Alas, he was at a loss of words since there wasn't anything he could say to bring Cindy's rage to a halt. Hell broke loose then and what was earlier only Cindy yelling now became a heated argument between the two.
Cindy, intoxicated by anger, had said, "I dealt with your parents' shit when they were unable to walk and were bedridden. Now when it is your time, you're becoming insensitive to the only parent I have got now and plainly avoiding your responsibilities!!" This statement from Cindy's end infuriated Benjamin and they both began to quarrel. Martha also remembers how her parents weren't on talking terms with each other for as long as a week but it had felt like an eternity.
Finally, her father had decided to appoint a driver who would take Cindy to her mother once every fortnight. Also, he pledged to accompany her at least once in a month.
This time, Martha couldn't make out what the reason for their quarrel was.
The sound was imperceptible to Martha and she resisted getting off the bed to go to the hall and find out what exactly the reason for their concern was.
Deep inside in her heart, she was intuitive about something bad coming her own way which she wanted to avoid in whichever way possible.
Finally, her decision of not getting off the bed appeared as right since her mother dashed into her room to tell her something. Her mother appeared weak. She wore a blank face with no expressions at all and appeared exhausted by the way of her body language that told she didn't have any energy left.
Apparently, she had lost all her energy into the fearsome quarrel which she was having just a couple of minutes ago and that had hopefully drawn to a conclusion now.
She told Martha in an almost inaudible voice, "Get dressed Martha. We need to travel out of town." She didn't pay heed to think if Martha had something to say to her and immediately turned after delivering the message.
Even though she didn't want to argue with her mother as she got well versed with her condition, yet she wanted to ask her if it'd be possible for her to stay back in the village for today's Sunday gathering. She mustered up all her valor and courage and asked her mother before her hand reached the doorknob.
"Mom, will it be okay if I stay back today. I have plans with my friend." The hand withdrew before even reaching out to the doorknob and she turned behind to face her daughter.
"Do not mess with my orders this time Martha! If I say you're coming with us, then you're coming with us at all events!!" she yelled at Martha in a very raging voice.
Saying so, her mother immediately turned behind and her hand again reached out to the doorknob.
She pulled the door with much force and left after slamming it with a thud. Tears rolled down Martha's cheeks for many reasons.
First of all, she had never seen her mother in such an enraged avatar nor did she ever try to talk with her with such anger.
As a daughter, she felt bad due to that. While her primary reason was because all her plans of enjoying this day are now gone in vain.
She wouldn't be able to see Matthew today, let alone spending time with him.
As she thought more about what had happened with her, copious tears rolled down her cheeks and she was now sobbing. But she immediately gained control over herself and stopped crying.
She suddenly remembered the words from her teacher which he had said only yesterday – 'Learn to cope with circumstances. Not every time they will be in your favor and you must learn to adjust to them or find a solution for them.'
"Maybe I should write it somewhere and read it daily, I think it is going to help me a million times in my life" thought Martha while curving her lips a bit in an upward manner.
She grabbed the toothbrush and spread some paste on it. "Where are we going anyway? I am not going to ask mom about it nor do I feel to talk about this with my dad. Let's see" told Martha to herself as she brushed her teeth off the upper jaw.
She then wondered the last time her mother had visited granny's place. Being unable to remember when her mother visited granny the last time compelled her to believe that the three of them were going to visit granny only.
She then finally remembered that it was the month of June when her mother paid the last visit to granny's place along with her dad and Martha herself. She was able to remember it since her mother had asked his father to carry a good amount of the seasonal crops along with them to ensure granny's supply for at least a year.
Another memory attached to this visit was how all the boxes of supplies were placed beside Martha in the motor car and how she was congested with all the seasonal crops occupying nearly double the area that she occupied in the car.
"So it has been three months ever since we last saw grandmother. Hope she is doing well. That only would've been the reason for the quarrel among my parents. Why not bring granny over here only? Poor lady lives all by herself and gets to see us not more than a handful of times in a year.
Okay if not Matthew, I would be seeing my dearly granny this time!" wondered Martha, giving herself an excuse to make her believe that there's anyway something good that's going to happen, if not something better than spending time with Matt.
After taking a bath, she came out of the bathroom and opened her wardrobe to select the dress she was going to wear.
Her eyes fell on the red dress that she'd planned to wear on the occasion of today's gathering.