“High Heels?” asked Michael once he saw that Malee was holding her ankles.

Malee could only nod in response to the question. Michael walked over to her and picked up Malee in his arms, to the surprise of Malee. She thought he wasn’t strong enough to carry her at all.

“Georgia had done it again.” muttered Michael as he tried to adjust his balance and slowly walked out of the house with Malee.

Michael carried her all the way to the servants’ house and put her on the chair at the side of the entrance.

“Wait here. I will fetch the rub.” said Michael before disappearing into the house. It was a short while before he reappeared with a traditional medicine bottle. He pulled another chair to the opposite of where Malee was sitting and sat on it.

“Give me your right leg. It will be hot for a while, but it is good for muscle pains.” said Michael.

Malee tried to protest, saying she could do it herself, but Michael insisted till Malee relented. Michael applied the medicine to both of her legs and told her to rest on the chair for a while. He disappeared into the house once more and came out with two cans of cola. He gave one to Malee and rearranged the chair to the original position before sitting down with the cola in his hand.

“She didn’t mean it, you know” said Michael. By her, he must have meant Georgia.

“It’s ok. I must learn to wear it tomorrow, anyway.” replied Malee.

“She was too clever for everyone.” continued Michael, taking another sip from the cola bottle. “Are you hungry? They should be back soon.”

“No. I can wait.” said Malee. Her ankles were still sore, but she could feel the pain was getting lesser as time went by. In a short while later, they saw a group of people walking over to them in the distance and knew the lunch was over. Mary was the first to reach them. Shouldn’t she be at the main house with the twins?”

“How are your legs? Georgia said you should rest in the afternoon.” said Mary.

“Georgia said it? That’s new.” whistled Michael. Mary ignored him and looked at Malee.

“I am ok. It was so sudden and I wasn’t expecting to be in this much pain.” replied Malee. She had been hurt far worse than that, both from playing with bigger and older boys and beatings from her father. In fact, she felt uncomfortable with everyone focusing their attention to her. Wasn’t she pushing a heavy cart in the monsoon rain a few weeks ago? She tried to slowly turn her ankles. The pain had mostly disappeared.

“Can you walk now? Michael, help her to the kitchen.” said Mary before going into the house. Malee waved Michael’s attempt to carry her again and slowly limped into the house with Michael following her closely, in case she fell down. By the time they had arrived at the kitchen, the others were preparing for lunch. Mary signalled them to get out of the kitchen it’s ready, ignoring Malee’s protest about how she could help in. Mary had to force Michael to pull her out of the kitchen, back into the living room and to the chairs to sit down once more.

“Don’t feel bad. They will be fine. She is more worried that you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.” said Michael. Malee sighed. She wasn’t in the perfect condition to protest, so she might as well rest so that she could practice again in the evening. She relaxed and tried to feel her ankles again.

“Are you still in pain? Need more rubs?” asked Michael. Malee shook her head. She could no longer feel the pain, only a numbing sensation around her ankles. Soon, she could walk. She didn’t spend her childhood in the slums to surrender to minor issues such as those. If only she could tell them about the times she had to fight to grab the parts and scraps of food for survival. How could she become so weak in such a short time, she wondered to herself? She shook off her negatives thoughts from her mind. She was a servant to the family now, and she had to get ready for tomorrow.

Then, just as she was dreaming of her past, the kitchen door opened with Mary asking them to join in the lunch.