Stair House
Sheel sat on a small wooden stool and looked out from his verandah. The lovely blue bird that stirred on the tree didn’t interest him. They had cleaned up his stair house and, for some reason, taken away everything that belonged to him; the cars, the sign, the balls, even his paintings.
And his friend.
It was almost a week since that morning. He thought of her all the time. Why did she not scream for help from the neighbors? Did she expect him to come to her rescue? Had he been a coward?
He heard his father walk into the house.
“Did you hear?” he shouted to Tanvi.
“About Mr. Rai’s mother? Yes.”
“When did this happen? I heard about it just a few minutes ago.”
“This afternoon. The family claims it was a heart-attack.”
“Heart-attack? Rubbish! I don’t think so!”
“Well, you know… the stories, the rumors… it is all very ugly. And sad.”
“I never liked Mr. Rai… and he has become a politician now. Nonsense. Mr. Rai an MLA, can you believe that? I’ve known their family for a long time…knew his father well. He was a terrific guy but these people…real thugs; his mother was becoming an inconvenience for mister politician. I am sure they lied to everybody; his mother was never a crazy woman.”
The sounds of chirping birds got louder. So did the noise of traffic. Sheel could feel the blood rushing to his ears. He could not hear his parents any more; every word seemed blotted out.
He looked down at his hand. And stared hard at his double life lines.