Chapter 4: Peggy Sue
"How are you holding up kiddo?" He heard her chuckle from other end of the line.
"Arnav I am thirty five and a year older than you. One would think I am a six year old girl," Payal said still chuckling.
"What can I say? After one point boys grow up too fast and too old while you ladies still manage to look like our younger siblings." He said casually and slid into his car. He had stopped driving years ago when his presence of mind went on an overdrive ignoring reality. After realizing his bizarre driving, he quit driving altogether and hired a driver who doubled as his body guard. Not that he needed one but his sister had insisted.
"I am not sure if that was an insult wrapped in a compliment or a compliment overshadowing an insult," Payal said easily.
"I am an enigmatic man Payal. There are layers to even my monosyllabic answers," he said picturing Payal with an eye roll.
"I am on my way home Arnav and am almost there. What about you?" She asked smoothly changing the subject.
"I just got into car and smoothed right into a nightmare-ish traffic. It's so much fun," he groaned loudly looking out of the window. "Are you on a rickshaw?" He asked when the honking sound from the other end of the phone made him move the phone from his ear.
"I missed company cab so decided to take an auto back home." She said over a din the auto was making.
"Hectic day?" He asked gently.
"I was on phone for most part of the day and when I wasn't I was swimming in paper work," she said with a bit of frustration.
"Don't you generally take work home and manage to leave early?" His voice was still gentle but she didn't miss the accusation there.
"I..." Payal trailed, caught off guard with his insinuation.
"You should have called La or me so that either one of us could have picked you up," he said getting his answer in her non-answer.
"La is at a fund raiser tonight. Didn't you see her tweet?" Payal asked mentally thanking him for not pursuing his original train of thought.
"Tweeting is a waste of time," he said flatly. "Besides I don't know why it is so important for people to share every tiny bits of information of their life." He grumbled. "Like I care two hoots about what they ate for lunch or what is their favourite quote." He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Payal's laughter on the other end.
"Okay M. Luddite, as you wish. La looks stunning today in her cocktail dress. I will email you that picture after I get off from this call." She said and chuckled when she heard him groan and say "Do I have to?" from the other end. "Arnav, I will call you later alright? I am home." She said softly.
"Okay," he said shortly. He was about to hang up but stopped when he heard "Arnav" softly on the other side. "Yes?" He said.
"Thank you for calling me." She said. "Thank you for calming my nerves Arnav. I was so...jittery since I heard the news," she said.
"I have no idea what you are talking about kiddo. Good night," he said and hung up as she mirrored his good-bye.
Payal sighed and shifted on her feet, her fingers twiddling on the hook of the gate. When the gate opened, it made a loud creaking noise notifying everyone inside that someone was here. She never got the gate fixed as she called it as their first alarm before someone could ring the bell. But today she hated the fact that her presence would be known much before she wished her sister to realize.
Adjusting her features, she took a deep breath and opened the gate. Like expected, the door opened before she could reach the patio.
And then she saw her sister on the threshold.
*****
He purposefully ignored everyone in the living room and climbed the stairs two at a time. His sister and his brother-in-law Shyam were there laughing seeing something on television. He didn't want to be a part of a false propaganda of happy marriage and take part in its hypocrisy.
He knew that his sister had seen him and like clockwork she would come to his room just after he would finish getting refreshed. Usually they would chat for several minutes - her sitting on his bed and thumbing through a magazine while he organized his paperwork and the work he had brought home for the night. Sometimes she would bring his dinner to his room and talk mundane things till he finished his dinner. Things had changed a lot over the years because of that husband of hers. He generally backed out whenever her face fell due to a comment he made about Shyam. But when their sham of a marriage started grating his nerves more than necessary, he became more vocal about it.
"Chote, will you come down for dinner?" She asked standing by the door. He turned around from the table and took a long look at her. She looked...happy. "Maybe good for nothing husband of hers, had come home after spending yet another day in sheer debauchery." He thought snidely.
"I already ate di," he said tonelessly and turned back towards table.
"Shyam and I were waiting for you to come home. He...wanted to talk to you," she said haltingly. He whirled around and gave her a look of disbelief.
"His business isn't doing too well again?" He asked sardonically. Anjali missed it completely.
"His NGO's sponsors are a bit late in releasing funds for the water filters Shyam had ordered and received shipment. These filters have already been shipped to villages where they were promised so now he cannot return the goods either. So...he was wondering if you can cover the charges for now and when the funds are released, Shyam will payback." Anjali explained.
"And if the funds are not released?" Arnav asked turning to look at her. "How will he repay me?"
Anjali felt tears prickling her eyes. Arnav had never gone to this line of questioning before but for a while now he had become an absolute businessman even while dealing with family. She didn't understand why he was making such a big deal out of it.
"Chote...why have you become like this?" She asked hurt in her voice. "Shyam is doing charity work Arnav and I love him for those...NGOs always undergo minor setbacks but they always manage to bounce back..."
"Anjali, why is there a need to cry for everything I question?" There was nothing familiar in his voice she could cling on to. "I know he is doing charity and I am aware of the problems these charitable institutions face. But don't you think it's odd that the similar kind of problems happen often?" He tried to explain but his sister wasn't all that open for rationality.
That had always been her main problem. She let emotions overturn her rational side making impulsive and hasty decisions along the way which sometimes injured more than helped.
She wiped tears from her eyes. "You know what? Forget I asked anything." She said coldly. "Clearly money has become more important than anything to you nowadays." She slammed the door behind her as she walked out in anger, embarrassment and hurt.
Arnav collapsed on chair. He wished for the day to end already.
Music Selection: Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly and The Crickets
Next Chapter: Chapter 5, Three coins in the fountain
Edited by RockBarbie - 12 years ago
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