The Fall and Rise of the Amir Sisters

Bubblee refused to move. Why should she be lumbered with this task?

‘Don’t worry. I’ll get the bus.’

Everyone paused and looked at Bubblee. Their look was so obvious: Uncaring, Bubblee.

‘The bus comes every two hours,’ exclaimed their mum. ‘Especially at this time.’

He looked sheepish and Bubblee would almost have felt sorry for him if he weren’t being such an inconvenience. She gave as audible a sigh as possible, got up and grabbed her car keys.

‘Sorry,’ he said as he buckled himself into the seat of her car.

He looked at the back seat of her Fiat, surveying the mess.

‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘As long as you don’t comment on the junk.’

‘I was just thinking how different twins can be. If Farah saw this she’d be cleaning it up before she drove anyone anywhere.’

Bubblee simply nodded as she set out onto the main road. She didn’t often find herself alone with her brother-in-law and now that she did she wasn’t quite sure what to say to him.

‘How’s your…’ She glanced at him, flicking her head.

‘Brain?’ he said, smiling.

She smiled back. ‘Yes.’

‘It has its moments. Medicine’s keeping things in check but it’s medicine, you know?’ He paused. ‘It makes me…’

‘Yeah, Farah’s mentioned.’

‘Oh, she has?’

‘When I’ve asked how you’re doing.’

He didn’t have to know that Farah had complained to Bubblee over the past few years about his increasingly erratic moods. Bubblee wasn’t callous.

‘I didn’t think you ever asked how I was,’ Mustafa said with a smile.

‘Once in a blue moon,’ Bubblee replied.

Their mutual indifference had never really been acknowledged out loud – Mustafa’s comment was the closest they’d ever come to it.

‘Which is probably more than you ever ask about me,’ she added. ‘So there we have it.’

‘I ask about you.’

He said it so matter-of-factly that it surprised Bubblee.

‘Well. Good to know. Maybe the meds are making you a concerned brother-in-law as well as keeping you alive,’ Bubblee added.

‘Maybe.’

He looked out of the window and they spent the rest of the journey in silence as Bubblee pulled up in front of the house.

‘Thanks,’ he said.

He walked inside and Bubblee thought she saw him lean his back against the door as he closed it behind him. She waited a few moments until his figure moved and he was out of sight.

When she got back home, Bubblee said: ‘He seems to not feel great a lot of the time.’

‘Is he okay?’ Ash asked Farah.

‘He’s fine,’ she replied, not quite meeting his eye.

It didn’t seem as though Farah wanted to tell anyone else about his mood swings. Bubblee felt a sense of solidarity with her sister. Ash paused and then glanced at their parents. ‘That’s good. I just thought maybe he’s still not quite over the accident.’

‘Honey,’ said Fatti. ‘That was a few years ago now.’

‘Well, some things change people. Not that I knew him before the accident, but… anyway. I’m glad he’s fine.’

Farah gave a tight smile. Bubblee, Fatti and Farah’s phones buzzed simultaneously.

Mae: I’m freeeeeeeeee

Mae: Crap got stoppd by po-po 4 lukin @ fone. Told em I ws runnin away 4rm opresiv brown fam. Hahaha. Msg l8r xxxx

They were all smiling as Bubblee looked up. ‘She thinks she had it bad?’

‘I know,’ said Farah.

The sisters laughed as their mum asked: ‘What is so funny?’

‘Just Mae being Mae,’ said Bubblee.

‘How is she going to get through uni?’ added Farah.

Fatti put her phone away – she looked pale and sickly. Nothing like the way she had appeared a week ago. ‘She’s going to be just fine. I know it.’

‘Fats is right,’ said Bubblee. ‘She’s going to outshine us all.’

Mae’s gaping absence rendered everyone silent for a moment.

‘So, tell me, how does this what’s-happening work?’ asked their mum.

Sometimes Bubblee forgot how little her mum knew of the world and how little she tried to rectify it. How could her mum (just about) use an iPad but think an android phone was too complicated? It would be Bubblee’s worst nightmare for her life to become her home, and for that home to become an impassable bubble. And even worse would be their mum, carrying on, trying to encroach on their private group.

‘WhatsApp, Amma,’ corrected Fatti again, getting paler by the minute.

‘Do you want to go home?’ asked Ash.