Chapter Four- The Punchline

The car ride home occurred in pin drop silence. Our parents in the front, expressionless. Saawan in the middle back seat, biting his nails. Pavni on his left, staring out the window, and me on his right. I don’t know what I looked like but I suspect my face was red and mottled; that’s what always happens when I’m stressed.
And then the bomb dropped. We were seated around the table, Pa on one end and Pavni on the other. “Who called the ambulance?” Pa’s voice was quiet as death.
I didn’t hesitate. “It was me. I was scared.”
“Do you understand what could have happened?” He enunciated each word slowly and clearly.
Suddenly I was angry. “Well, I don’t really know. Saawan could have died?”
Then the world exploded around me.
“THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH H-“
“Laila, you are suggesting an outrag-“
“Shut up, Laila!”
“ENOUGH! That’s enough! Laila, next time something like this happens, you will call me or your mother, understand? Taking him to the hospital… so risky, what if they’d-“He stopped short, and I think that’s what made me do what I did next. The fact that he was unwilling to admit that the reason he hadn’t wanted us to call the ambulance was that he was scared of what would happen if they’d discovered how Saawan got that blood clot. I felt like all the unfairness in the world was rushing up on me like a tsunami. Then the world went black.
The world stayed black for a long, long time. When it became colourful again, it was exceedingly blurry. Pavni’s face swam into focus, then Saawan’s. “What happened?” I whispered.
Pavni was peering worriedly at me. “Laila! Are you all right?”
I shook my head, and the world became just a little clearer. “What happened?” I repeated.
Saawan answered this time. “Pa whacked you one.” he said.
It all sounded very outrageous then. “What? Why?”
“Well…” Saawan glanced at Pavni. She nodded infinitesimally. “Because you tried to whack him one.”
“Ugh.” I fell back onto my pillows. “You’re not serious.” Then a more disturbing thought visited me. “He must be on the warpath.”
“He is.” Confirmed Pavni grimly. “But outside. I suppose Ma will try and calm him down. Once she’s calmed down herself.” She added the last sentence a little later, more quietly.
I tried to sit up, only to fall back down. “My head hurts.” I tried not to sound like I was complaining, but the pain made it come out in a whiny voice.
“Lie down, idiot!” said Saawan at once. Pavni pulled the covers up around my neck. “Go to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be normal again.”
So I did. But I woke up around two in the morning. Once again, I poked my head outside.
“Pavni?”
The answer seemed to come after a long time, but I knew she was awake. “Yes?”
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
She sighed. “Because I’m thinking.”
“Why are you thinking?”
“Because I’m worried. And don’t ask me why I’m worried.” She snorted as she heard my angry puff from above. “Now go to sleep, Little Laila.”
Saturday morning followed, and with it came a stony silence. Everyone acted as if nothing had happened, and soon they didn’t have to act. Time passed, and eventually the memory of the little Laila vs Pa episode faded and all was normal again. We were still expected to perform impeccably at school, and we had little freedom except talking and walking there. But this was our house, and nothing was quiet for long. Soon, problems arrived in the mail in the form of my term final results. Pa was enraged.
“LAILA! Come here at once and tell me what this is!”
I walked in with an amount of foreboding instinct.
He waved the piece of paper in my face. “What is this?”
“My results.”
“Your results for what?”
“My results for mid-year finals.”
“That’s right.” There was a long and uncomfortable pause.
“Fifty per cent? Do you think that’s acceptable?” asked Pa very, very quietly.
“No, Pa.” Then that weird little voice in my head started to speak. Why are you agreeing? You probably did the best in your entire class. Everyone must’ve done badly in that test. If you couldn’t do it, who would’ve? And, feeling this little, far from modest voice was right, I said something I never would have imagined I had the strength to say. “Yes, Pa.”
“Yes? You think it is acceptable, do you?” He was advancing upon me, holding the report like a knife. “Get out of here.” He spat at me.
I didn’t need telling twice. I ran out the door and I ran and ran. I kept running until I had no clue where I was or where I was going.
I ran till I had nothing left.