'D' of #AtoZChallenge
Sherry and her sister, Freny were sitting in the old, dimly lit living room of Daisy’s Aunty house. Daisy Aunty was Sherry’s bua, her father’s sister. Daisy Aunty had died at the old age of seventy-eight. She had no kids and no husband either. He had died long ago when she was just twenty-six. Her dead husband had left her an old house with an unkempt garden. When Sherry and Freny were kids Daisy Aunty was forced to babysit them. Daisy Aunty never liked kids! And she never really liked Freny and Sherry. She always snapped and yelled at them for being too noisy and giggly. She always yelled out, ‘No!’ Not there!’ ‘No! Don’t touch that’ ‘Don’t talk too loudly!’ ‘Don’t talk too softly!’ ‘Don’t laugh!’ ‘Don’t giggle!’ ‘Don’t cry!’ ‘Hairane chokriyo! Badhu traas!’ The girls would wonder why was she so grumpy! It’s not that Daisy aunty had a loveless life. Though she didn’t marry again, she had a few boyfriends over the years, after her husband died.
Inspite of having a beautiful garden space, Daisy Aunty wasn’t fond of cleaning and gardening. Her house wasn’t that clean or filled with light either. She kept the rooms dimly lit and curtains partially closed. Only when her boyfriend was to visit, would she put on the old chandelier, light some candles and clean up a bit!
Sherry and Freny hated staying at Daisy Aunty’s place. But there was something that Daisy Aunty had that they both loved! Freny loved the beautiful, British Doll House kept high in the showcase. Freny would sit and stare at the Dollhouse pinning to play with it. But she dare not touch it! Freny just day dreamed and hoped that one day she would touch it and play with it. Even after Freny had grown up and made money to buy any other dollhouse in the world she still desired for Daisy Aunty’s Doll House.
Sherry didn’t really care for the dollhouse. She had her eyes for something else in the house! Daisy Aunty had a huge glass showcase with beautiful dining sets- glassware, brassware; plates, bowls, spoons, forks et al! She took care better care of the cutlery than the kids! Perhaps her cutleries were her favourite children! Sherry loved the bone China dish set of twelve. They were pristine white, with pretty little pink and purple flowers and had a border of fresh green leaves. Sherry had always wanted to touch them, feel them, trace her fingers on the floral design but Sherry could just daydream about it. She dare not touch the showcase! Forget touching the dishes!
Sherry had seen Daisy Aunty invite her boyfriends over for meals. During those times the girls would be promptly sent into a stuffy bedroom while Daisy Aunty cooked some delicious, exotic cuisines. Depending on the love that she had for her then boyfriend, Daisy Aunty would get her floral China-set out. Only SHE was allowed to touch it. She herself would clean the China-set and never allowed her maid to clean it!
When Sherry was six, Daisy Aunty was madly in love with her navy boyfriend. She had planned to lay out her favourite bone-China and keep everything ready. Just when Daisy Aunty was carrying the dishes out, Sherry innocently bumped into Aunty. One of the beautiful pristine dishes crashed and broke into millions of pieces! Daisy Aunty threw a fit. Her twelfth dish out of the twelve-dish set was ruined and she could never use it! Sherry was sent to bed without any dinner and was banned from coming anywhere near to the Cutlery showcase! Since then Sherry’s longing grew to touch the bone China dishes!
Daisy Aunty was now dead. Sherry and Freny were sitting in the same old, dimly lit, stuffy living room. Daisy Aunty’s lawyer was reading out her Will. Daisy Aunty had left behind a dilapidated old house which was donated to the Parsi Committee. But since Sherry and Freny were the only living relatives that she had, Daisy Aunty had done the unexpected! She had asked her lawyer to let the girls have the leftover materials and furniture that she had accumulated over the years!
The two girls jumped and squealed with joy! Freny declared, ‘She wanted the old British Doll House’ while Sherry knew ‘She wanted the bone China dish set!’ They couldn’t believe they were taking their childhood wishes home! The lawyer didn’t understand what the excitement was all about.
That night Sherry sat staring at the cello taped box that contained the bone-China set. With trembling hands she opened the box. She picked up one dish and adored it closely. Her fingers gently traced the flowers on the dish. She saw how it had developed a few yellow spots. Carefully she picked out the dishes from the box and stacked them on her table. Just as she was about to finish counting, the eleventh dish slipped and crashed on the floor. Millions of pieces lay strewn on the floor. Sherry froze. She looked at the remaining ten dishes. Daisy Aunty’s precious dish set of twelve now had ten pieces left!
Sherry sighed, closed her eyes and said a quick prayer, ‘Sorry Aunty’. And then one by one she gently pushed over the remaining ten dishes down on the floor and saw the dishes break into pieces. She smiled, ‘Finally!! That felt good!’
image courtesy: Google images/Ikea
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