by MK Lam
“Shashi, sometimes you act like an old geezer! Why don’t you take a chill pill?”
“Whaat? What did you say?” Shashi looked at his elder sister as if she had lost her marbles. Since when had she started spouting all this gibberish? She was sounding more and more like Khushi every passing day. “Have you been hanging out with Khushi and her friends Didi? It’s all this silly girl’s fault here.”
“Don’t say anything about my Khushi. Now, why don’t you try a bit of this bhel? Wash it off with some jaljeera. It’s good for your digestion.”
Shashi stormed away muttering under his breath. Now he had two mad hatters under his roof.
“Boo, you’re the coolest. Give me a high-five!”
Garima Gupta who had been trailing after her husband turned back and blinked her eyes. Her plump sister-in-law was doing that ‘high-five’ stuff with her daughter and both of them were giggling like teenagers. She didn’t know whether to laugh or berate them. Being the principal of a school, Garima knew all about recalcitrant students but her elder sister-in-law was harder to handle than a teen! Besides Madhu had strong biceps.
Khushi Gupta was humming softly as she recalled her aunt. Memories of her childhood and family invariably brought a soft smile to her face. Her parents were aging well and Maddy Boo made sure everyone toed the line. It was a wrench whenever Khushi left her parental home after a visit. Arjun would cry inconsolably at the airport in Delhi after waving goodbye to his grandparents.
“Why can’t we stay with Nana and Nani? Maddy boo can teach me so many things.” The last line was added for good measure as the little tyke knew how much Khushi loved her aunt. But Khushi was silent. ‘How could she make him understand that living in Delhi was not a wise decision at the moment?’
Stepping out of the shower she toweled herself dry and got dressed to go to the supermarket round the corner. Since she had landed on a Friday, she had the weekend to get over her jet lag before going back to work on Monday.
The doorbell rang just as she was rummaging her purse for the keys. It was her neighbour Candy, who was going to keep an eye on Arjun when Khushi went shopping for groceries.
Candy and Khushi were both single parents and helped each other out when there was an emergency. “I’ve left some Indian sweets and snacks on the dining table for you, Candy. You loved the jalebis which I had brought last time.”
“Aha! Take your time sweetie. You don’t have to rush back because Pam is with her dad this weekend.”
There were hardly any shoppers in the store. Khushi picked up some Cheerios for Arjun and some milk and yogurt. When she was waiting at the checkout counter she noticed the red Mercedes at the parking lot. It was parked at an angle occupying two parking spots.
Looks like the driver’s in a hurry, Khushi thought.
There was a bakery that boasted of the finest bagels and cream cheese right next door to the supermarket. In all probability, the person must have headed there. Then her heart began to beat rapidly and her fingers felt clammy.
“Ma'am are you all right? Ma’am?”
The young girl at the counter was looking at her with an anxious expression. Had she zoned out completely?
She picked up her bag of groceries and headed to her car. As she walked past the Mercedes she paused for a few seconds and peeped in through the windows.
Nothing. No personal effects or anything to throw light on who was driving the car. Then shaking her head for being silly she rapidly walked to her car and drove away not realizing that if she had waited for a few seconds more she had sufficient cause to be alarmed.