Eggs

A short story


“It’s been 45 minutes since this guy went to the shop to get eggs and he’s not returned yet. Even if he had to crawl all the way to the store he should’ve been back by now. Wonder where this guy has gone.” Bharathi was getting anxious; she was expecting some guests for lunch she just had enough time to cook something before they could show up. With most of the cooking done, she was waiting for her son to get back from the store with the eggs. Just when she thought of locking the house and going to the store herself to get some eggs, she heard the door bell ring.

Bharathi just hoped that it wasn’t the guests, she opened the door and there stood her son Vinay, with a plastic bag in one hand and his G I Joe toy in the other.

“Where the hell have you been? What took you so long to just get the eggs from the store? Where have you been loafing around? Every time you go to the store to buy something it’s the same nonsense. I hope at least today you brought the eggs without breaking them.” As Bharathi took the plastic bag from Vinay while she was still venting our her frustration on him there was another shock that awaited.

“Again the eggs are broken, can’t you be careful with the eggs at least once? IDIOT. Being a 12 year old kid if you can’t even do such simple things, I don’t know what kind of a guy you are. Don’t you have any shame? I’m tired of tell you the same thing over and over again.” Vinay however didn’t seem to be bothered much of what his mom was saying but was staring at his other G I Joe toys on the table.

“I should’ve gone to the store myself instead of sending this idiot. This guy is good for nothing” Bharathi stormed into the kitchen as she was shouting at Vinay. Vinay removed his glasses, kept it on the table, sat at a corner and started playing with his G I Joe Toys.

Bharathi managed to cook something by adding some sliced tomatoes and capsicums to the two eggs that were still intact. Before she was done cooking, she heard the door bell again and this time she was certain that the guests have arrived. It was another anxious moment for Bharathi as she opened the door thinking the guests have arrived, but she was greeted by a granny.

“Yes. Can I help you?” asked Bharathi, still wonder who the granny was.
“Is there a small boy in your house? One with specs?” Vinay came over to the door hearing the granny’s voice, he smiled at her as he peeped out of the door. Bharathi was a bit surprised and confused with what was going on.
“Yes. What’s the matter?”

“Well. I stay in the adjacent street. I’d bought my provision from the store and was struggling to carry the bags. This kid walked up to me and offered to carry the bags to my house. So I handed over my bags to this kid and I took his bag and we were walking home. As we got closer to my house I dropped his bag accidentally and the eggs broke. I told him I’ll go back to the store and buy some eggs for him but he said its ok, he needs to get home. When I asked him if his mom will scold him, he said ‘ya she’ll shout at me but it’s ok.’ Before I could check if there were any eggs in my fridge that I could spare the kid left.”

“Oh is it?” Bharathi was listening with patience.
“I felt bad and I was worried that you might scold him so I enquired in the neighborhood and found out your house, thought I’ll at least tell you what happened. It took me some time to get here as I had difficulty climbing the stairs.”
“oh no, that’s ok. Thanks. Please come in.”
“It’s all right; I’ll come some other time. See you kid.” The granny left as Vinay waived her good bye with a smile.

Bharathi closed the door, looked at Vinay and asked, “You couldn’t open your mouth and tell me?” as she stormed back into the kitchen to complete the cooking. Vinay returned back to the corner and continued playing with his G I Joe toys as if nothing happened!