Martha reluctantly closed the window. Now she had one more thing to talk about with herself. "What the hell is wrong with mom? She was perfectly fine till we sat for lunch yesterday.
I have sensed this behavioral change since dinner last night when the two of them didn't really seem to be in their senses.
Are the two of them hiding something from me? Is there something that had happened with granny?" all these thoughts inundated Martha's mind and she became tensed. She kept wondering all the reasons behind the silence of her parents. As she thought about more and more reasons for the cause of their silence, her tension grew.
"What if something had happened back in the village? It could be so because dad is the member of the village committee and he must have known about such thing before the common people of the town.
What about Matthew then? Oh damn! I am taking this too far! Martha, girl, just limit your thoughts to some rational situations." Martha couldn't also muster the courage to have a word with her parents, let alone asking what is causing this grave silence. "How do I figure out what's wrong? Am I thinking too much? Maybe.
But I have not seen these two most important people so much silent in my whole life! Well, maybe they just don't have anything to talk about. Oh hell no! There's so much to talk about! The lush green fields and how fresh is the wind blowing above it.
Forget it, how could I expect them to talk about this when mommy didn't even like it when I was enjoying those winds.
Okay girl, you were thinking about the reason for this pin drop silence. Why is it troubling me so much? Wish Matthew could be here to cheer me up with all his silly jokes.
I regret saying him that I am not fond of his silly jokes at all since I need them the most this time. More than anything, I want the presence of Matthew, right beside me.
Okay Martha, don't go on thinking about such a petty issue.
A person could be silent for whatsoever reason. In fact, everyone should remain silent for a few hours in a day, except when he is sleeping. This gives us time for introspection, like it worked out for me.
I am just in love with the company of my own self. Wait, what if they too are speaking to themselves? Girl, it doesn't matter if they are speaking to themselves or not but you surely are talking too much with your own self.
Stop it and just ask if everything is okay or not. No, asking if everything is ok or not would give a weird impression. My strongest instinct says there's something wrong with grandmother. So let us just ask them about it."
She finally spoke for the first time since she had sat in the car and the three of them began with the journey. "Is everything fine with granny" asked Martha, almost immediately falling into self doubt, thinking whether she should've asked it or not. Her father remained silent and maintained his utmost focus towards driving the car.
It seemed as if he wanted to avoid any conversation at this moment. Whereas her mother, again without turning her head towards her and fixating her eyes on the road, said, "Everything is fine with granny".
This brought a relief to Martha's mind as she felt relieved there's nothing severe to be concerned about.
Thank god Grandmother is fine. Without her, I won't have any of my grandparents left, be it paternal or maternal. She is the last one from her generation that I have gotten to know about. Most of my friends live with their grandparents and do not even appreciate their love and care for them. Although it isn't like they do not pay heed to what their grandparents say to them, only that they do not value their love and support towards them."
Martha very well knew how much her granny loved her dear granddaughter.
Every time she'd visit her granny, the old lady would hug her granddaughter and bury her deep into her chest, showering all the love she could once in a month or so when her granddaughter would arrive.
She would prepare her most favorite of the dishes. While it is also true that Martha loved everything her granny would make on her visit.
The reason her granny would give whenever asked by Martha's mother how she make such savoring delicacies was that she uses a very special ingredient which is available everywhere.
When asked the name of ingredient she was referring to, she'd say 'love'. Love is something you can pour in abundance into your dishes and it'd never be sufficient for the dish you make. It is the only ingredient which you can keep on adding to a dish and the dish would go on to become better.
Moreover, when it would be the time to say goodbye to her granny to return to home, her grandmother would give Martha a good amount of money as a token of her love. Martha always used to refuse to accept the money saying that she can get it from her parents whenever she'd be in need.
To this, her grandmother would respond by saying that you needn't spend this amount, keep saving whatever you get from me so one day the amount would be big enough for you to build your own castle.
Of course she'd say that jokingly because she used to remember how once Martha had made both her grandmother and mother once in a marketplace and persuaded them to buy her a miniature castle. However, at that time, she was too small to play with a castle and since both the elder lady chose not to buy her one.
They bought her a candy anyway at that time. Every time her grandmother would make this funny excuse to Martha so she keep the money with herself, Martha would get embarrassed as she would be reminded of that small incident.
Ever since her maternal grandfather had died, her granny had been living all by herself. She could have come to stay with her daughter and son-in-law but she chose not to because there was a lot of farm land her grandfather had left to his wife's name.