Short Story: Some Dreams Die Hard by Rathin Bhattacharjee

Rathin Bhattacharjee shares a moving story of family and blood ties where as one goes through life and death these bonds are tested again and again.

Anik felt sorry for his sister, Aditi. She was past seventy-two, infirm, sitting on the edge of the bed, unsure of what to do. She had her hands on her knees.

“Get ready, Anik. We’re getting late.” His spouse tried to hurry him up. He looked her daggers in the eye. How could she be so uncivilized? Didn’t she have the common sense that they couldn’t have left his sister behind like that? Didn’t she have any feelings for his sister at all?

Anik pulled the pillow closer under his head and was back in his subconscious. That day they were visiting Aditi’s residence at Salt Lake. She lived there all by herself, at the mercy of two paid nurses working in an eight-hour shift each. Luckily, Asim, Anik’s elder brother had come up from Australia with his wife and had been staying at their sister’s. The bad news was and that was why Anik was there at her residence, that while travelling by plane, Asim, travelling against the doctor’s advice, suffered a series of minor heart attacks.