he recovered — not completely, but mostly. He left and he stayed away and it couldn't finish with him. He had enough of himself left to rebuild." She looked at Tanvi. "Leave. Tonight. Come stay here, with me, and tomorrow we go to Babulal together and we don't let him put another girl in that flat."Tanvi looked at her."I have all my things there," she said."Leave the things," Mrs. Rane said. "Leave everything. Come now."She thought about the flat. The window with the jamun tree. The pink-orange morning sky. The first week, when she'd thought it was going to work, when she'd thought Mumbai was going to be the thing she'd needed it to be.She thought about the mirror."I need to go back for my journal," she said. "And my laptop. I need my laptop for work.""I'll come with you," Mrs. Rane said."No," Tanvi said. "Five minutes. I'll be back."Mrs. Rane looked at her with the expression of someone who had heard this before."Five minutes," she said. "I will stand at my door and watch the corridor. Five minutes and then I come in after you."