Excerpt from the fiction 'Naughty Sister'
Isha
had just returned from school and was getting freshened up. As she came
to the dining room, her Mom said, “Listen, my dear; do you know who is
coming here to stay after fifteen days?”
“I
don’t want anyone to come to our home and stay here, Mom; who’s coming,
by the way?” Isha said while picking and chewing pieces of a cut apple
in a dish.
“Why are you saying this? Dhruv is your elder brother, and this is his home as well,” said her Mom.
“What?
Is Dhruv Bhaiya coming! No, please! I‘m not going to stay with that
nuisance. Mom, please shift me somewhere else as long as he is here. I
don’t want to go through all the torture in his company again,” said
Isha.
“Don’t overreact, baby. He is your elder brother, not your enemy,” said her Mom.
“Elder
brother? He used to pull my hair, snatch my toys, hit me in the back
and run away; all this happened when he was seven years older than me.
Even an enemy would be better than this,” Isha said.
“Did he only trouble you? Have you forgotten that he used to tell you stories in your childhood and . . .”
Before
her Mom could complete the sentence, Isha interrupted, “and yes, he
also used to call me insulting nicknames like the swollen sparrow and
baby panda.”
“Look,
Isha, your brother, is no ordinary boy. He is studying engineering in
the USA. People do engineering here and go to USA to do Master’s, but
getting admission for engineering in a top class college there is a
great achievement by itself,” said her Mom.
“I’m
not arguing about his intelligence, Mom. I agree; he is a genius. I’m
talking about his nasty behaviour with me,” Isha said.
“See,
after spending two years in a foreign country and undergoing a rigorous
hostel life, he would have changed a lot. Don’t worry,” said her Mom.
Days
passed, and the day of Dhruv’s arrival was approaching. He was
returning home after two years and for the first time ever after getting
admission to Engineering in a college in the USA. He couldn’t come home
during vacation after completing the first year as he had gotten unwell
at the same time, and the doctor had warned him against undertaking
long-distance travel. So, instead of him coming home, his Dad had to
travel to the USA to look after him and take him to his uncle in New
York, where he spent his vacation after the first year.
The
day of Dhruv’s coming home arrived. His flight was to land at the
airport late in the night, so Isha and her Mom went to sleep while
Isha’s Dad drove to the airport to fetch his son. It took two-hours-wait
for him to see his son’s face, after which a spontaneous smile spread
on his face. By the time the father and son duo reached home, it was
almost three o’clock at night.
*
The
next morning Isha came running out of her bedroom and started
complaining to her Mom, “Mom, an unknown stranger has trespassed into my
bedroom. He has grown hair all over his body, face and under his arms
and is snoring like a bull.”
“Mischievous girl, when you observed hair all over his body, did you not observe he is your elder brother?” said Isha’s Mom.
“Oh! No sooner did your son arrive home than I got downgraded from ‘My dear’ to a ‘mischievous girl,’ didn’t I?” Isha said.
“Stop
whining now and get ready. You’ve got to go to school, and when Dhruv
gets up, he too will need to use the bathroom,” said Isha’s Mom.
THE ABOVE EXCERPT HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM THE FICTION NAMED 'NAUGHTY SISTER' FROM MY FICTION BOOK 'BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIPS'.
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