On Loan

What had she said about .... Coke? Snorting it?

Mina had opted for a nap after Sardari left, to make up for lost sleep. Come to think of it, Sardari could very well had taken a nap during her visit - you never knew with her. Sardari could slip into a dark place to doze for a while and have only a second pass on the clock.

It was unnerving. Never seeing her sleep. All the more reason to give the loan and keep her from becoming a house-guest.

Coke, though. The sound of her voice made it sound like opium. Or maybe somebody had banned sugar water.

Snorting it, though?

Was it supposed to be some new Jala Neti Kriya thing?

Mina didn't even think about not heading to the store by the highway that same afternoon - it wasn't too far from the bus stop. She had to get their fax number, anyways. On the way there, she passed two groups of children going the other way. One with Green uniforms. Mina stopped in some shade for a few moments as they passed - the girls would be in there. No reason to keep them from their mother.

The dry market had Coca Cola. Of course they did. Though the shopkeeper didn't quite understand her question if Kenyans had sold it to him - but if it was illegal, why would he even know - secret supply lines, smuggling business. She dropped the issue, and took half a dozen glass bottles home.

Of course, there was screaming around the village when she got there - the to groups of kids had dropped off their books, and collided in play. Two of them- not properly hers - but of course little Usha and Virika saw she had something. And suddenly her six bottles were down to two - because of course little Kayam was too young to get his own bottle. Maybe, just maybe, their parents would see theirs. Not Mina's problem.

Mina was left to retire to the shade of her back stoop - to the sunflower field starting to bow over to the weight of seed, and to two bottles. And a coincidental knife to pry off a bottle cap.

A tentative sniff - it fizzed. It smelled of sugar. Was it supposed to be boiled? No, why would it have a date printed on it then. Of course, if it came from Kenya, they would have boiled it there, otherwise there would be no point in bottling it, they'd just sell loose coca leaves.

Well, on to the snorting th- 

Ku████ of a F███ it burns

She gagged. She shuddered. She clenched. If she had managed to do these thing in a different order, she might not have shoved half a bottle of Coke up her nose.

She managed to cough so hard it seemed her tears were brown.

She finally managed to yank the half-empty bottle from her nose and threw it at the ground. Coughing. Hard. She was pretty sure she had almost drowned. She found herself gasping for air, oozing brown snot from an oversized nostril that was slowly trying to recover it's normal dimensions.

She considered just breaking the bottles. She did pop the top off the second one, immediately dumping it's contents into the grass. Would it kill the grass? She didn't care.