Proud

Once upon a time, in a different place, there was a beautiful young girl named Sheera. In Sheera’s world, when a child turns fifteen, they go through the Pailo. For the girls it is the Tain, and for the boys, Rama. The Tain involves sitting for 15 hours without moving. You can’t speak, eat, drink or even go to the bathroom. There is a lot of honour placed upon the child’s completion of the Pailo. It could shame a whole family if a child doesn’t complete the Pailo successfully. Sheera had been dreaming about her Pailo for as long as she could remember. She had always thought that she would pass it without effort. She hadn’t heard of someone failing in a long time.

One day, when she was ten, she had asked her mother about it.

“Maima,” she had said, “do you think that I will pass my Tain?”

“Of course you will Sheera, you know what would happen if you don’t.” Her mother had answered her.

“There will be shame placed on out family for years and years to come.” Sheera answered mechanically.

“Right. It’s very important that you pass it. You are out first-born. Do you know what some families do?”
“What Maima?”

“If their child doesn’t pass their Pailo, they move to another town and pretend that their child is younger, so they can take it again. You don’t want that to happen to us do you? You know how we’ve built up our reputation here in Hala, you don’t want us to have to move, do you?” Her mother said accusingly.

“Of course not Maima, I will pass.” She said, sounding very determined.

Sheera is 14 now; her birthday is in 10 days. She’s sitting on her bed, practicing for her Tain. She’s been preparing for it for 2 months now, practicing sitting for hours on end. The most she ever sat was 18 hours, so she’s certain that she can last the 15. Whenever she sits, she just thinks and thinks and thinks. It’s not very hard for her. She thinks about when the apples are in bloom and the whole house smells sweet, she thinks about school, and how she loves it although she tells everyone she hates it, and about all of her brothers and sisters. She has six of them, and loves them all to death. Her sisters are Mia, Roam and Pol, who are 12 10 and 6, respectively, and her brothers are Satra, D’Naka, and Sring, who are 11, 10 and 8, respectively. Roam and D’Naka are twins.
Her mother walks into the room.

“Sheera, have you decided where you want to take your Tain yet?” She asks.

“Yes Maima, I want to do it in my room, facing the window so I can watch by brothers and sisters playing, and the swans swimming in the river. Is that OK?” Sheera says.

“Of course it is, as long as you can be sure that you will pass. You will, won’t you, you know how important this is to your father and I, don’t you?”

“Yes, yes Maima. Don’t worry, I won’t let your or Paipo down.” Sheera reassures her mother.
“Good, now continue practicing. I want you to get up to 20 hours before the Tain, just to be sure.”

“Yes Maima.” Her mother walks out of the room. Sheera looks at her clock. It was 9 in the morning. She was going to sit until at least 9 in the evening. This could give her a chance to think. To think about how proud her parents will be of her when she had finished the Tain. There will be the big feast afterwards. It always lasts long into the night. Her Tain will start at 6 in the morning, and go until 9 in the evening, at which time there would be a giant feast, with lots of glorious food and dancing.

***
The day of the Tain.

Sheera opens her eyes. The day has finally come. The day that she will prove to her parents and the rest of Hala that she is worthy. She knows it; she just has to prove it to everyone else. It’s five o’clock now; she has just enough time to get ready. She gets up and goes into the eating hall. There’s a big feast there for her, but she only eats a little. If she eats too much now, her body will expect more later, but she can’t eat for fifteen hours. Gets dressed into her Shama, the robes that you wear for your Tain, then sits down on the pillow. The view is perfect; she can see the riverbank and miles of open field. She could see herself sitting there all day. This will be simple. She looks at the clock, which is positioned above the window so the she can see what time it is without moving her head. She has 16 minutes until she has to start. Just then her mother walks in.

“Are you ready?” Her mother asks.

“I think so. I’m kind of nervous.” Sheera answers.

“But I KNOW that you’ll pass, right?” Her mother reassures her

“Of course.” Sheera sighs. “Can I just be alone?”

“Sure, someone will be back soon to watch you.” Her mother leaves. Sheera sits down on the pillow. She can’t really find a comfortable position. This is going to be harder than she thought it would be. She looks at the clock. It’s 5:56. The door opens and in walks one of the servants. He sits down on a chair by the door. Sheera moves into a position that she finds the most comfortable. The clock strikes 6. And they wait.

6:30
Sheera feels like she’s been sitting on the stupid cushion her whole life. Her legs are getting sore and she’s growing tired. She’s afraid that she’ll fall asleep and move. The servant is reading a book.

11:00
Everyone is outside getting ready for lunch. Her whole family. She can see her brothers and sisters running around, playing with the dogs. She longs to be with them, to get up and stretch her legs, run free with her siblings. She feels her stomach rumble.



3:45
Sheera’s now been sitting in her room for almost ten hours, but it feels like an eternity. She can hear the servant behind her snoring away. She can barely feel her legs anymore. Her youngest brother Sring is taking a nap in the afternoon sun. She has an urge to lie down beside him.

8:40
Sheera opens her eyes. She realizes that she almost fell asleep. She looks that the clock. Only twenty minutes to go! She can’t fall asleep now. Sheera thinks of all the delicious food waiting for her downstairs and her mouth starts to water. She can see her two youngest sisters, Pol and Roam playing by the riverbank, but they aren’t swimming. It’s too cold. The sun is almost completely down, and she can hear everyone in the eating room, waiting for the clock to strike 9.
She looks back out the window at her siblings. Suddenly, Pol falls in the river. Sheera is mildly concerned for a moment, until she remembers that neither Pol nor Roam know how to swim. They’re both too young. Pol thrashes around, trying to keep her head above the water but it keeps bobbing below the surface. Roam is yelling at her, trying to tell her to swim, but neither of them knows what they’re doing. Roam looks as if she’s about to jump in the water. Doesn’t anyone hear the screaming? Of course not, they’re all inside, talking loudly. The servant is still snoring away. Sheera wills with all her might for the servant to wake up, but to no avail. What should she do? If she gets up to save them, she will have failed her Tain and disgraced her whole family, but if she doesn’t do anything, her sisters may die.

Ending #1
Sheera doesn’t care if her family is disgraced or not, It won’t matter if she has no family. Sheera jumps up from her pillow. She almost falls over because she’s so stiff. The servant wakes up and looks surprised, but Sheera runs from the room before without giving an explanation. She runs into the hall and down the stairs. She has to run through the eating hall to get outside. Everyone is going to wonder why she’s up ten minutes early. When she gets to the door everyone looks at her quizzically.

“Help! Pol and Roam, in the river,” She says incoherently. She starts running across the room but her mother stops her.

“Sheera, WHAT are you doing?” Her mother says in a firm whisper.

“Pol and Roam, in the river.” Sheera sounds frantic. She has to save her sisters. She pushes past her mother and runs to the door. Sheera runs outside, with everyone in close pursuit. When she gets to the river, she sees that Roam hasn’t jumped in to save Pol yet. Sheera jumps in the water and grabs a hold of Pol. She swims her to the riverbank, where her father is waiting. He takes Pol and pulls her out of the water. Her sisters are saved. Sheera looks proudly at her mother.

Her mother just looks away in disgust.

Ending #2
Sheera looks at the clock. There are 10 minutes left. Maybe her sisters can hang on for just 10 more minutes. Just then, Roam jumps into the river. She can’t swim much better than Pol can. They’re both thrashing around. But all Sheera can do is sit there and do nothing. She’s too afraid of what her mother will say if she fails her Tain. 5 minutes left. Why can’t the servant just wake up, or someone go step outside for a second? 2 minutes. Sheera sees her sisters stop thrashing. They are both floating, face down in the river.

Sheera hears the clock strike 9 o’clock. She gets up and runs downstairs. She gets to the eating hall and everyone stares as she runs by. When she reaches the riverbank, it’s a horrible sight. People slowly start to gather around her.

“Congratulations Sheera, you’ve passed…” Her mother stops in the middle of her speech. “Oh my god!” She gasps, “oh my babies, my poor babies, why didn’t you stop this Sheera?” Her mother starts shaking her shoulders.

“I, I thought they would be OK, I thought you wanted me to finish my Tain.” Sheera stuttered. Tears started to well up in her eyes.

“At the price of your sisters’ lives?” She questioned

“I just wanted you to be proud of me.”