The Bride and other short stories

The Wrong Laxmi

She was the woman who was going to live to be a hundred. But a cold winter morning marked the demise of the family matriarch Mrs. Laxmi Thorat. 

People from all the village and far flung relatives came to pay their respects to the ninety-five year old woman who was loved and revered. The essence stick that was placed at her head had barely burned down, when, all of a sudden, the "dead", old woman coughed and stirred. The crowd around her went wild, three women stopped their laments and fainted dead away.

The crowd was wide-eyed as the supposedly dead woman, turned around and sat up, looking diminutive as she rubbed her eyes. She shot an apologetic and toothless smile at the gathered crowd who was looking at her aghast.

"I am sorry, but they send me back because I was the wrong Laxmi," she said by way of explanation. "They wanted the farmer's wife."

The same day, farmer Raghu's wife died of a snake bite. Her name was, of course, Laxmi.

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A/N : I wrote this story for a short story competition, and won! Enjoy this short and sweet story for Halloween! :)