Outdoors #TellTaleThursday

“Dad can I play near water?” dozing on the carpet of grass, Sudhir was woken up, “other boys are playing.” 

Sudhir loved outdoors. On summer weekends, he often packed his family of four, a picnic basket and landed under the giant oak tree by the water body. He had discovered it by accident. 

“why don’t you ask your mother?”

Sudhir’s wife Mamata was not fond of outdoors. There can be so many dangers lurking out there – right from animals, to insects, to bacteria who knows what? Sudhir had tried to convince Mamata to relax her dislike of outdoors, be it ground or water. 

Mamata had remained unmoved, “No one knows what is under the water – a ghost or a witch waiting to drag my son in. No he cannot play in or near water.”

——————-X——————-

“bhai let us float paper boats on river,” Sudhir remembered a request made many years before,“if we make a wish after floating a boat it comes true.”

At the ripe age of ten, world was full of enemies, so he could not pass up on the opportunity. 

“What if your sister had drowned?” wish he made, did not come true, but a tongue lashing and a slap from mother materialiesed, “today you are making paper boat tearing pages of notebook, towmorrow you will lift money from your dad’s purse!”  

——————-X——————-

“Dad, why don’t you join?” his son pleaded “ lets go.”

“Don’t wake your mother,” Sudhir smiled conspiratorially looking at his son, “she will be mad.”

Word count : 251

This is a post written in response to #TellTaleThursday prompt of Anshu and Priya. More posts in response to the prompt may be found here.