Prerna was humming to herself tunelessly when her son decided to poke half his head into the kitchen.
“Mom can you call Nikhil’s mom and tell her he’ll be spending the night?”
She kept aside the ladle she was using to stir the stew, switched off the gas and wiped her hands. She ignored the way her son rolled his eyes. With one hand on her hip, she asked, “When did Nikhil get here?”
He could answer that question, decided Ayush as he stepped into the doorway. “He came with me from school.”
Prerna huffed. “You know the rules baby. You have to tell me…”
“Mom please.”
That made her pause. Her son, who had recently turned thirteen and was finding newer and bizarre ways to rebel had decided to delete the word please from his dictionary. For him to use it now…something must be going on.
“I’m not saying he can’t stay love. I’m just saying his mom would be worried and we need to…”
“She already knows where he is,” Ayush interrupted hastily. He did not need another lecture, not right now. “Nikhil just wanted me to tell you to call her so she would know he’s telling the truth.”
Now her mother instincts were doing an uncomfortable jig in her breast. “Is something wrong?”
“Mom…”
“I didn’t even hear you two come in, or playing, or anything. I know your bedroom door is open so it’s not even like that prevented the noise from carrying…I’m just concerned. Since when do you two sit quietly in a room?”
“Please just make the call.” He turned to go. But then turned back and with an eyebrow raised, he asked, “Will you do me a favour? I’ll do anything you ask, promise.”
The instincts were all but screaming now but she quietened them enough to speak. “What promise?”
“Don’t ask him any questions.”
“What? How am I supposed to make conversation with him?”
Ayush frowned. He hadn’t thought about that. “Don’t talk to him then.”
It was with great effort she stopped herself from stomping her foot. She was not the child here. “Okay you have to tell me what is going on.”
He didn’t even think about arguing. He knew that tone and there was no arguing with that tone. “People keep asking him questions mom – all the time. Are you okay, do you need something, you need to talk, you cannot keep it all in – on and on and on. His mom and then the class teacher and the counsellor and our other friends and their parents. All the time just questions upon questions.”
Prerna’s heart melted as she looked at her son. There was only a hint of hair on his upper lip and chin, and his voice hadn’t started to crack yet. But right now, he sounded like a grown up. And she was proud of the compassion he was extending to his best friend.
“Okay. I’ll call his mom and I won’t ask questions.”
Ayush sighed in relief and went back to his bedroom. His best friend was on his stomach, a book on the bed. He knew Nikhil had skipped ahead because when he had left, the read side of the book hadn’t been so thick. He did not comment.
He picked up his gaming console and started to setup everything. He put in their favourite game, and handed over one of the controllers to Nikhil.
“Come on,” he said gently, “you know you’re not going to read that book. It requires too much of your attention. This…now this only requires you to move your hands.”
Nikhil sighed and rubbed his face. When he had come to his friend’s house, it had been empty and he had gotten the time and space to cry without anyone noticing or asking questions. Ayush had given him his space, not even hovering around him.
“Mom will call aunty and I also…”
His friend kept talking but he didn’t think Ayush expected him to respond so he didn’t bother. He took the controller, climbed off the bed and sat on the bean bag that was in front of the flatscreen.
There was a lull in Ayush’s monologue where Nikhil murmured, “Thank you.”
Ayush turned to him, then back to the game. “Anytime,” he said with a shrug.
Back in the kitchen, Prerna pacified a tearful mother that her son was fine, he hadn’t run away from home and she would take care of him, make sure he would reach school on time the next morning.
Unable to hold back her curiosity, she went to her son’s room. The door was still open but she could hear the sounds of their videogame. The two boys were sitting next to each other, eyes glued to the flatscreen, not talking. Maybe that’s what the grieving boy needed, Prerna thought to herself. Someone with whom he could share the silence.
She realized, in that moment, Nikhil looked okay. He was still far away from being fine, but right there, with her son, he looked okay.
Written as part of Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.
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tales of Suchita 
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