The Promise

THE PARENTS - Part 3/8 – The Promise

Two days had passed, and it was Sunday again, and for everyone in the Middle East, the first working day of the week.

Kay woke up by self at his usual time, 5:00AM. He brushed his teeth, took bath, changed into his school uniform, had his usual two cookies and milk for breakfast and left for school. His dad Jay, and little brother Vye, who spent most of the night playing Literati on Yahoo Games and watching Jim Jam TV respectively, were sound asleep. His mother lunged on to her daily morning chores of ironing dad’s formals for work and preparing his lunch box while occasionally poking and nudging dad to wake him up.

It was already 7:00AM, the time when Jay’s office officially commences, but he was still asleep. Elle had already shaken him thrice and also kicked his butt twice, but he kept snoring away. He was least bothered. He didn’t have to worry about reporting late. Although he reported for work with a delay of more than an hour everyday, his punching ‘In-Time’ always read 6:55AM. It was all taken care of. The modus operandi was simple. Jay had entered into a clandestine deal with the Bangladeshi Cleaner boy who worked for the Facilities Agency. Everyday the Cleaner would swipe in Jay’s card around 6:55AM regardless of whether he was present or not. The deal wasn’t cheap, but he believed that it was worth it; his early morning sleep was that precious to him.

Anyways, he finally woke up and started grumbling at his wife complaining that she should have woken him up earlier and that now he’d definitely be late for that important meeting at office. He then went straight to the study room, where he spent half an hour socializing by writing utterly cheap jokes on his friend’s walls and penning in a wise crack status message on his facebook page.  When he was finished, he lazily got up and after brief ablutions, changed into his formals and left, without taking bath or even changing his undergarments.

Elle proceeded on with her chores; she put the clothes for washing, the chicken for defrosting and then got on to her exercise routine, which usually lasted around thirty minutes and culminated with another thirty minutes jog on the treadmill.

As usual, Jay reached office at 8:45AM. He crept in through the back door silently without anyone noticing. He thought he had executed his entry pretty stealthily, but everyone in the office knew that he had arrived. No sooner had he entered the office, his peers from adjacent cubes stood up and disappeared into the washroom. As he parked his briefcase on the desk and slumped onto his chair, the Nepali Office Boy walked into his cube, asked for his permission and then sprayed an overdose of a Jasmine scented air freshener around. He thanked the Office Boy for doing his job well and complained “This place always smells so bad, isn’t it? I wonder what it is?” The Office Boy had nothing to say in return. He just smiled back and left, straight to the Wash Room, where he informed everyone that the area had been sanitised and that they could go back to their cubes.

It was the first day of the week and Jay found it difficult to keep himself awake at work. Anyways, all he had to do was to remain awake for another two odd hours and he knew he could rely on caffeine for that. He decided to make himself a cup of coffee and for that went straight to the kitchen. He entered the kitchen, where he found a few of his peers chatting. No sooner did he raise his hand and wish them “Good Morning” they just smiled at him and left, leaving him alone there. He stood there stirring his cup and grumbling “These guys have no manners at all”

He somehow managed to kill the two and half odd hours that he was at work, spending some sleeping in the washroom and the rest socializing on facebook and watching sleazy bhojpuri songs on youtube.

At around 11:30AM, he got up from his desk and left, leaving his co-workers to finally breathe in fresh air. He dashed straight to home. At home Elle and Vye greeted him with a surprise and Elle asked “So you’ve come to freshen up. Good. Go and take bath soon, you stink. Meanwhile, I’ll just get the lunch done”

He responded “No need. I’ll have lunch from the canteen later and I am here just for a nap…..no bathing shathing” and directly proceeded to the bedroom, where he hit the bed and started snoring instantly. The lunch hour at his workplace was till one in the noon, and he could easily buy another one hour and reach office by two. He knew no one would be looking for him.

After a good long nap, which lasted for over an hour, he woke up, washed his face and dressed back to go to work. As he was about to leave, there was a long screech on the calling bell, which indicated that Kay was back from school. He opened the door and let his elder son in and they greeted each other.

Kay, who had not expected to see his dad in at this time of the day asked “Why pappa, you didn’t go to office today?” to which his dad replied “Oh! I had some work at home. I am going back. It is a busy day and I have got lots of work to do”

As his dad was about to get out of the house, the boy called out from behind and said “Pappa wait, I have something to show to you”

His dad responded “What is it? Come out fast. I am getting late. There’s lot of work to do at office”

Kay opened his bag and showed dad what he had got from school today. In his hand he had a box of colour pencils. He said “See Pappa, I got the colours”

Dad took the box in his hand and checked if all the pencils were there and after the confirmation asked “Where was it? Where did you find it?” to which he replied “I had given it to Annie. She didn’t have colours and she was crying that’s why. Today I told her, I want my colours back, my father is asking, and she gave it. I did the correct thing no Pappa?”

Dad said “Good. Now don’t give it again to anyone or lose it. Keep it safely. Okay?” and was about to leave, when Kay called him again from behind and said “Now Pappa, will you get me the Colouring Puzzle?” to which his dad responded, “Okay, next week when we go for shopping”

Kay jumped first clenching his fits and then throwing his arms around. He then stomped his feet and said “No! I want it today itself. Today, today, today, today only okay?” to which his dad replied “I have lots of work at office son, it will not happen today”

The boy threw his arms again and screamed “This is not good Pappa. You are breaking your promise and that’s not good. If you behave like this, no one will trust you anymore” and turned away with a grumpy face folded arms.

Dad, who had just got a dose of his own preaching had nothing more to say in response except “Okay Kay, I will get it today, as I come back from office”

Kay instantly climbed on to the sofa and jumped spreading his arms like an eagle and screaming “Yey”

He then reconfirmed with his dad by asking “Promise Pappa, you will bring it today?”

His dad reconfirmed “Yes, I will”

The boys were overjoyed and both Kay and Vye, ran around the living room in circles laughing loudly and screaming “Yeyy, yeyyy yeyyy”

As dad left, Kay called from behind for the third time and said “Thank you Pappa. I love you Pappa… Yey Yey” and then ran to him and gave him a hug and a kiss.