Dad entered the hall, where me and mom were playing Scrabble and said "Can i get a cold coffee?".
An eerie silence followed. For, this only meant one thing.. that he had lost a patient.
Yes, as weird as it seems, my father, the Doctor, has this habit of having a cold coffee to ease him down.
Mom knew that he liked it with no ice and toned milk. She prepared it in a jiffy and went to the bedroom.
I never understood this "cold coffee" concept fully myself, but i'm not surprised, because i also am just a six year old who dont know where babies come from.
"Hey, are you alright? Is it a patient?", asked mom.
"mmmmm...yeah, i'll be alright. yes, it was the kid. The funeral is tomorrow... i need to go.", said the doctor thoughtfully.
"Tomorrow is that wedding, we RSVP-ed.. you go to that wedding.. i'll attend the funeral."
"Who's wedding?"
"Our son's class teacher's. Remember, we met her in the PTA meeting. The very cute looking lady of the lot?"
"Yeah i remember. Ok, i'll take him and go to the wedding."
Chapter II - "A tour and a where"
"Dad, our class is going on a tour.. i need your signature on this permission slip."
"hmm... let me see... its a overnight trip! Ask mom, if she says ok, then i'll let you go."
"Mom said ok. She is fine until our class teacher also comes with us."
"Settled then!", said the doctor and signed the slip.
"Dad, one more thing.", and without missing a beat, he asked, "Where do babies come from?"
My son is always on this unquenchable obsessive enquiry impulse. How much should i tell a six year old? Should i tell the truth... nahh...he won't even begin to understand.
"Well kiddo, let me give you a simple answer because im in a hurry...alright?" and without waiting for a reponse from the kid he continued, "First, one needs to get married -like the marriage of your teacher we went to a few months back- and then comes the... sleeping together. The woman gets pregnant and a few months later the baby comes out of mommy."
"Ok.", and he left without another word.
Oooffh..that went well.. and he walks away like he is ready to become a father!
Chapter III = "A complaint and a remedy"
These school teachers are useless i tell you. My husband is a doctor and she tells me about children psychology.
"Listen to this, our son's class teacher complained about him today.", said the mother.
"What happened? What did he do?"
"It seems he had been fighting with the other guys on that tour night and she had to seperate him from the dorm... Obviously, he couldn't be put in the girls' dorm... so he had to spend the night in her room."
"Dont worry, i'll talk to him later."
"Im not worried, its just that she told me our son did not sleep the entire night... and she was very spiteful about it..the teacher is anyways going on a long vacation it seems and she is not expected to come back to school."
Suddenly the kid entered the room and asked, "Why wont she be coming to school mom?"
"Because she is going to have a baby. She is pregnant..."
An eerie silence followed.
"Mom, can i get a cold coffee?"
Dedication: The one, who is pregnant.
Labels: Short Story
0 owls