I woke up to the sounds of fan whirring on the ceiling. For a few moments, It was crickety quiet and I could hear nothing but the fan. The last thing I slept to was the first thing I woke up to. I pushed aside the blanket hastily and ran into the hall to find Mom casually applying something to her hair. I felt relieved seeing Mom. One of my friends told me once that he slept and woke up to never find his Mom again. I went to Mom and hugged her. She brushed aside my hair till the oil on her hands dried up.

I asked her curiously "Why am I sleeping on my bed". She knows I hate my bed and I snug between Mom and Dad every night. Yesterday wasn’t any different.

Mom playfully pulled my cheeks wide enough "Go brush your teeth".  I hate the brushing part. My Sir once told us that none of the animals brush. I remember coming back that day with such gusto and asking if Mom and Dad knew that. Dad had a dismissive look, I suspected he knew what was coming.

 Teeth suddenly reminded me of the Thatha next door, we share the same compound with an iron gate. Thatha lives all alone, Dad said Thatha also woke up one day to find none of his family. Mom quietly shushed Dad not to bring that up with me. I noticed and later told Mom about it. "You are way smarter than six". Mom rubbed my hair and kissed a sendoff as she worked through something across her laptop. She kisses me whenever she doesn’t want to answer further. By the way, I turned six only a month ago, a lot of my friends are already six but none of them are smarter than six.

I stepped out to wish Thatha a good morning and probably to delay brushing. He was sitting in his wooden chair, staring past the closed gate. He always seemed to be expecting somebody. He once said that's his favorite pastime. The wooden chair looks older than him. He stretched his trembling hands with pride and told me once that he made the chair through his very hands from the branches of a tree in his backyard. I didn’t believe him. The chair is so wide, I have not seen a branch that wide in my neighborhood.

 "Thatha, why don’t you have any teeth".

 "I wasn’t born with any" he said sadly.

"That’s ok, you do not need to brush at least" That seems to have cheered him up. As I hopped into the house I saw Dad dressing up for Tennis. I didn’t want to ask him about finding myself on MY bed. Dad in the past took me to the court to fetch balls. It is a boring game to watch. The ball has to be hit between some lines. It seemed rather strict to me and I wondered if that's the reason most of the people are angry with themselves as they played.

"Do you want to join me for tennis" asked my Dad dusting off his socks.

 Wondering what I could have done better to avoid that question, I quickly escaped into my bathroom "I didn’t brush my teeth yet Daddy".

"I will wait" Dad sounded like he meant it.

I took a little pause but came back with one that usually works. "I think I am hungry"

"You just woke up….."

"Let him be, he will join some other day" chimed in Mom. Dad didn’t persist further.

Dad came back an hour later exhausted. He found me playing something on my Tablet. He quietly pulled it away from me to place it at the top of the cupboard. I was startled at first but soon got over it as I realized that Mom can reach over the cupboard.

I showed no sign of my new found joy. That seemed to have convinced him as he prepared himself to go to the market for groceries. Just as my Dad was pulling up his bike, I heard Thatha "You look better in a helmet". Thatha sounds stern even when he seems to praise someone. 

My Mom chuckled as she overheard. She put down the newspaper and reached for the helmet in our cupboard and passed it to my Dad who was lazing into the house. She chuckled again as she passed it on, this time a little more visibly. I was mad at Thatha but was relieved that Dad still decided to go.

"I feel Thatha always lies"

"No, he doesn’t"

"I don’t think Dad looks good with the helmet, do you?"

"I like him any which way just like I do you" Mom kissed me all over pulling me into her effortlessly. She left a squeeze that was too loud.

I jumped back and went out to see if Thatha heard it. He was still staring at the closed gate. As I approached him from the back, he instinctively held onto his stick that leant against his chair before slowly turning over. Realizing a familiar me, he want back to his usual pose with the same speed(or lack of it). I once watched someone on TV running as slow as Thatha would if he ran. I quipped to Mom and she shushed me. Mom can shush anybody. Going back to the stick, it is new and shiny unlike the chair.

"Why do you carry this stick wherever you go"  I asked Thatha as I came around to face him.

"I don’t, it carries me wherever I want to go" he turned back his gaze to the gate.

"I have never seen it carry you, you pull that all along" I sounded persistent this time.

"You are quite a smart kid"

"My mom told me I am smarter than six"

"And who are those 6" he asked rather teasingly. I found it necessary to elaborate but quickly realized I needed to finish off my game. Thatha will always be in his chair and I have time aplenty once Dad is back.

A few days later, Dad and Mom picked me directly from school to take me to my cousin's place. They asked my cousin to look after and handed me the Tablet. I swallowed up my questions. Much to my surprise, they came back that night and we all returned to our house. Thatha's chair was in our hall, Dad at times puts it in before he locks the door for the night.

"Nobody is going to take that" I sounded a little grown up as I stayed out for a day.

"Can you please sleep in your bed, you toss around waking us both up" Dad seemed a little tired. Mom was unusally quiet. Lacking in any defense, I found it best to act like I dozed off.

I woke up the next day and ran into the hall. Mom and Dad were praying in front of some old photos. I saw Thatha's stick in a corner beside them. Thatha's chair too was still in the hall. I rushed out of the house. The gate was wide open, Thatha left us all before we woke up.

Srinivas Denkena