Free The Paler Shade of Autumn by Jacquie Underdown Page B

paycheque, a day off, a holiday, a husband or wife, a lover, a smile, luck, hope for the future, a friend—hope .
    In Bodh Gaya, I saw hope in the child beggars as they approached you for a coin, hope in the local street peddlers that a new sale will bring in a few rupees, hope in the pilgrims that they will reach spiritual enlightenment, and hope in the many Buddhist devout that today may bring nirvana .
    Under the shade of the Bodhi tree, its long curling limbs spreading out above me like loving arms, I didn’t find hope within, but without, in all who shared in the stories, in the purposes and spirituality of the tree, the location and of the man who gave it all its meaning, Siddhartha Gautama—Lord Buddha. Perhaps the affinity and union with the rest of humanity experienced is what he intended for me. Perhaps he opened my eyes to the glory of a child’s smile, the spiritual connection you can find in a lover’s embrace and the sheer joy in helping another in need .
    I came to India to find answers, but how can you find answers when you don’t even know the questions? Instead India gave me so much more than answers. It reacquainted me with hope for the future, personal strength, loss, appreciation for what I have, a desire to help, my goals and, more pertinently, India reacquainted me with me .
    Autumn Leone 22 April, 2007

Chapter 7
    Five years later – 2012
    Jordy crosses his outspread legs, elevated on the kitchen chair in front of him, and lifts his arms behind his head. He thinks this gift of his sister’s is beneficial and he thereby takes advantage of it. Even as a small child he would urge Autumn to help him out in difficult situations—with teachers, bullies, sporting foes—where he needed the assistance of her silent insight. Now, as a young man, her support centres on one thing and one thing only—women. Apart from Jordy’s career in landscaping, his footy on the weekend and spending at least one big night-out a week with his mates, girls are his entire focus. Autumn, protective and empathetic by nature, almost never denies helping him out when he asks.
    “She’s hot, Autumn,” he says, smiling cheekily.
    Autumn rolls her eyes at her mother, who concurs with an impatient shake of the head.
    “Aren’t they always hot, Jordy?”
    “Yes. Many, many hot women in my path.”
    Autumn can’t doubt it. Her brother is an attractive man, so she has been told. He’s tall and fit, thanks to his love of sport. He possesses the same palest blue eyes both he and Autumn inherited from their mother and is adept at turning on the charm, as and when required.
    “So what do you want me to do this time?” Autumn asks.
    “She works as a real estate secretary. All I want is for you to go there with me Saturday morning when I pay my rent and touch her.”
    “And?”
    “And see if she likes me?”
    “Why don’t you grow some courage and ask her out. Find out the old-fashioned way. You know, how normal guys do it.”
    He shifts his legs again, crossing the left now over the right. “But I’m not normal am I? I have a sister who can read people’s thoughts. Why waste my time with rejection if I don’t need to.”
    “Mum, can you tell him to stop it?” she pleads. “I’m not going to the real estate to feel some random girl, who may or may not even have thoughts about Jordy.”
    “That’s enough, Jordy. You are twenty-three years old, a good looking young man, ask her out yourself.”
    He stands now, towering over Autumn and her mother in stature and picks a roasted potato from the pan his mother has, moments ago, pulled from the oven. He bites half off. “Why should Autumn get to keep her abilities all to herself? It’s selfish. She should share it with her wonderful, younger brother.”
    Mrs Leone rolls her eyes and walks out of the kitchen, not getting into the discussion which arises time and time again, to retrieve her husband from the lounge room to join them for dinner.
    With his mother out of