Chapter Seven: Roohi’s
Day Out.
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“Munchausen
syndrome by proxy”
Hmmn!… ;'Munchausen syndrome by proxy'. The words played in loops in her mind. A hundred times. Revolving round and
round till her head began to spin. No, it cannot be true, she was a CEO of a
successful company, she could handle the most difficult situations, and she
cannot bring harm to anybody, especially not to her own child.
“Maybe
I should pick up Roohi from school today” she said under her breath as she
removed the mobile from her purse and started to dial.
“Hello
Shekhar” she whispered into the phone, her fingers pressing hard against her left temple, “I will pick up Roohi from school today.”
“Are
you okay?” faltered Shekhar “Come home directly, she will come by school bus,
like she always does.” There was a ring of concern over his voice.
“No,
I am fine.” She said. A flash of pleasure swept over her.
Spending
time with Roohi always changed her moods. In worst of situations, a happy
chatter and her bright smile lifted her spirit, she needed that at this moment
the most. She could come later to work and maybe work late nights, but right
now she needed to go someplace with her daughter.
She
flung her handbag over her shoulders, plucked the keys from the key stand and
emerged from her cabin.
“I
will be back soon.” She said to no one in particular as she strode at an easy
pace towards the parking lot.
She
revved up the engine; it rumbled, gave a soft jerk and then began to move.
She had had the presence of mind to call the admin person and get her car repaired. It was just a spark plug issue and it was resolved in no time.
Roohi
had just emerged from her school gates, when she recognized her mother’s car
parked behind her school bus, hazard lights blinking, and position a bit skewed. She
looked closely. A wave of happiness enveloped her when she saw her mother
standing next to the car. She blinked, turned swiftly, her gaze not leaving her
mother, her shoes grinding against the sandy ground, with her both arms
swinging in air, her school bag thumping against her back, as she walked
swiftly, reached Tara and circled her arms around her mother’s waist.
“Mamma!
Is that you? Ooh! I cannot believe it. What are you doing here? What a pleasant
surprise!”
“Yes,
my pretty Rooh. Today, I decided to spend some time with my baby” Tara bend
down to kiss her daughters forehead.
“Really?
Are we going someplace?” Roohi walked towards the other side of the car, threw
her school bag at the back seat of the car, opened the front door and plopped
herself in the front seat.
“We
are going home, baby!” said Tara, as she put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking space.
“No,
no, Mamma please, I don’t want to go home, can we stop for an ice-cream,
please?” said Roohi, her voice lingering on the word ‘please’ and her eyes
rolling in excitement.
“Hmmn,
only ice cream then, okay?” said Tara, her eyes focused on the busy road ahead.
Tara
parked her car outside an ice-cream parlor, hand-in-hand, Roohi and Tara walked inside.
With
an interior design that looks more like a clothes shop than an exclusive ice cream
parlor, this place had more than fifty flavors of ice cream, some of them truly
amazing. In winter they also served chocolate delicacies and patisserie.
Roohi
chose the combination of vanilla and strawberry ice cream, topped with small
chunks of chopped strawberries, two tiny kiwi rings, black grapes and broken
pieces of walnuts and pine nuts.
While wolfing down her ice cream Roohi looked up and asked:
While wolfing down her ice cream Roohi looked up and asked:
“You
and daddy don’t go out nowadays, do you feel sad?
“Yes,
sometimes, but he will soon be fine.”
“Will
he ever walk again?”
“Yes,
baby, he will.”
“You
know, mamma, daddy is always on skype.”
“He
is working no?”
“But
he spend so much time talking to uncle Cyrus on Skype.”
“Oh,
they talk business.”
“But
I don’t like him.”
“You
don’t have to talk to him.”
“I
don’t want to talk but daddy asked me to.”
“Just
say ‘hello’ and go back to your room.”
“He
said he may come to Mumbai and stay in our house.”
“Don’t
worry, he must have just said so, daddy friends always stay in hotel. No?”
“Mamma,
he said he might come home.”
“Okay
finish your ice-cream, I will drop you home then go back to work.”
“You
will go back to work?”
“Yes,
baby, Mamma has work to do.”
“Please,
stay at home today, please, please.”
“Okay,
lets go home first then we will decide.”
They
drove home with Roohi chatting all the way, telling her stories about her
school, friends, teachers, food, games…
Tara
was already in good spirit when they entered their building compound. She inserted her
house key into her main door and walked in.
She
could hear soft murmurs coming from her room.
“Go
to your room and change your uniform Rooh, I will just be back” she said, nudging Roohi's shoulders to steer her towards the other room.
She decided to surprise Shekhar
She decided to surprise Shekhar
She
walked into her room. Shekhar was in the front of the screen, his back towards the
door, deep in conversation. A shock wave travelled from her foot to her heart, as
she focused her eyes to look at the face inside the screen. She shivered, her nerves pulsating
against her temples.
“Cyrus?
Is that you? What-the-hell!” she screamed as she clutched the mouse to switch off the Skype call. Shekhar turned and looked at Tara in surprise. .
· “Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.”
The
round number one of seven parts now comes to the end
The
story will (hopefully) continue in round number two……..
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