A Lockdown To Remember

Day 16

They have seen each other.

Enjoy:)

"One one, eleven. Seven three, seventy-three. Single number five." Xenia looked up from her phone. It was fifteen minutes ago when she came out of the shower and since then, she was chatting with a friend. The morning was ordinary, meaningless, work-full but thoughtless. After her morning routine, she rested for some time, took a shower and then stayed in the room. "Two fat ladies, eighty-eight." This time she frowned and left the bed. She recognised her father's voice however those words were unrecognisable. She followed the voice which brought her to the spare room. Her mother was sitting on the deewan, her father was on a chair near the window and Maier was sitting near his window.  "Six nine, sixty-nine," Her father said.

"What is happening?" Hesitating she entered the room.

"We are playing housie, " her father said. "You what to play? Wait, after this round."

She sat next to her mother before asking, "where did you get it from? We didn't have it, did we?"

"He had it," her father motioned towards Maier as he said.

"Where did you get it from?" Was her reflex question.

"My nephew loves to play it with my father so I got it for them."

"Then why did you open it?" Her mother asked. "You bought it for them. You should have not opened it."

Shaking his head he said, "Last line done. It's okay. I am sure my nephew will understand."

"Okay, so last line, four corners and middle line are done. Now, first line and full housie remaining. Two eight, twenty-eight."

"I will call out the number, you play," Xenia said when she saw her father struggling at multitasking. The round was over in the next five minutes and when they began again Xenia was a part of it. It was her father again who was calling out the numbers, however, then he was not playing. "What did the agent say?" Two minutes into the game her mother said.

"Which agent?" Xenia asked.

"He said, he was not sure. There is a chance but maybe."

"Maybe try another agent. Did you check online?"

"Check what?" Xenia interrupted again.

"I checked online but I don't know if it can be trusted. My father is looking into it."

"Hopefully you will find a way out. Do not worry."

"What agent Mumma?" She paused for a moment before saying, "Amma, what are you talking about?"

"He is trying to book a ticket. Lockdown ends soon and before the second lockdown starts it's better if he leaves."

"Oh."

"Is there any flight flying out?" Her father asked him.

"There is one after twenty-fifth April."

"Second lockdown will begin by then. Try to find something before twenty. "

He nodded her head, "that is what we are trying. I hope I get a chance to leave."

"What did the embassy said? Will they help?" Her mother asked him.

"All they can do is give me a letter that would permit me to leave. Cannot expect much from them."

"At least you have permission. You just need to book a ticket and then you will be out of here," her father said next.

"Yeah. I hope I get one. The last line done."

"I haven't even got six numbers," her mother cried.

"The chances of lockdown ending is less. Especially in Mumbai," her father said after some time had passed.

"Yeah, Mumbai is the highest, unfortunately," Maier said before picking a pen in his hand.

"Mumbai is always ahead of others. We never let others win, " her mother said making everyone laugh. They played two more rounds before her father had to leave for his conference call. Her mother stayed for another and then they decided to warp up. A few minutes later Her mother left as her father asked her to help him find his blue shirt. Xenia was helping Maier to pack the game again, however, accidentally she dropped the box and all the tokens fell down. Apologising she quickly started collecting them.

"It's okay if you cannot find them," Maier said looking At her nervous face.

"Let's count how many are there and then I will look again." She took the board in her hand which had numbers from 1 to 90 written on it. She started placing the tokens on their respective numbers.

"It is okay Xenia. If we cannot find one or two we can write that numbers on the box so that the game can still be played."

"If we do not find any number my mother will kill me."

He frowned, "it is not your game."

"Just imagine what she would have done if it was ours. I am so sorry." She shook her head. "I should have been careful. I am sorry. I was distracted."

"I was there. It was an honest mistake. Do not beat yourself for that."

"Yeah." As fast as she could she was placing the tokens on the board. Her heart was beating faster than that. She often got anxious over small issues while the big ones were left untouched. She was not worried about getting sick, she was worried about causing a loss to someone, however small the loss was.

"Two numbers are missing. Nine and forty-five." She handed the game to Maier and bent down again. Her distress made him anxious. He tried to console her, stop her, and even tried to bring her back to normal however she did not alter. She smiled only after she found those missing tokens. "Thank God I found them."

"Thank God indeed. You would have not slept at night if you had not found it."

"I would have not." She wiped her forehead that made Maier frown deeply.

"You started sweating because of that?"

"It's also hot. Summer." She pointed at the sky as she said.

"Your boss will eat you raw. What will you do if you get scared this easy?"

"It's okay. Did you book a ticket?"

He quietly stared her for a moment before he said, "no. My father is looking into it."

"Yeah, you said that. I hope you meet your family soon."

"I hope that too. It is getting more and more difficult." He chuckled as he said that. "I would love to return home."

"I hope that you do. I will pray for your return," she said with a smile not understand the meaning or the dept of her words. Not understand what that would cause.

***

So I realised only 5 more chapters to go!!!