A Guardian and a Thief By Megha Majumdar - 8
“What’s this number?” “It’s my new phone.” “You got a new phone?” “Well, forget the phone. Wait till you hear.” “Hmm? What are you saying?” “There is some news. Are you listening, then?” “Tell!” “My boss is leaving for America. And he has no family here. They have all left. So he is leaving the hous...
“What’s this number?”
“It’s my new phone.”
“You got a new phone?”
“Well, forget the phone. Wait till you hear.”
“Hmm? What are you saying?”
“There is some news. Are you listening, then?”
“Tell!”
“My boss is leaving for America. And he has no family here. They have all left. So he is leaving the house to me.” Silence. “What is it now? Are you there? Did the line get cut?”
“I mean, what should I say? Is this true?”
“Why would it not be true?”
“I have never heard of a gift like this. He really said you can have his house?”
“What else would he do with it? Lock it up and let it fall apart? Let people break in and squat here and wreck it? I said I will maintain it nicely.”
“And you don’t have to pay him rent?”
“He’s going to America ! Dollars! He doesn’t need rent from me.”
“What are the conditions, then?”
“I told you. I have to maintain it.”
“And in a few years he will come back and take it?”
“No! It’s mine. Maybe he will want to see photos. I don’t know!”
“Don’t you feel a little scared? I have never heard of a gift like this. It’s too big. What if something bad is to follow?”
“Oho! Give me the phone. Yes, Boomba? Boomba, can you hear? I will tell your mother not to think like that. I will tell her we have already suffered our bad luck. My accident, and her job. Haven’t we endured enough? Things are changing. Our Boomba is making a new life in the city. He is making us proud. This is a blessing, so let’s accept the blessing.”
“That’s what I’m saying. When I call and tell you to come, be prepared for the four a.m. bus, that is the best one. Later in the day, it gets hotter and everybody becomes irritated. Wake up Robi and take the early one. Understood?”
“As you say, Boomba. We will take the midnight bus if we have to. It doesn’t happen in this life, like this.”
“I know, I know. I am using up all my luck.”
“What did he say, then?”
“How many times do you want to hear the story? There’s nothing more to tell.”
“What does it mean, leaving the house to you? Did he give you the, what do they call it, title? Papers, like that? Will you have to pay a huge tax?”
“Well, no, I don’t know about papers—he hasn’t given me papers yet. Maybe he will soon. I didn’t ask questions. Why should I?”
“Better not to ask questions, that’s true. Better not to make him doubt his decision.”
“Don’t go telling everybody, now. I don’t want everybody in the village coming here and asking to stay with us. The old lady would demand omelets twenty-four hours a day. I don’t want to make a new village here. I want our own house. You, Baba, Robi, and me, living in peace.”
“Tell me one thing. Does the house have working fans?”
“Does the house have working fans? Let me tell you. They have air-conditioning like you have never felt! Siberia on your skin!”