 The Christmas visit
by Daphne Starling
It was a sunny afternoon,
six-year-old Sunil was lolling about in bed with his grandpa. He
preferred to be with his grandpa rather than go out and play with his
friends.
Every morning Sunil would accompany grandpa to the nearby church.
Grandpa’s eyesight was so weak that Sunil had to lead him by the hand.
Grandpa was invariably dressed in white whenever he went out. He donned
a white coat too. His walking stick was short and black.
 Grandpa was primarily a man of prayer. Before retiring for the night
he would say a long string of prayers and make the sign of the cross in
all four directions. Sometimes Sunil would wake up at night and see him
in a seated position, groaning in prayer.
Grandpa believed that Sunil could do no wrong and when he fell out
with his siblings, he invariably took Sunil’s side against them in
fierce protective anger.
He also thought that Sunil could never fall sick and if he ever
complained of being unwell, cried unbelievingly, “You’ll be O.K.
tomorrow. You can’t be ill!” And invariably Sunil was well when he woke
up the next morning under the powerful suggestion of his faith in him.
Sunil loved him so deeply that he had vowed to himself that he would
commit suicide the day grandpa died. For life was unthinkable without
him.
But today the news was bad. Grandpa turned to him and said, “I heard
your father tell your mother that he intends to pay a Christmas visit to
Aunty Badra with you this afternoon.”
“I hate that woman!” Sunil said, sitting up in bed. He despised her
as she had the habit of blurting out whatever it was that came into her
head without any consideration for the listener.
To his surprise, grandpa expressed the opposite point of view. “You
mustn’t speak like that, putha . The best thing is to go there with him
without making a fuss. You can be back within an hour’s time, can’t
you?”
For grandpa knew that Sunil’s father was strict and brooked no
opposition once his mind was made up.
Presently his father entered the room and asked Sunil to dress up and
accompany him to Aunty Badra’s. Sunil got out of bed in silence and
dressed himself rather reluctantly.
As Sunil accompanied his father to the bus halt, a few crackers went
off sporadically in the gardens which they passed by. This induced a
feeling of sadness in Sunil. For it was the day after Christmas and
reminded him that one long year had to elapse before the next Christmas
dawned.
His uncle and aunty lived in a rented house in one of the suburbs.
They had no children of their own. His uncle was an executive in a
private company. He was out when they called.
She received them cordially and served them rich cake and other
delicacies.
Soon Aunty Badra fell into conversation with his father. They talked
of this and that about Sunil’s ailing mother at home, Sunil’s schooling
and his progress in his studies.
“The trouble is that he is too attached to his Seeya sleeps with him,
accompanies him wherever he goes” said Sunil’s father.
She reflected for a moment.
“My God! what will happen when the Nakiya dies some day?” her mocking
voice rang out.
On hearing this, Sunil burst into tears.
It was the most unkindest cut of all! |
