The best part of growing up is, not knowing the fear to question.
He gulped it, eyes closed, still on the bed with an arm supporting his neck, raising him just enough to enable him to drink the milk.
“Done, aunt?” he asked as the hand eased him back into the bed.
He could hear sounds of people moving around and the doors of the room being closed carefully, he is a light sleeper with keen ears.
He woke up or rather had to when someone switched off the fan, the sunlight played it’s part too. Maybe it was his grandfather who just passed by the bed or maybe it was his uncle.
He could never understand why people have to wake up before 8 on vacations too, never.
As he dropped off the bed, he could hear his grandmother remark to his aunt how he is not fussy about having to drink milk in the bed itself.
“Why are you discussing my milk?” he asked them with half-open eyes.
“Oh, you woke up?” his aunt said looking at the clock.
“Someone switched off the fan” he complained as he crept into the lap of his grandmother. “Is it not cold?”
Raising her voice “How many times have I told you not to switch off the fan before he wakes up?” his grandmother was not pleased with her husband.
His aunt made him brush his teeth, keeping an eye out so that he will not eat the toothpaste, again.
It was almost always his breakfast, he believed it made him stronger and would plead with her to let him eat it.
After he was done with it, he was served 2 idly, with sugar and a generous amount of ghee.
His grandmother was feeding him, she couldn’t help it, she was getting late for work. She worked as a school teacher.
As he merrily bounced his feet around eating, he found his brother ready for school, he studies in his grandmother’s school.
“I will come too” he declared to his grandmother. “No.” came from his aunt in the kitchen.
“I will get bored..” he was cute.
“You will again get into a fight with your brother at school, and be disturbance to all, so, no. If you still want to talk about it, you can ask your uncle.” his aunt said cleaning his plate.
He kept quiet as his grandmother rushed with her breakfast while his brother was silent watching him.
He had a new question on his mind “Why does he have to go to school when I have holidays?”
“You, my dear, have just started your schooling, your brother is older and has harder things to study so his holidays are lesser” his aunt explained while packing lunch for the two school goers.
His uncle who was pretending to be reading his newspaper till then, got up as the little fellow’s breakfast is done. His presence would normally ensure the kid’s obedience at “breakfast eating battle” as he fondly called it.
As he walked off, he was forced to turn around when he heard the young lad utter “If older people have to do harder tasks, you should have asked grandma to come and lift you around yesterday, why did you let uncle do it?”
Obviously, he was a light sleeper, little imp.
Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash
