The Little girl who grew within a day: A Short Story

SHORT STORY

Waiting for the gift she had spent her whole day. She thought like a rainbow in sky, she will have a colorful bicycle. Well, that’s what he had promised her after all. “Isn’t it too late?” asked mother, hoping to put her into bed. “No”, she cried. The day of festival was over, but it hadn’t begun at all for her; she was promised to be rewarded with a gift for being a good girl. But wasn’t it unfair that the promise was not kept at all? Well, what could she say, the adults act in an unpredictable way?

 “Beta he must have had to stay back for some work that’s the only reason he couldn’t come. You know na how much he loves you?” tried mother, to poise down the little girl’s heart. “What work? Its Holi today, the Holi in holiday,” tightening her grip over the hem of her frock, she said. “We will go together tomorrow to pick him up from the airport and scold him to his last nerve?” joked Baba. Nothing seemed to soothe the pain her heart ached with.

 “But it is so unlikely of him” said the little girl muttering under her breath. This is when mother got furious. Tired of this ruckus that the girl had been creating for past two days. What was so big about not getting a gift? Mother couldn’t understand. What was it that made him stay back, she wondered? Apart from being completely drained off from all the questions, she was also tired of the little girl’s unceasing sobbing and shrieks.

 Mother pulled the girl away from the chair on which most of the day was spent. This chair was a gift from him on her last birthday. Yes, a study table and chair, well that’s what she had asked him to buy for her and like always he just bought it. He would buy her anything at once without ever questioning. Maybe, it was the reason she was so upset on not receiving her gift this time, or maybe because it was only him who never tricked her and had always loved her unconditionally. Whatever it was, her little brain couldn’t comprehend.

 She cried herself to sleep, the next day was dim and dull too. At 7 in evening the only landline in the house rang. “How come people call at this hour of the day” said visibly irritated Baba who then continued evening Arti of the household. This was taken as an obligation by Bade Papa to go and attend the call and as the Arti was just finished; Bade Papa called for Baba.

 Soon the whole house which was earlier a mela had turned into Manikarinika Ghat. Painting the house in a frenzy of despair and gloom, grim silence followed Maa into the kitchen. She threw all the mithaee down the drain. No one said anything so, it was taken as a condemnation of the situation by the little girl. Maa was so angry that she made the kids go to sleep early tonight but the little girl stayed up anyway. The siblings called for her “Didi chalo” but she didn’t care, she had been wronged. And how can she sleep after all, knowing she has been tricked by the one she had least imagined. The night seemed to be a hellfire of eternity. It appeared darker than the kohl that was smeared all over her face from crying and; sadder than the stray dogs howling down the street. 

Was it a loud cry? Or a shout? Or was it a call for her to wake up? She wondered rubbing her eyes from sleep. She looked at the poster she had slept holding onto. It was a poster of Hanuman. The very God she feared over life but last night was different. This poster seemed the only thing to bring her peace. Swollen eyes from the sleepless nights took her to see what was up in the household.

 Everyone is here but where is he? What sort of games, is he playing? Maybe he has planned a surprise for all, she thought doubtfully. Some suitcases were around the place but not him, the little girl rushed out of the house, but he was nowhere. Neighbors seemed to ask her something before she could understand what, and she caught a glimpse of him among them all.

 “I don’t want to play any games and I am very angry you lied”. But even before words could fall out of her, she was baffled on realizing that today he didn’t look at her once with love and concern as before. His eyes were nowhere near the adoration they always had. He no more smiled today with his perfect crooked tooth pointing down. Today his lips were tight as if they had been silenced and sealed, planning on never speaking with her again. Ever. The only thing she could think of was jumping onto him for a hug, but he didn’t even hold her for a second, he didn’t wrap his hands around her tiny frame. He didn’t shove her up into a bundle of love and she didn’t melt into a puddle like always.
Today all he did was just lay there like a lifeless doll, he had once bought her from a small rack at a store. “What’s this?” She asked, pulling a cotton ball out of his nostril almost on the verge of bursting up with the lava of mixed emotions bubbling inside her. That’s when everyone realized she needs to be withdrawn from him. Not him, he was no him anymore but a stiff and still pile of flesh and bone, that seems to mock everyone with his placidity, while she was being pulled away from him the little girl yelled 

itna jootha hota h kya koi? …itna jootha…. ita.

Choking on her words a four-year-old realized what death was like, what it felt like and how does it end everything in a snap. Now all she wanted was to be held, all she wanted from him was to sit up from the white pale bedding and bring back her life’s colors. She grew up like one of her dolls from her play games that are born on the same day and grow old on the same day.