064 Meera

"Elder brother Mani, are you planning to move with your daughter," Jeemma asked during dinner.

"No. The water there is bad. It causes hair fall. I might go bald if I stay there." Mani uncle answered while chewing.

I looked at his head. It was bald like an egg. I could see the reflection of the entire room on his head.

The kids all giggled hearing his reply. He was proud of his joke and was smiling from ear to ear.

"Chacha, why don't you come with us?" Jeemma asked chachan. Clearly, her first question was just to get the conversation started.

"No. I like it here." Chachan rejected ruthlessly.

"Why do you want to live here alone?" Jeemma almost snapped.

"I am not alone. Look at this fellow. We meet every day." Chachan pointed to Mani uncle with his chin.

"But don't you want to stay with your grandkids?" Appa asked.

"The water there causes hair fall." Chachan was silent for a few seconds. After thinking a bit, he came up with an excuse.

"Heyy... Don't copy this shameless fellow." Jeemma was slowly losing patience.

"I can hear you."

"Fine. At least explain why you cannot come with us." Jeemma demanded.

Chachan went silent for a while.

"When chachan die, we can bring you here to bury you," I added a condition which was sure to attract Chachan's attention.

Slap... "Don't speak ominous things." Jeemma spanked me.

My butt hurt really bad. I looked at Jeemma angrily. But I didn't have the confidence to fight her.

"Why are you hitting the baby?" Chachan scolded Jeemma and picked me up.

"Chacha, if that's what you are worried about, then we can promise that your funeral will be conducted here and we can promise you that you will be buried in the same grave as amma." Appa noticed the change in chachan's expression and decided to try that deal.

"That's a good idea. I can also promise that." Jeemma supported the idea.

'Heyy... My butt still hurts.' I didn't know what to say. Just a few seconds ago, I got spanked for saying the same thing and now she was praising her brother for repeating it.

"Hmm..." A conflicted look appeared on chachan's face. He was debating with himself.

When appa said that chachan would be buried with 'amma' after his death, appa was referring to chachan's wife.

Chachan was in deep thoughts for a while. Jeemma, Appa, Jijo uncle and mom came up with many arguments. But in the end, chachan rejected all of it.

"You don't understand. I spent my entire life here. I cannot live in your place. It's... suffocating. Also, here I can go and talk to my wife whenever I want."

"I am not alone here. There are many kids who terrorize this area. I also have friends like him and many others."

I knew that it was not going to be a success. Because Chachan liked the lifestyle of highrange. For him, our places that were heavily influenced by modern lifestyle were suffocating. Although highrange also had all the modernities, they still followed the old easy-going lifestyle.

I was kind of jealous of it.

"Then at least let us send you a home nurse." Jeemma pleaded.

"Home servant." Appa corrected her. Telling chachan that he need a home nurse was a very insulting thing to say.

"So that you can spy on me like last time?" Chachan didn't look happy.

A few years ago, Jeemma arranged a lady as a servant for chachan. Chachan didn't know that she was arranged by Jeemma.

She was someone loyal to Jeemma and gave her regular updates about everything that was happening there. One day, chachan and his friends made a detailed plan to rob a bank just for fun. This was a prank they played to scare the servant lady.

The lady got scared and passed the information to Jeemma. Since robing was something that these senile old men might do just for fun, Jeemma got worried and interfered. The lady was a bit dumb and ended up confessing that she was employed by Jeemmma. Chachan got furious and she lost her job.

In the end, Jeemma arranged another job for her.

"Last time was a mistake. I only wanted her to tell me if anything important happened."

"I can handle myself easily. I can cook better than anyone you would send. So there is no need for a servant now. If needed, I will hire one myself." Chachan rejected the idea.

Jeemma was a bit too selfish when it came to people she loved. This was a headache for everyone around her including me. There was nothing we could do as none of us had the courage to go against her.

"Daughter, I have some issue with my back. Can you arrange a young home nurse for me?" Mani uncle asked shamelessly.

"I will ask Shreya to find one for you," Jeemma replied. Shreya was Mani uncle's eldest daughter. She was a school teacher and a bit scary.

"No need. My back just healed miraculously."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely. See..." Mani uncle stood up and twisted his body in a funny way to show that he was fine.

The kids all laughed and the mood of the room brightened again. I kind of understand why chachan likes this shameless fellow.

We talked a lot. It was fun.

After dinner, Mani uncle went to his home. Before leaving, he told us that if needed, there is a spare room in his house. But dad politely rejected the offer.

Since I was bored after dinner, I decided to call my friends.

"Hello auntyy." I happily greeted Lakshmi aunty.

"When did you start calling me 'aunty'?" Lakshmi aunty was slightly displeased.

"Ahh... Sorry, Lachu." I corrected myself.

At first, when I started calling her Lachu, she wasn't that happy. But then she liked it.

This was making me a bit troubled. As a kid, I can call her 'Lachu' without any issue. But as I grow up, it would become awkward to call her 'Lachu'. Especially since she might be my mother-in-law.

"Where is Meera?" I asked.

"I thought you called to talk to me." Lakshmi aunty pretended to be heartbroken.

"Yes... Yes... To talk to you too. How is your job." It was becoming harder and harder to handle the adults around me.

"My job is fine. How is your chachan?"

"Chachan is fine. He appa gave him a gun."

"For what?"

"To hunt rabbits."

"Did you eat rabbit?"

"Yes. And iyamma shot a cow thinking it was a wild pig. Then the cow's owner came and scolded iyamma. Then appa made her stand at the corner..." I started telling the events here.

"You are lying." Lakshmi aunty wasn't ready to believe the stories I told.

"No. You can ask iyamma. All the birds pooped on them. Doodu told them to do it and iyamma punished Doodu and anuchi for that."

"Achu?" A small sound came from the other side of the call.

"Meera..." I identified the voice.

"Video... video." She demanded a video call.

So we switched to a video call. She was wearing a blue frock and seemed happy.

"New frock." She announced.

"Yes. You look beautiful."

"Thank you. You look cute too."

"Grandpa sent me to dancing class. Pappa bought me a frock and amma didn't like. ..." Meera started talking non-stop. She didn't give me an opportunity to even reply.

Meera is a silent girl. But would get talkative when she is with people she loves. Once she starts talking, there won't be an end to it. I kind of started regretting my decision to call her.

"Achu... We made tail for the teddy bear." She excitedly informed me.

"Tail?" I was confused.

"Wait." She ran away and returned dragging a teddy bear by the ear. The teddy bear was almost as big as her.

And there was a tail. A long one.

"..." I looked at the tail without a clue for a few moments. It took me a few seconds to realize that teddy bears don't usually have long tails.

"How?" I asked.

"Pappa gave me a teddy bear. But it had no tail. So we operated." She explained.

"We?"

"I and Pappa."

"Where did you get the tail from?"

"From the monkey." She ran away to bring the monkey.

It was a big black tailless monkey.

"What is the monkey going to do now without a tail?" I asked.

"Huh?" She looked at the monkey for a few moments.

"Monkey needs a tail to swing on trees," I added.

"Wait." She ran away again after thinking for a second.

This time, she returned with a cat doll.

"We can put cat tail on the monkey." She said showing me the tail of the cat.

I wondered what her room would look like. With many stuffed animals exchanging organs, her room might look like a room full of chimaeras. I hope she doesn't make this a hobby and try it out on real animals.

"Ahh... I have a cat." She ran away again.

"Mrrreeewwww"

She returned dragging an angry cat by its tail.

I was left speechless and scared. What if she gets the idea of taking the tail from the cat and putting it on the monkey?

"Dear... How many times did I tell you not to hurt the cat?" Fortunately, her dad came to rescue the cat.

"Hello, uncle.." I greeted him politely.

"Hii achutti. How is highrange?"

"It is beautiful."

"How was the journey?"

"It was fun."

"What are you bringing for us from highrange?"

"Fog." I replied instantly. This was a joke from my previous life. In our area, fog is rare. But it is a daily occurrence in Highrange. So 'bringing fog' was used as a joke in a movie (which will be released in future) and it would become popular in the future.

"Fog?" He was confused for a moment. Then he realized that I was mocking him.

"Looks like my daughter likes you." He said with a smile. I understood the meaning behind that smile. He was gloating. usually, he is the one who has to listen to all that chattering. But now, I am the one who is trapped.

"Your wife also likes me." I wasn't ready to surrender.

"..." He was speechless for a moment.

"Is he doing this intentionally?" He turned to Lakshmi aunty and asked her.

"Why do you want to bicker with him? You will only lose to him." Laksmi aunty was used to my comments and advised her husband not to compete with me.

"Achu, did you call Anita?" Lakshmi aunty asked.

"No. I will call tomorrow."

"That's fine. Go and sleep now. It's getting late."

Since it was getting late, Lakshmi aunty ended the call.

After the call, I went to sleep.

As usual, we all slept together.

With that, another day at highrange came to an end.

None of us wanted to talk about it. But the day of the election result was also approaching.

___________________________

Hii,

I got a bit busy with the job. Here is the weekly chapter.

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