Her surgical wound, inflamed, hot, burning like the skin of freshly branded cattle as they
watch, inhaling. 

They stare at the nondi as
she hobbles in, crutches first.
Beady eyes look through her, emotionless;
empty pools of charcoal black, judging,
as they pick apart the nondi like vultures do carcass.
They flinch at the too-dark skin,
taking in the hunched shoulders and
sweaty fingers gripping tightly over the cripple sticks.

The too-small waist and the too-wide
hips go unnoticed as their eyes settle atop the legs.
Clang, clang, clang.
The bells ring across the room.

Pupils dilating, kohl-lined eyes widen, little
tiny o’s formed, in disdain, in shock, in
secret glee at the cusp of discovery; gossip.
The nondi stands, blinking, exhaling
and stares back at her
new audience.
Her surgical wound, inflamed,
hot, burning
like the skin of freshly branded cattle
as they watch, inhaling.

The hobbling nondi, with the
too-dark skin and the blinking eyes takes a
feeble step forward.
Her shorts graze the too-big brace,
grey and menacing, engulfing her
leg in its fence of splints.
What’s left of her flesh stands alone.
Far more offensive than her
too-dark skin and her too-small waist.
Far more off-putting than her too-wide hips
and her too-big brace. Her other leg, strong and
thick, brown in all it’s fleshy sinful glory.
The nondi in that moment was no longer nondi.
She was but one brown leg,
protruding, offensive,
from her too-wide hips.

She takes her second step forward,
blinking, inhaling.

And in one fell swoop, the keeper of the keys,
the guardian of the gates, the aiya himself,
flies across the room.
Lines of holy ash lay parallel to the
softening folds across his forehead.

His salt and pepper beard dance,
reaching his chest hair, weaving
across his torso, folding into his dhoti of
silk. Pure silk.

He flings swaths of yellow
across to the leg’s dad.
Cover her, he said.

About Luxe TX Sunthar

[theerkatharisinam raani; prophecy queen] well-versed in adversity and a maverick Tamilachi. This vigilauntie is a perspicacious intuitive healer using the power of the pen to spread the word that food is medicine and love is everything.