I left Dani sitting on a bench while I visited one of the vendors along the train station platforms.

I scanned the stalls, but all I found was water and a bunch of bananas.

The bananas sat on the counter, brown and soft. The water bottles lay on their sides in the sun, a small puddle forming beneath them.

Still, I bought them.

Back at Dani, our train still nowhere in sight, I opened a bottle of water, took a swig, and spit it on the ground.

My throat clenched, and I began to cough.

The water felt hot, metallic, and it had the sour aftertaste.

I snatched the opened bottle and stomped back to the vendor.

He saw me as I approached.

“You opened it No take back.”

“What do you mean, I opened it? This is tap water! The bottle was already opened; you refilled it. Here. Taste!”

I held it toward him in the sunlight.

Sediment swirled inside.

Then I looked past the bottle.

Behind the kiosk, people were refilling bottles just like this one from a porcelain water fountain beside the tracks.

I focused back at the vendor.

“New bottle. A hundred rupees.”

He said it to my feet, never looking me in the eyes.

I could still taste the water.

“No. You give me a new bottle.”

My voice came out louder and higher than I expected.

Then I closed my eyes and sighed. And handed over the money.

~

I held my new bottle to the light.

Condensation glistened off its surface and the seal looked intact.

Then I returned to Dani, and together we sat by the tracks, eating our squishy bananas and waiting.