"Absolution"

Dina Mehta

Cheating husband. Faithful wife. He suddenly decides he can’t live without her. He has a habit after his infidelity of ordering flowers that are neatly arranged in a bowl on the breakfast table. When he experiences his transformation, his newly recovered love for his wife, he enters the breakfast room and discovers a fresh bowl of flowers he did not order. Full of jealousy, he demands, “Who ordered those flowers.” And she answers, “I did, for you.”

A delightful ambiguity.

Rating: **** out of *****.

About the Author: “Dina Mehta, who holds a degree in English literature from Bombay University, is fiction editor at The Illustrated Weekly of India. Her short stories appear in various magazines in several countries. Her plays won Sultan Padamsee Playwriting awards in 1968 and 1976. In 1979 her radio play Brides Are Not for Burning won BBC’s first worldwide playwriting competition. Out of 500 entries received from dozens of countries, her play was unanimously selected by the panel of judges which included the acclaimed Tom Stoppard.”

Short Story International #30. Sylvia Tankel, Ed. February 1982, pp. 61-69.