Ismail by Hasanthika Sirisena

You can’t help it…if you choose your own stories to read then you are going to run down a well-worn channel. JE has mentioned getting dangerous with his literature. Well, here is one suggestion…let Narrative Magazine showcase a story for you and then react to it…as I’m doing here. You will find that NM never volleys in the same direction twice.

I figure that the community where I live is the land without literature…like I’m the only one within ten blocks of my house who is going to be reading a serious poem or story except if its a school assignment. 

But then I pick up Ismail by Hasanthika Siresena and find that the action in this short story takes place within five miles of me. So I get a needed reminder that art is not something that has to take place somewhere else.

I love that Sirisena is such a tactile writer…and that her story is full sounds and smells. It’s like you’re in the dark, which every reader is, and you are trying to figure out what the complex piece of fabric is that you are holding in your hands.

But it’s the logic of presentation in Ismail that interests me the most. It’s a wild vine of a story. But it’s in seven disciplined sections divided in the text by breaks of white space: Way to go, Hasanthika.

First: This story revolves around a prank. Ismail, the narrator, is with his younger brother Harry in the dark backyard of Ismail’s best friend Abdul. It had better be dark because they are trespassing while Abdul’s family is away. And they are afraid of the Ukrainian family who lives next door, have floodlights and are trigger happy.

They have five mason jars filled with milk and turkey parts. They are going to break into the cottage out back which Abdul has made into his private homestead and leave the jars lying around at critical points. It’s the hot August season. The organic shit in the jars will spoil and burst the jars…ruining Abdul’s place. They learned this trick from their teacher. Ismail is the leader with a grudge against Abdul…Harry is the follower with a crush on Abdul’s sister. 

Second: Backstory of the family. We learn that Ismail’s family is from Sri Lanka and they won “the visa lottery” and were able to escape civil war. But they had to leave their older sister behind. She was sacrificed for the boys who were felt to have more opportunity in the U.S. The older sister is going to work as a maid in the Middle East. They don’t want to think about what might happen to her. So…this prank and it’s true significance are the story. But this isn’t a tale out of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn…except if the boys grew up in Jamaica, Queens in 1999.

Third: Backstory of the prank and life within Ismail’s house. We also get a hint of the real juice here…why Ismail is so keen to pull off this sadistic prank. It turns out that Abdul’s friendship is getting cold…while he is losing his docile brother Harry to Ameena. Harry and Ameena may get married. Ameena and Harry, you see, rule the Burger King on Jamaica Avenue. Well…blow me away, why don’t you. Eros casts a dark shadow. Harry’s love for Ameena combined with Abdul’s boredom with Ismail means he may lose both of them. No wonder he wants turkey parts and spoiled milk to rot Abdul’s bedroom.

Fourth: “Love doesn’t just make you more beautiful. Love also makes you lose all sympathy for those who don’t have your luck.”

Fifth, Sixth and Seventh: The action speeds up…like an opera in its last act. I’ve hinted at all the detail here…there’s ton’s of it…including what it’s like to have a turkey explode onto your best friend’s bed. And don’t forget those territorial Ukrainians. I mentioned them for a reason. 

So learn all about Queens. Read this story.

-DH