Surprise
I never thought it would end like that. It was true that I annoyed them a little.Yesterday. OK, maybe I annoyed them more than their limit. They were just small accidents, anyway.
Yesterday I was told to 'clean' the car. But as usual, the command came in a colorful form as father always uses, "why don't you bloody clean the car without bloody enjoying your time?!". I had got used to my father's repetitive use of the word 'bloody' and over the years, had mastered the skill of extracting the plain command from the 'bloody' statement. In this case, it said, "go and clean the car (without watching too much TV)". I obeyed accordingly, knowing that a delay of 5 minutes could cause another shot of 'bloody' statements.
I took the vacuum into the cleaner into the garage. It took two trips to bring the whole rigmarole. I was carrying the iron tube when I thought I heard another command. I turned. The iron tube of the vacuum knocked just a bit on the side view mirror. And the thing literally fell apart! I became so nervous that I kept everything I had in my hand on the car and tended to the mirror. It was broken beyond DIY repair.
I thought that the most sensible thing to do was to do what I came for like nothing had happened. I cleaned the car, sweating all over, hoping that the vacuum cleaner sounded just a bit less loud. I quickly kept back the equipment, carefully taking it to prevent another broken side view mirror. After that, I quickly rushed to my room to think of a lie as I laid down on the bed.
After a small interval of 5 minutes, another shout could be heard. And I came down instantly, cleaning the sweat and putting up an innocent face.
"What happened to this bloody mirror?"
"Yeah I noticed that too..." replied I innocently.
"I mean the other mirror. I drove into a bloody wall and broke one. What happened to the other bloody mirror?!"
And then I knew that the game was up. All my pocket money was sucked into a vacuum, leaving me nothing. Father took the liberty of 'borrowing' some of the money to fix the other mirror as well. It was made worst by the fact that sister was going to sit for some important exam so the remaining members started blaming me as well. Grounded.
Arguments in our family lasted at least a week. This was bound to last at least two weeks. There was nothing left to do other than sit up on the bed and think things through.
It was too silent except for the cooking sounds. This meant that the TV was free which happened once in a blue moon. I swear I could smell nicely fried chicken sausages-my favorite. The door was shut tight, yet the smell came right through the cracks. A familiar feeling of hunger came. It was sunny outside. I couldn't sleep anymore-never could on Saturdays. All the best things were happening right when I couldn't enjoy them.
After thinking about everything and then thinking about everything backwards, I decided to open the door.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
I think my heart skipped two beats. Everyone was there: mother, father and even Annie. She gave me a big hug. All the people of my class had made it. And then it clicked. Today was my birthday. Maybe they suspected my amazement and made a little space. Then we all went downstairs. A nice cake was arranged with my name on it and the appropriate number of candles. My nose was right-on the table was a dish of chicken sausages.
My sister wasn't there. I think her exam was too 'bloody' important. But who cares? Nothing can go wrong on one's birthday. And then, my foot caught on a mat and I tripped, forwards.
Yesterday I was told to 'clean' the car. But as usual, the command came in a colorful form as father always uses, "why don't you bloody clean the car without bloody enjoying your time?!". I had got used to my father's repetitive use of the word 'bloody' and over the years, had mastered the skill of extracting the plain command from the 'bloody' statement. In this case, it said, "go and clean the car (without watching too much TV)". I obeyed accordingly, knowing that a delay of 5 minutes could cause another shot of 'bloody' statements.
I took the vacuum into the cleaner into the garage. It took two trips to bring the whole rigmarole. I was carrying the iron tube when I thought I heard another command. I turned. The iron tube of the vacuum knocked just a bit on the side view mirror. And the thing literally fell apart! I became so nervous that I kept everything I had in my hand on the car and tended to the mirror. It was broken beyond DIY repair.
I thought that the most sensible thing to do was to do what I came for like nothing had happened. I cleaned the car, sweating all over, hoping that the vacuum cleaner sounded just a bit less loud. I quickly kept back the equipment, carefully taking it to prevent another broken side view mirror. After that, I quickly rushed to my room to think of a lie as I laid down on the bed.
After a small interval of 5 minutes, another shout could be heard. And I came down instantly, cleaning the sweat and putting up an innocent face.
"What happened to this bloody mirror?"
"Yeah I noticed that too..." replied I innocently.
"I mean the other mirror. I drove into a bloody wall and broke one. What happened to the other bloody mirror?!"
And then I knew that the game was up. All my pocket money was sucked into a vacuum, leaving me nothing. Father took the liberty of 'borrowing' some of the money to fix the other mirror as well. It was made worst by the fact that sister was going to sit for some important exam so the remaining members started blaming me as well. Grounded.
Arguments in our family lasted at least a week. This was bound to last at least two weeks. There was nothing left to do other than sit up on the bed and think things through.
It was too silent except for the cooking sounds. This meant that the TV was free which happened once in a blue moon. I swear I could smell nicely fried chicken sausages-my favorite. The door was shut tight, yet the smell came right through the cracks. A familiar feeling of hunger came. It was sunny outside. I couldn't sleep anymore-never could on Saturdays. All the best things were happening right when I couldn't enjoy them.
After thinking about everything and then thinking about everything backwards, I decided to open the door.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
I think my heart skipped two beats. Everyone was there: mother, father and even Annie. She gave me a big hug. All the people of my class had made it. And then it clicked. Today was my birthday. Maybe they suspected my amazement and made a little space. Then we all went downstairs. A nice cake was arranged with my name on it and the appropriate number of candles. My nose was right-on the table was a dish of chicken sausages.
My sister wasn't there. I think her exam was too 'bloody' important. But who cares? Nothing can go wrong on one's birthday. And then, my foot caught on a mat and I tripped, forwards.
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