The book of snippets

Home they brought their warrior dead

Another Goat drabble that no one asked for

Might be triggering

I haven't decided yet

But I did write this listening to Gandhi's screams...

'It's so small' Nazeer's mind tattled with startling stability, 'the cracass, it's so small.' When had he become an it, that pure beautiful child. Jeevan was the first child in their squad and they all doted on him, as much as they could.

Now here he was, gone. Just a husk.

'What's he doing sitting there? It's gross' his mind continued with unfound stability. Maybe this was his mind's way of helping him stand because Gandhi was already on his knees, Sitting beside the stretcher that held Jeevan's corpse. Wrapped from head to toe.

God where was kalyan?

Nazeer sighed, preparing himself. His footsteps were silent as he reached Gandhi. Though it probably wouldn't have made much difference even if he thundered around.

"Gandhi" he called out, gently tapping his shoulder. Lord give him strength! As a Sats agent he was prepared for any situation but this was something he could never have seen coming.

"He said his legs hurt" Gandhi murmured. Nazeer pondered if he had been quietly muttering the whole time or this was prompted by him. Anyway, he listened without interrupting.

"He said his legs hurt" Gandhi repeated, "He said his legs hurt. Probably because I made him walk and run so much. He's 5. What was I thinking?"

"Gandhi, it's not your fault" Nazeer said. He couldn't take any of this anymore.

"I always carried him around, never took my eyes off him" he continued. Nazeer didn't know if he had heard him. "I should have just carried him with me. He didn't  like being carried much because he wanted to run away and run around. He used to complain to me all the time. Asking me to let him go... how could I? How could I? How could I leave him alone?"

Gandhi broke away into tears as Nazeer tried to comfort him and pull him up. Before he could succeed or fail, they were interrupted by an attender.

He gave one last pat to Gandhi before walking to the attender with heavy legs. The least he could was relieve the grieving father of these mundane details. Then he looked at the papers the attender brought to them.

Oh God!! Oh No!

This was no mundane thing. Jeevan's body was  technically just evidence and residue of a crime cum accident. Unlike other evidences, carcasses like this were to be disposed. By the government or the family.

They were asking if they wanted to hand over the body for cremation or burial to the government or if they would take care of it themselves.

They couldn't take him back to India. Not like this! Nazeer's heart once again broke as he realised that these two unfortunate parents wouldn't even get to take their firstborn back to the land he was born for one final goodbye.

Then he froze. Anu... she didn't know. She didn't know her first born was no more.

He managed to tell the attender to give them some time on it because they had yet to tell the mother without his voice breaking. The utter look of pity the attender gave him was enough to make him choke on the air around him.