”Two dollars, is that enough?” Asked the smaller one with the pigtails.
“More than enough, I am supposed to get a can of mushrooms as well, those are a dollar,” replied the elder one with the pixie cut. “Just take smaller sweets, Aatha is cooking dinner.” She added with a stern wave of her index finger.
The eldest one slowly placed the crisp note on the counter, before the balding old man. He peered at her through his spectacles, before giving her a lopsided smile, revealing a set of yellowing teeth, like the pages of an old library book. She nervously stared, eyes googly, before grabbing the change and the plastic bag, muttered hasty thanks and raced her sister down the corridor to the lift.
Aatha was waiting for them outside on the steps, as she beckoned them inside.
“Go get washed, children. And make sure I see clean hands at the table.” She said as the children raced to bathroom and turned on the faucet. Aatha smiled serenely to herself as she heard the tinkling laughter of the girls together with the heavy drops of water against the base of the tiny red pail. She shook her head, increased the volume of the battered radio, now playing some slow jazz from the eighties, as she lit the stove and set the saucepan on it.”
*****
My phone started to ring, sharply awakening me from my daylight dream.
“Hello?” I answered, without checking the incoming number.
“Hey.” My fiance answered.
I felt my spirits heightened a little as I heard his voice. It still felt like I heard it for the first time ever, butterflies and all.
“Hi love. Are you here already?” I asked, fidgeting with the metal chains of the swing.
“Yes, just parked the car. I’m walking towards the playground.”
“Alright, see you in a bit.”
Moments later, a felt a pair of hands seize the metal chains as it forced the swing forward, catching me off guard. When the swing pulled back, his misty lavender scent came into contact with my cheek in the form of a tiny peck as Vee came into focus. He looked at me for a brief second before latching his fingers under my chin and slowly pulled it up.
“Stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine.” He smiled, displaying his perfect set of teeth as I felt my heart hit a few notches higher.
I nodded, giving him my best smile, but obviously it betrayed me. Vee came closer as he pulled me into a hug, while I was still seated on the swing. I grabbed his waist and buried my face deep into his stomach, inhaling his scent and momentarily trying to distract myself from my dishevelled thoughts.
“Vee?” I mumbled through his fabric.
“Hmmm?”
“I want to swing.”
Vee released himself from my grip. He seized the metal chains from behind again and pulled, high enough that my feet weren’t touching the ground and released me. Whenever I came back to the ground, his strong hands propelled me from the back. With every push, I soared up higher and higher, as the air gratefully expanded my lungs, my brown hair whipping in the slight breeze with a huge, toothy smile plastered on my face. I felt alive again, exhilarated and young.
*****
The lift doors binged open.
“1ststorey”
The cool, automated female voice resounded as the two girls raced out of the lift, down the winding path through the tiny little concrete hut, where hobbling senior citizens gathered there for a laugh or two and a game of ‘Mah-jong’, and right into the tiny playground, where the two swings were suspended from a structured, metal pyramid. Knowing the drill, the elder one took the swing on the left, and the younger one took the right.
“Let’s see who goes higher,” smirked the elder one as she positioned the seat below at her spine and pushed herself all the way back until she was tiptoeing.
“You always cheat!” the younger one pouted as she followed her sister suit.
Within minutes, the swing on the left advanced higher and higher, until it was about the height of the lamp post.
It wasn’t until the sun started to set across the horizon, the night befalling on them like a blue velvet blanket that Aatha stood outside the house and looked across the parapet at the girls playing below. They have never left the swing since and they never got bored of it. The girls spotted the silhouette of Aatha against the corridor light; beckoning them back up, as they reluctantly abandoned the swings and trudged back up the path to home.
*****
The walk down the corridor was painfully familiar, as my fingers intertwined with Vee’s. My heartbeat got a little rapid as we approached the house, with my agent at the rear. I caught words like ‘old’ and ‘high maintenance’ but all of that were drowned out by my vivid memories and the nostalgic pangs.
We reached the gate. To my surprise, the gate stayed the same, with its chipped dark-green-and-gold-paint, and the rough handle. The door was a deep red colour, but looked exactly the way it was left 10 years ago. The flower pots at the corners had been removed and replaced with a metal shoe rack. The concrete steps and the floor beneath were decorated with rice-flour patterns, now fading away, and the Venetian-styled windows still remained the same; dangerous and dusty as ever.
Vee led me into the house through the small porch. I felt the dust struggling under my feet as I slowly walked across the hall, surveying it with utter surprise and a tinge of anger. The warm yellow wall colour, sun-designed tiles, thick leather sofas and the huge chandelier suspended above didn’t change at all. A Raja Ravi Varma painting of Shakuntala obscured the large wall, and a huge LCD television blocked the Venetian-styled windows from filtering sunlight.
The family of four were seated on the sofa, eyeing us with apprehension as we walked to the master bedroom. The lady was clad in a cheap, cotton sari, her brown eyes lined with thick kohl. Her hair was slick and shiny, and she gave off a whiff of coconut oil mixed with a little perspiration. The man was already in his late forties, with a balding white patch rimming his head and eyes as small as beetles, protected by a thick pair of glasses. He had a paunch on the front, which threatened to pop his already-straining shirt buttons. The two twin boys were on their parents’ laps and they didn’t seem to contribute to the tensed air ; they were playing with plastic planes and trucks.
I didn’t want to look further. I felt tears stinging my eyes, as Vee looked at me his smile faltering.
“It’s tears of joy.” I said as he opened his mouth to express concern.
He chuckled and caught my tear with his forefinger and thumb. He pulled me into a tight hug, standing there as the voice of our agent broke through our moment.
“Shall we sign the papers then?” He smiled, rubbing his hands together, as I looked at Vee and slowly nodded.
*
Aatha slowly hobbled up the steps of the porch, her walking stick nearly missing the step.
“Can I remove this blindfold already?” she groaned in Tamil as she tugged at the blindfold but my sister’s hands were faster. She immediately prised Aatha’s fingers off the blindfold.
“One more step Aatha.” She said as she now stood on the top step, right inside the house.
All of us were right behind her, as I proceeded to remove her blindfold.
“Ready ?” I whispered, as I untied the knot.
Aatha stood there for a few seconds, inhaling the surroundings. Her lips quivered as her wrinkled face broke into the most beautiful smile I’ve missed for years.
On the largest wall facing the sofa was what stopped Aatha in her tracks. An enormous photo of my late Thaatha was hanging on the wall, the exact way it had been before the house was sold. Her soft hands reached out to touch the photo as her tears fell. Everyone around her were holding her, everyone crying with silent ecstasy at the sight of Aatha inside her house ; the house that she brought us up in, the house where Thaatha and she started a family in, the house that held so much of emotional value in every one of us.
“We got the house back. Akka and Mama did it.” My sister hoarsely whispered, hugging Aatha as she trembled, fresh tears escaping her eyes.
Vee and I painstakingly went around looking for similar furniture and finishes for the house, just as it was 12 years ago. Every table, light, fittings and even the storeroom was replaced uncannily; and the love of my life didn’t complain one bit. We wanted to give Aatha a little something for all these years she had been the iron lady she was.
As Aatha finally settled on her rocking chair, the rest of us secretly brought out the cake to her utter disbelief.
“I can’t eat that, I have no teeth!” to a crowd of chortling.
My sister brought out a tiny wrapped box, which she helped Aatha open.
“Here’s a little something for turning eighteen today.” She giggled.
Aatha took out the photo frame, smiling toothlessly as she looked at the picture and at us. Two girls were dressed in silk pyjamas, hugging each other and laughing. One with pigtails, another with short pixie hair, both in undeniable happiness as the picture clicked. The photo frame sat on the dressing table once more, backed to where it rightfully belongs; with Aatha.
