Chapter 13

Panya was still in the shop when Anjali arrived back that evening. She had set out, on the table, the tools that she would need for the work that was required. This was a set piece, a planned alteration to the way things would be, a careful measure of what needed to happen. Her last-minute adjustments had just been completed as Anjali came in through the back door of Threads.

The blanket light from the workroom ceiling was shining down, providing enough illumination for the most delicate of needlework. Anjali realised as soon as she saw the light shining that Panya would be in the workroom. Panya would never have left the shop without the lighting adjusted to the overnight setting.

Anjali entered the room as if this was just another off-the-shelf encounter between the women, placing the files she was carrying on the cupboards to the right of the entrance door. Panya was shaken by the unexpected normality of Anjali’s approach and bought herself some time by asking, ‘How did it go?’

‘I could feel that the messages were striking home,’ Anjali answered in a precisely measured manner. ‘You know when the cut and the colour - and the fearlessness of delicate design - is there. One of the Directors around the meeting room table became quite irritated. It was as if he knew that the river was now flowing in a new direction; he could do nothing to stop his argument being worn away by the endorsement of the other Directors.’

Panya had regained her poise and was back on script.

‘You are being pulled out of shape by your ambition,’ she said deliberately. ‘There is no foundation to this work. It can lead us nowhere. You have made our tailoring subversive. This obsession has corrupted you like a fungus. It is rotting away the base that we have worked too hard to fasten in place.’

Anjali was thrown. Panya was always measured, rarely direct, and never this direct. She drew breath and then said with her snipping words, ‘The past you repair, Panya, the future you design. If I could just stitch courage into your backbone we could fabricate something so colourful, so beautiful here in this drab valley.’

Panya was back on her feet. She would work to the pattern - or at least as closely to the pattern as this unfurling affair would allow.

‘The role of the Tailor is to sew comfort into the world,’ she said with a rehearsed delivery. ‘If your fashion leads to this outcome of so much upheaval and conflict, what is the good of it? Alteration and repair fit within the structure of this valley and the lives of people who live here. The fabrication of your design can only be forged in a hot fire of change and destruction. The cost is too high for this little tailoring business to even consider.’

Anjali saw no value in responding. She may as well have put her hand beneath an advancing iron.

‘I am not going to discuss this further,’ said Panya. With rising steam she continued, ‘I will simply tell you how things are going to be. Our paths seemed to have crossed like swords. I will protect what I have worked so hard to achieve.’

She closed her eyes, giving the impression that she was overcome, when she was in fact ensuring that every detail was being covered. This was not a piece of work she wanted ever to have to unpick.

‘This is what I am determined to do. To pull the needle through obstinate fabric you need to have strong fingers. I have had to sew such strength into my fingers over the last years. I must catch this thread before it unravels, then I will ensure it is safely tied down.

‘There is much that needs repairing here, Anjali. There are alterations that must be made.

‘I have already told your uncle that there is no bridging of our two positions. His investment controls most of this business, as you must know. He has the power to act in the best interest of the customers of Threads.’

Panya turned to the door and then turned again.

‘She is like one of the figures that decorates the face of the town’s clock and turns to strike the bell with the coming of the hour,’ thought Anjali.

‘I have had a long and very wearing day,’ said Panya. ‘Please make sure the lights are at the overnight setting before you leave.’