Lonely Boy #3

Sisters Of All Kinds But Thankfully Not His

Photo by Claudia Gschwend on Unsplash

The Toy-Eating Well

After sitting Arman on the well, the girl said,

“Now tear up the car and throw the pieces into the well.”

Arman loved the toy even though it was flimsy. But wouldn’t listening to the girl lead to her carrying him around more?

That was more appealing than playing with the toy car. Also, if he didn’t listen to her, wouldn’t it mean an end to her carrying him around?

He didn’t hesitate any more. He tore the thin car into pieces and dropped them into the well.

When the last piece had gone in, she unceremoniously picked him up, hurried to his house, dropped him and joined her mother, who was on the verge of leaving, in bidding goodbyes.

This seemed like a co-ordinated operation between mother and daughter to destroy his favourite toy car just because he had favoured it over their gift. Such pettiness stunned even Arman, who was young enough to normalise petty behaviour.

He had lost his favourite toy for nothing. This episode would teach him to be circumspect in matters of the heart, which would add to his loneliness.

The Lousy Landlord

When Arman was three, Nanda got posted to a small town, Davanagere. They couldn’t afford to buy a TV. So, they befriended the landlord and went to his house to watch their favourite shows that they learnt the landlord’s family also watched.

Geeta usually accompanied Arman when he wanted to watch his favourite shows but she was busy one day and dropped him at the landlord’s and went home.

A jeep was featured in the show and Arman piped up excitedly,

“Jeep! Jeep!”

The prick of a landlord called it a car. Arman tried to teach him good-naturedly but realised the landlord only wanted to make fun of him.

He left in a huff and never went back to the landlord’s house even if it meant not watching any of his favourite shows. Self-respect was more important to him than self-indulgence.

This episode made him develop a complex about visiting other peoples’ houses and would contribute to his loneliness.

To help Arman tide over the loss of his favourite shows, when such a show was on, Geeta took him to another neighbour’s house.

There was a little girl there who was his age. The girl and Arman loved playing with each other but the mothers couldn’t get along and he never played with her again.

The Landlord’s Lasses

One afternoon, Arman had just woken from his nap and was standing outside his door when he saw the landlord’s two daughters descending the staircase that led to their house.

They were much older than Arman but not bad looking. He made eye contact with them and saw that they kept staring at him.

His hopes rose. Could he continue the escapade that had started with that girl carrying him downstairs to tear his toy with these two girls?

They were of a similar age to the toy-wrecker. This exposure to girls older than him would always make Arman prefer older females.

The girls kept descending the staircase and Arman realistically expected them to go out the gate but they descended the staircase and headed towards him.

Could they actually like him? Or had they come to talk to his mother? Or would they go past his house to the one next door?

They came up to him and stopped in front of him. Did they wish to speak to him or his mom?

They remained silent. Yes! They wanted to talk to him. If they had sought his mom, they would have promptly asked for her.

Their silence implied that they didn’t know how to break the ice with him. Even he didn’t know what to say.

He kept looking from one sister to the other, trying to decide which one he liked better. They looked similar and he couldn’t decide.

Did both of them like him? Could both of them be his girlfriends? The younger girl finally broke the silence,

“We have a surprise for you.”

This was more like it. He was excited. What could the surprise be? Would it be a gift because they liked him?

“What is it?”

“Look at my sister’s eyes. You will know.”

Would looking at her sister’s eyes give him a clue? He looked at her eyes and was horrified.