Week 6 Story: What have I gotten myself into?
This story is part of my portfolio: you can find the new version here
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I cannot even have a peaceful moment for myself now! They are blowing my phone up! Let me just set my phone on do not disturb. Thank god this option exists! As I put my phone on my red purse, the door of my therapist’s room opened.
“See you, Sita! Enjoy your stay at the spa resort!” My therapist said as she let the woman I see every Friday come out of the room. I finally can put a name on her. I remained immersed in my thoughts when a velvet voice called out to me.
“Hello, Draupadi! Nice to see you.” I looked up at Parvati with a slight startle.
“Hi! Nice to
see you again too.” It’s finally my “me-time.” I followed Parvati to her
peaceful room; the pleasing scent of lavender is already comforting me. I sat
on the chair lounge, waiting patiently for Parvati as she took my notebook in
one of her drawers.
“So, how was your week, Draupadi?” She sat on her Pine green armchair.
“Well, I kept asking myself the same question all week long. What have I gotten myself into? You know when I told you I was expecting a week ago?” Parvati nodded as I was talking.
“Well, I finally took the courage to contact the five guys who could potentially be the father last Friday right after our session. And let me tell you, it was a mess!” I finally exhaled; it seems I had been holding my breath the whole time. Parvati chuckled silently as she scribbled on her notebook. “So yeah, I set up a meeting with them at my apartment the day after. And oh my god.” I shook my head, remembering what happened. “First of all, I was embarrassed, who thought losing a bet to my best friend would lead me to this messy situation. And like, who’s in her right mind accept to have a one-night stand for each working day?” I gawked at Parvati, expecting an answer to my rhetoric question.
“At least you had fun; I told you to loosen up! And you did, that’s progress! Good job!” Parvati beamed at me, waiting for me to continue.
“I did not see it like that, but I guess, yes… But anyway, after I told them I was pregnant and one of them is the father, they started to compete against each other? Like, what’s the point? I really don’t understand guys!” I looked at my therapist in disbelief, waiting for an answer.
“You’re not alone, don’t worry…” I smiled and resumed.
“Oh! And I forget to say something really essential. I’m expecting twins, so I can’t do a paternity test.” I snickered at the chaotic situation I got myself into. “So, yup! My pregnancy is a sort of competition now. They are blowing up my phone, asking me what I want if I already ate if I drank enough water. If I also have heartburn because he saw on Facebook that if yes, it means the babies will have a lot of hair and thus it might be his children; like what?”
“Oh? I recalled I had heartburn when I was pregnant with my eldest son, and he has a lot of hair.” I stared at her, agape.
“Not helping! So yeah, my week was punctuated by five dudes stupidly competing with each other. I feel like I’m in a tv reality show or something! Oh no, even better! I feel like I’m Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!” Parvati tried to suppress her laugh as I continued my monologue.
Author’s note: I decided
to write about Draupadi, a central character in the Mahabharata. She had five
husbands, the five Pandavas. She was loyal to all of them and had children with
each one of them. I was inspired by Mamma Mia, yes! Initially, I was supposed
to write Draupadi’s struggles of having five husbands – like the original story.
BUT, I was listening to ABBA while writing it and come up with this story. The
story is set in a modern time, and she just turned 30. I chose Parvati as the
therapist because I think she fits this role well: she is empathic and the goddess
of love, children, marriage, and many other things. She is just the right one
for this role.
Bibliography: Tiny
Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs
Hi Melanie! I think adding the therapy component is brilliant - with what many of the women in these Indian epics endure, they might need someone to talk to! I know I would. I have not seen Mamma Mia, so some of the inside jokes are probably lost on me, but I still enjoyed reading your story a lot! If I could make one suggestion, I might try separating the dialogue and adding the character's name next to it, sort of like a script in a play. Sometimes it was hard for me to know which character each line of dialogue was from.
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie! I really enjoyed reading this, and I got the Mamma Mia reference, pretty clever! I thought the story line was really entertaining, while still having a humor aspect of it. I agree with Robert, sometimes it was hard to know which character was speaking, but by using the context I got it. I enjoyed how the therapist, Parvati, was empathetic with the main characters situation and seemed to know exactly how to handle it. With Parvati being the goddess of love, children, and marriage, I think the therapist role was a great choice, especially with this given story. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie! I loved the Mama Mia connection to Draupadi's story — it definitely works well! Mama Mia is such a fun movie (the Abba songs are a major plus), and I think it would be a great "dramedy" if Draupadi and her five husbands had to sing along to Abba. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHello Melanie, I found this story after reading your story in which Parvati is a therapist for Savitri. Savitri’s story was engaging until the very end, but this one is on a whole other level. Draupadi having to deal with five husbands already seemed over the top, but having to deal with five men who are competing to be the father of her children is absolutely crazy! When you look at it biologically too, there’s a chance that her children are fraternal twins and have different fathers, which would only increase the competition between the five potential fathers. Great job on writing such an engaging story!
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