Goal: Relax Conflict: Messy house Disaster: Sweety knock
Daddi’s drunken antics threatening to sign away the family’s land had got Mummi to rebook their flights home early. Daddi had flown home ahead of them, and decided to live in filth. When they waked in, the tub was ringed in a black film. Beer cans lay next to his low mattress taking up most of the living room floor. The place had all the signs of daddi, but no daddi around to be blamed for doing it.
Happy dropped his luggage on the bed and took off his stinky clothes. He put on a fresh kutcha onto his dirty body just to put another increment between himself and India. He went to the bathroom and got out mum’s white powder detergent and put some on his old kutcha to turn it into a rag. He wet it in the bath tap and started scrubbing the filth away. At first it didn’t come off, but as he scrubbed harder it started to peel off the laminate. His arms cysts were already drying and scabbing, something they’d only begun to do on his long layover in Moscow on the way home. He felt like his body was coming back to him.
When it was went from black to light grey, Happy was tired and satisfied. He closed the door, turned on the tap and plugged the drain with on of his old socks. As the water filled up, he didn’t adjust the temperature and let it scald the sores up his legs until the scar tissue sloughed off.
There was frantic knocking at the door.
Mummi called for Happy. They both assumed that it was the cops again.
“Happy,” called a girl’s voice from the hallway.
It wasn’t the cops.
It sounded like Sweety.
Happy put his arms on both sides of the tub and pushed himself up. He looked for a towel and wrapped himself while Mummi opened the door.
“Yes beti, what’s wrong,” Mummi said.
“It’s Uncle Ji’s house. There’s lots of yelling coming. My family is trying to ignore it but I wanted to tell you and Happy,” Sweety said.
Happy was struggling to get his dirty airplane clothes back on in the bathroom. His musty airplane shorts went back on over his damp bottom. He opened the door as he was getting his socks on.
“Did you knock?” Happy said.
“Yes but your aunt said to go away,” Sweety said.
“My uncle gave me a key. Let me get it from my room,” Happy said.