Friends and Fairy Houses
The lawn and the cool shade under the large leaves of the breadfruit tree invited me to take a book and lie on my stomach and read. Inside it was too hot. I took a book, lay in the grass and started reading. When I had a good book, I forgot time and space and lost myself in the story. Mom called me to eat. I had to leave my beautiful world and go in. Mom first saw them. Several leeches had attached themselves to me. Some had fallen off. Mom took some salt and sprinkled it on the few that still were feeding in me. They fell off. Never again would I lie down in the grass to read. Across from our house was a semi-detached house behind a hibiscus fence. The two who girls lived there who became my friends. Vinitha was a Sinhalese and Annette was a Burgher. Vinitha lived with her mother and stepfather, her big brother and two younger siblings. Annette lived with her grandmother and grandfather. Her p...