Between The Blue

17

For once, the Kashyap household reverberated with life, as everyone sat together talking about childhood and memories. Little Pooja laughed and listened with great concentration as her grandmother narrated to her the incidents and accidents of her father and aunt from childhood. From falling together in the gutter amidst heavy rain while coming back from school to fighting to the extent of breaking Hiral's nose and Hiral biting on her brother's chest when he didn't give her share of juice.

"And still they would always be a team when a third person interfered"

Sheetal snickered.

Kailash piped in, "And Sheetal beta, you wouldn't believe your husband loved to play cricket, he would lie to me, take money for stationary, and instead purchase leather balls, and rubber balls and would lose them every other day"

Sheetal smiled and listened with joy.

Sushma got up to take the casserole from the side and served everyone with another section of pulao and chutney while Sheetal passed the bottle of mango pickle to her father-in-law before feeding Pooja with another spoonful of rice.

Hiral sat there listening to everyone as they chirped and ate together, in Sushma's bedroom, sitting over the bed, with multiple newspapers spread across the bedsheet.

After dinner, everyone sprawled and fitted around the room, and Sushma also joined them after clearing the kitchen and changing her clothes into a loose cotton nightgown. A game of carom was set and they split into two teams with brother and sister together, while Sheetal and Kailash played in a team, with Pooja being the common, and Sushma being a spectator.

"Hiral, you went all alone to get your wound treated?" Kailash questioned while striking a while object ball.

Hiral stilled at her place. In a blink, she lied, "Yes"

Speaking the truth would have been more complicated, and Hiral couldn't risk the peace. Anyways a certain someone was completely irrelevant.

And after so long the normalcy was back. And all it took was one wound.

Funny.

Sushma gave medicines to Hiral and checked her head for fever when she missed another shot, "Maaa" She screeched as her aim got missed.

"What Maa? There is another medicine left, one more medicine after half an hour, and go with your father tomorrow to get your dressing changed, Kashyap Ji..." She called her husband.

Kailash agreed, "Yes, we don't know about infection or anything yet, and the wound gets healed faster when left open"

"Papa I will take her—" Taruj offered.

"No I will take her, Batra will come to the store to settle the balance, you go early to shop" to which Taruj hummed.

Out of practice as everyone performed badly, the match ended much sooner than expected. Sheetal and Taruj stood up to leave and Sushma covered Hiral properly with the blanket except for her wounded foot. Taruj helped his father set the folding bed on another side for himself while Sheetal put the mattress and pillow for him.

"Hiral, don't go to the bathroom alone at night, wake me up, I am leaving the small bulb on" Sushma lay beside Hiral once everyone left except Kailash.

Hiral hummed before turning to sleep.

As the light dimmed down, she thought of the hope she felt today before closing her eyes and finally drifting to sleep.

__________________

Another two days passed in normalcy as Hiral felt a lot better about her situation and life. Her thumb had started to heal, and she was no longer taking painkillers, given her condition as well. The pain has also significantly reduced and everyone seems to be coping with the crisis.