Short Story: Dear Ma by Shahminee Selvakannu

In this short story, Shahminee Selvakannu shares a moving tale of relationships where the children show the way to a parent.

Rice Krispies crackling again.

            It’s my right knee.

I claw the wooden handrail now. Sometimes, the grinding sensation persists in the morning. It can last the whole day. A hot bath doesn’t help anymore and getting into it has become an ordeal. Yoga classes are no longer helpful.

I look up. 

This twenty-year-old mahogany staircase has twenty steps and a landing in between. All my friends have moved into high-rise apartments, where air-conditioned lifts take them straight to their doorsteps, sparing the kind of pain I experience climbing up and down these stairs every single day.