“Babu, I am staying at the Crown Suites near the temple” the old man announced on his shiny new phone.
“Again?” asked the youngest son.
“Anna‘s travelling, he will be back on Wednesday”.
She hears the one sided conversation “Thank heavens I do not have a brother. This is ridiculous” She watches her husband stand at the table, twisting his hands.
Her son asks “Was that thatha?”
The daughter replies “yea, Uncle’s not in town.”
Familiar painful silence.
45 miles away, the old man lays his head on the bed and takes a deep breath and smiles “ah, clean sheets.”
