BELLS IN NEW YORK

Chapter 03- Part 02

The next morning, I was painfully woken up by an extremely energetic Ivaan, bouncing on my non-existent stomach.

Playfully pushing Ivaan off my stomach and launched a very lethal tickle attack. Before long, Ivaan was wriggling around on the bed, giggling and trying to get me to stop. As always, tickle attacks work like a charm.

Ivaan:0, Drithi:1

"We should probably go wash up. Grandpa must've made breakfast by now," I said, already breathless after just five minutes of playing. I wasn't getting any younger after all.

After cleaning ourselves up, we made our way towards the dining room, Ivaan on my back. As I passed by the clock, I glanced over at it. It was only seven in the morning! Maybe I should keep Ivaan around as my personal alarm clock.

"Good morning Pa," I said, entering the kitchen that was filled with the smell of idlis.

"Good morning, sweetheart. How come you're awake this early? I'm not complaining, of course" Pa said as he took Ivaan off my back.

"Well, I didn't know that Ivaan was such an early bird. I couldn't have slept longer even if I wanted to," I replied getting out the plates for everybody, "Are Priya and Gopal not up yet?"

The second the words left my mouth, the two walked into the kitchen.

"Speak of the devil," I muttered, bringing the plate of steaming idlis onto the dining table.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you," Priya said before both of them bid good morning to Pa.

Gopal sat down at the table and turned towards me.

"I hope Ivaan didn't bother you in your sleep."

"Oh, not at all. However, if it wasn't for him, I'd still be sleeping."

I sat down at the table as Pa brought over the remaining idlis and chutneys.

Immediately after everybody settled down to eat, a peaceful silence descended in the kitchen. For over ten minutes, not a word was uttered as everyone was too busy shoving their faces with Pa's delicious idlis. It wasn't always that we got to eat Idlis. They weren't a huge hassle to make, but they took quite a while to be prepared so it was mostly only served at important meals. Since ivaan and his family were visiting, today was such an occasion. And I was here for it.

Once the idlis had vanished, the silence vanished along with it. Pa and my cousins started talking about their plans for the day as I entertained little Ivaan.

Time flew by so fast that I wouldn't have realised that I was going to be late for work if I hadn't accidentally looked at the clock. Have you ever met somebody who was late for work even after waking up exceptionally early? Well, now you have.

"Shit!"

I shot out of my chair and ran to my room.

"Drithi, mind your language! We've got a child in the house!" I could faintly hear Pa shouting from the kitchen.

Putting on my uniform as fast as humanly possible, I grabbed my bag and car keys and went to the kitchen. After telling a few quick goodbyes to the bewildered occupants, I ruffled Ivaan's hair and promised to get him a bar of chocolate once I got back. With that, I bolted out of the front door.

Jumping into the car, I revved up the engine and took off, with barely five minutes left until clock-in time. Only a miracle could get me to the station on time.

***
I was late for work. A whole ten minutes late. Miracles rarely happen in life, and this was not one of those rare cases. I only hoped I could be at work on time. But Luck and I have had an extremely rocky relationship for the past 24 years.

After receiving my third warning and a ten minute lecture from the division supervisor, I went over to my designated cubicle, extremely excited to get on with my work (If you didn't catch the sarcasm, I hope you do now.) What greeted me at my desk surprised me- but it wasn't the good kind of surprise at all.

A mountain of blue and black files stated back at me. I took in the scene as I calculated how many days it would take me to reach the bottom of the pile.

To add to the horror, just then officer Alejandro Rodriguez walked up with a dozen files cradled in his arms, and carefully placed them on the mounting pile.

"Supervising officer Jackson wanted me to hand these over to you. Looks like you'll be quite busy for the day," he smirked before leaving me behind with the pile of doom.

"A good morning would've been nice instead of adding salt to the wound," I muttered under my breath and slumped onto my chair. Did I mention Luck was never on my side?

Two hours into the work, I wasn't even five percent of the way done. I hope these people didn't expect me to complete everything by today.

"Drithi, I need to be able to see your table top by the end of the day, you hear me?" Supervisor Jackson's voice sounded from behind me, scaring me out of my skin.

I muttered a quick "Yes sir" Before descending back into my abyss of sadness. Looks like my lunch is going to sacrificed today.

♧♧♧

Idli- type of savoury rice cake, originating from the Indian subcontinent, popular as breakfast foods in Southern India and in Sri Lanka. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and rice. (Source: Wikipedia)

What do you think? Let me know in the comments! (It won't hurt to vote and share as well *wink* *wink*)

See you next Saturday!

P.S.- I'm trying to figure out a fixed time to upload since I don't have a specific time yet, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

Au revoir!

28/05/2022