Chapter 45

Ghost Buster

It had taken over an hour of convincing Jai to go

She told him she had to go to work, he was shocked she would send him to a stranger’s house

She explained to him that he was going to “that lady” “Apoorva’s”

“Athey? U mean?” he asked

“Umm.. yeah she is an aunt I guess” she said evasively

“can I pack my dart guns?”

“Umm.. I don’t know, you are on ur 4th bag of darts shakaraa”

“Aaaeeee” a giant meltdown

She texted Aatreya

“Is it OK if he brings his dart guns?”

“Umm.. yeah?” he sent a pinching his chin emoji 

“U don’t have to play with him” she promised

“Got it”

She was driving him crazy with her odd behavior

“Why did u ask?” he insisted

“Ira and Iris may not like guns no?”

“Ah”

“He can play in the back rooms maybe” she decreed after 30ish minutes

“Why cant I play?”

She felt a strange churn in her belly when he asked that Q

It felt like he was teasing her

Why would he tease her?

“OK U can play” she approved carelessly not thinking too much about it

“thank you” he said

He was literally falling over on his couch, laughing

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Back to now…

When he got there Aatreya facetimed her

“Do u want me to keep this on the whole afternoon?” he offered

“Umm” she didn’t know she was being mocked gently

“Will you have network?” she asked innocently

“Do u want to stay on facetime the next 6 hours, I can try to figure something out?”

“You wont have network?” she asked trying not to make eye contact

“U can look at hime if you like” he turned the camera to show how he was being chased by Ira and Iris as he “vroomed” a car on the living room floor

He didn’t care his mother was even worried or looking

Ira was blocking him every few steps and he was giggling and dodging between furniture

“Dhruuu?” she called

He lifted his arm to show her a black shiny convertible, and then did a ballet like move and slid under the chair and sped off

Aatreya held the phone for her to keep watching

“OK Thanks” she had to say that twice

He finally brought the phone upfront

“He is playing” she said heartbroken

He saw it in her eyes

“U must be relieved?” he mumbled

“Umm… I will call back”

Mendy was fixing himself something to eat he returned to the living room

“Is the flat haunted?” he asked him

“Kidhar rey?”

“Mrs Gomes’”

“Nei to”

“I heard him say they don’t use their toilet at night” Aatreya whispered as the girls screeched loudly

“Lynn thinks she is crazy man” Mendy was worried

“Is it spooked or not?” he was a little upset

Mendy sat down by him and sighed

“IT IS NOT, sorry” he whispered firm tone

“Why is the kid so afraid of going to the bathroom?”

“I don’t know man, main bas ek baar gaya hei yaar uske flat”

“It cant be her imagination surely”

“Main terek u ek baat bolke doon?”” Mendy composed his expression “She is nervous and fidgety for sure, she never relaxes, not sure if its because he has a shit ton of allergies or becoz she thinks someone might kidnap him”

Aatreya stared at mendy and digested that info

“Has Mrs gomes met her parents?”

“Koi Parekh hai real estate agent bas use ko laya yeh apne Mrs Gomes ke ghar pe, koi family nahi laaya hai”

“Did u guys go?”

“Mere ko bola koi office ka friend hai bas wohi aaya us din for puja”

“Maybe she is in hiding from an ex?”

“Abhi kitne ex se bhaagega who? I mean cmon man don’t encourage her craziness”

Aatreya’s grim expression caused Mendy’s to soften a bit

“This is all just bizarre” he muttered

“the kid is a rock star man!” “Look at him!!” Mendy was in awe as Jaidrith hid behind a door the girls trying to find him

The afternoon was busy, playing at home eating a snack, going to the apartment rec area and shooting some hoops, going over to the mango orchard, he hoisted the girls up to pluck some off the trees

Jaidrith decided he was “too tall” and managed to get three

He ordered pizza for the girls and made him rice and dal, he stared at the pizza with longing, he asked him if he had eaten ANY? Ever?

He was told no

Mrunal called him or texted him… well he lost count, he called back or answered the call live and or texted immediately each time

He later discovered from Jai that she had called him atleast 10 times

He wondered if she did that on days when he had no school, he wondered who cared for him then

“Do u go to your grandparents house when u don’t have school?”

Noooo” he looked at Aatreya like he was smoking something

“U don’t?”

“Nope… I am not sure where they live he said”

He chalked it down to “This kid does not know how to get to XYZ from Chembur since they recently moved, he probably knew how to get there from Bandra”

“where do you go?”

“My school has a summer and break program”

“Do you hang with friends? Must be fun? BOY! I wish I could do that” he teased

As they shot hoops, Jai was very competitive he realized while playing

Must come from his mother he thought

She had returned every kiss for a kiss, every nip for a nip and every… umm.. yes

“I don’t have friends, well I did in Bandra” he said grabbing the ball and dribbling as fast as he could though very poorly

“Oh u did no wonder u hate it in Chembur”

“Yeah I saw many friends playing” he said confidently though panting as he dodged Aatreya

Aatreya had no idea what that meant….

He was half expecting her to storm in and grab her kid and flee

She had not sent him any detail about herself in exchange to all that he sent

He knew where she worked a month ago and that’s all he knew now

Jaidrith seemed happy and well adjusted

His food allergies were a beast though, he had ordered a bunch of books to start reading soon, he had appointments with two doctors locally and one overseas to understand and equip himself with knowledge on the topic

Around 7 when the rains returned they were ready to leave

He actually saw her on her phone and looking out the window when they arrived

Ira and Iris tagged along too since Mendy had a date night, Aatreya would stay over at Lynn’s

Jai looked exhausted his cheeks were pink

“Did he have an asthma attack?” she asked panicking when she opened the door

“Nope” he nodded

The girls followed Jaidrith to the bedroom

“He looks tired”

“I assure you he did great” he said

His shirt was crushed and sleeve rolled up at different points on the arm, the end coming off the jeans on one side, he looked handsomely tired she realized

His hair soaked in the rain must have dried in place

“Thank you” she nodded visibly relieved

“Thanks for trusting” he whispered

The girls were squeaking inside

Jai was giggling

“I made… dinner for him”

“He ate already”

“Hmm..” she looked really sad

“May I use the bathroom?”

Her expression paled

“Why?” she asked bluntly

“Umm.. for the usual reasons” he promised

“Umm..” she wanted to say “We don’t use it at night in the Ghatge house”

“I will be quick and will not leave the seat up” he tried not to laugh under his breath

“OK” she said looking at him, but quite preoccupied

“So?” he stood before her amused, rocking on the balls of his feet, hands in pocket

“I was going to…” she tried to come up with a lie why he cant use it, 

“What would I tell the girls if something happened to him… or Mendy” she thought

“thanks” he said and walked past her

He spent a good 10 minutes… and figured out the “spirit”

He held a piece of toilet paper up every crack/opening, the window the ventilator, the exhaust grill, he left the door unbolted and watched it swing back and forth.

A blade on the exhaust fan was tipped, and bent, it knocked against the grill, and a large piece of duct black duct tape flapped causing a whistling sound,

The bent blade blew air back INTO the flat, he ripped the duct tape off, and, completely closed the glass slat closest to the blade

Leaned on the wall arms folded across his chest and watched the almost closed but not bolted door again

The door didn’t move much at all he knew the blade needed fixing and even for his height it was much too tall

He was going to let Mendy know who would make it up as “Mrs Gomes remembered…” blah blah blah

He stepped out

“You did not flush!” she accused coming out of the kitchen