“Mum, I’m pregnant!” Anu excitedly announced as she returned from school.
“What?” Mum asked, dumbfounded.
“I’m pregnant.” Anu patted her tummy and said again.
I sprayed out the milk that was in my mouth.
Doodu plopped on his little butt.
Mum looked at her, sighing.
She was wondering what new drama her stupid daughter was cooking.
“Explain,” Mum ordered.
“Yesterday, I ate potatoes, and today I vomited in school,” Anu replied happily.
She actually ate potatoes a few days ago.
But for her, every day that already passed is yesterday.
Mum slapped her forehead in frustration.
I laughed.
A few days ago, Anu asked Dad how babies are born.
According to Dad’s explanation, Mums eat too many potatoes, causing their bellies to bulge with gas.
Then they let out a big fart and the baby comes out.
“Tell this to your dad.” Mum decided to leave the difficult job of explaining to her dad.
Mum checked her school diary.
There was indeed a message from the teacher saying that Anu vomited in the school after lunch.
In the past life, this also happened.
Not just one day.
Anu started vomiting almost every day after lunch at school.
I actually knew the reason for her vomiting.
She had a black slate for writing.
It was outdated technology.
But the schools continued using it as it was a part of a culture.
For writing on the slate, there were small, thin pieces of chalk.
Over the past few days, she developed the habit of biting the chalk.
This chalk powder reached her stomach and made her vomit.
In my previous life, Mum and Dad got worried and took her to the hospital.
He told her to stop biting the chalk.
Clearly, the doctor was well experienced and knew the mentality of the kids.
I debated with myself for a while.
I could easily solve the issue by telling her to stop biting the chalk.
But at the same time, it would make a large change to the flow of events.
In my past life, there was a boy Anu hated.
Their fight started during a birthday celebration.
It got worse when he teased her about vomiting.
He was our neighbour.
They hated each other and fought each other for years.
Unlike in the movies, they never fell in love.
I had a very good impression of that boy.
Although he was an enemy of Anu, he was like an elder brother to me.
In this life, I plan to make him fall for my sister.
I will tell the detailed story another time.
Anyway, after a lot of debate with myself, I decided not to interfere.
In the evening, Dad had to explain to her that she wasn’t pregnant.
“You see…
I didn’t study properly in school.
So I actually made a mistake.
You are not pregnant.
You should ask Mum how babies are born.” Dad tried to shift the burden to Mum.
“Don’t give false hope to innocent little kids,”[1] Anu said seriously.
She was quite disappointed.
“Innocent?
When did you learn such complicated words?” Dad asked.
“Pregnancy makes girls mature.” She lazily replied as she went to find Mum.
Dad was speechless.
“Your sister is weird,” Dad told me as she played with my chin.
He would move my chin to make it look like I was talking.
“Huh?
You got teeth!” Dad noticed my teeth.
I noticed my teeth yesterday.
But they had just peeked out of the gum, and no one noticed.
“Ooooo, my baby’s first teeth…
Bite me…
Bite…” Dad ordered, with his finger in my mouth.
With pleasure, old man.
Who told you to call my sister weird anyway?
She is not weird.
Just a bit stupid.
I bit down as hard as I could.
“Aaooo…” His smile instantly disappeared, and his face contorted in pain.
“You…” He pulled out his finger and inspected it.
“What an obedient rascal.” He was visibly angry and scolded as he shook his finger.
But his anger disappeared in an instant.
“He bit me.
He bit me…” He happily ran to the kitchen with me in his arms.
Anu was sitting on the kitchen countertop and chatting with Mum.
Mum was making something.
Dad proudly showed his finger that had my bite mark.
Mum didn’t look that happy.
She was probably jealous.
Clearly, she wanted the first bite.
Dad started teasing her to cheer her up.
Anu also chimed in.
A happy evening.
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[1] She uses a complicated word for ‘innocent’ (നിഷ്കളങ്ക : pristine)