Chapter 11
"'Are you keeping a very close eye on Duck?' asked Farmer Brown. Bob gave Duck a good long stare. Duck was too bus sharpening his pencil to notice'," Bani read from the picture book, her son's head resting against her stomach. Giggle, Giggle, Quack was her latest purchase for her picture book collection and Atharva had immediately fallen in love with the sequel to his favorite book Click, Clack, Moo. The kindergarten teacher at the school had emailed her about it and she couldn't wait to pick it up. In fact, she just couldn't find a better book than those sneaky farm animals and only hoped Atharva wasn't taking notes on debauchery.
Bani smirked; on Saturdays' if Jai wasn't home, she would read to Atharva from his collection of books. While she had been in the hospital two weeks prior, she had missed two story days and Atharva demanded three stories to make up for it. The second Jai left, he pulled out his three favorite books for her to start reading. Of course, after Mother's Day she had been more than willing to do anything her husband and son wanted because life was finally getting better. Jai had totally given up looking for clues and focused solely on her health, which had been improving, and Atharva had been an angel without one single incident for weeks. Now, on the day she turned seven complete months pregnant, Bani was happy to have some downtime with her son. It wasn't long before she would go into labor and lose sleep.
"Mama," Atharva sighed, interrupting her thoughts as she turned the page. "Ducks can't sharpen pencils or write notes."
"Baby…" she started to explain.
He gave her a look, squinting his eyes and puckering his lips. One thing Bani had learned was how deeply Atharva hated being called baby and still she slipped and did it sometimes. He was growing up much too fast for her liking.
"Sorry, jaan," she amended, "This is like the fairy tales and Disney movies you watch. Not everything they say is real and can be done by anyone. People can't fly without planes and lions can't really talk, right?"
"Right," he nodded in agreement. "But I thought books were true," he pouted. "Are the school books fake?"
"No, jaan, they aren't all fake. They have facts because people do research, kind of like papa's company. They do research and understand everything to make sure it's all true before going ahead with the deal, understand?"
"Uh-huh," he shook his head. "What's a fact?"
"Something that's true."
"Like Papa loves you? Is that a fact?" Atharva asked, looking up into his mother's eyes.
"Yes, like that," she smiled. "Should I finish reading?" she motioned to the picture book.
"Nope," he took the book from her, tossing it onto the coffee table with the other books. "I wanna play a game instead."
"What game?" Bani asked, shifting uncomfortably as one of her daughters bumped her in the ribs. "Mmm," she rubbed the spot as if she were poking her daughter back.
"Are you ok, Mama?" Atharva looked at her, worried.
"Fine, sweetheart," she replied. "Your sister keeps hitting me in the ribs and it is really uncomfortable," she moved again, trying to find a position that didn't hurt her back so much. "Now, what game are we going to play?"
"Rockem Sockem Robots!" Atharva cheered.
"Oh Atharva, I can't play that game with you. My belly gets in the way of the board and I can't reach the controls," she rubbed her stomach, trying to soother her still kicking daughter. "Isn't there something else we can…mmmm."
"Mommy…" his eyes filled with tears. "Mommy, please…" he shook her shoulder when she closed her eyes. "Are the babies ok?"
Bani released a long breath, opening her eyes. "We're fine," she tried to smile. "Everything is fine. Why don't you go get 'Guess Who?' instead and we'll play that, ok?"
"Are you sure?" he put his hand on her stomach. "Papa said if you had any pain we should call two-one-one right away and tell them you needed to go to the hospital again cause you had pre…pre…cause you were sick."
Bani giggled. "I'm fine, Atharva, I think maybe I should lay down for awhile but I can still play games with you as long as I can reach the board. So run along and get something for us to play, all right?"
"Maybe we should just watch a movie instead," he went to the movie shelf to find a good one that he hadn't watched before, which was a relatively tiny selection. Grabbing a tape from the shelf, he held it in the air. "We can watch Shrek," he told her.
"Are you sure, sweetie? We can play a game if that's what you'd rather do."
"No, Mama, I wanna watch a movie instead," he set the tape up. "Besides, you haven't watched this one with me yet," he grinned.
'Oh great,' Bani thought, 'another favorite movie that I'll know by heart in three days.' She sighed. "All right, Atharva, put it…mmm, damn," she cursed, rubbing the sides of her stomach and turning red from her effort to hold her breath.
"Mama!"
"Sorry," she gritted out. "Oooow!" she started rubbing her rock hard stomach. "Atharva…Atharva fast. Dial the number papa taught you!"
"Mama!" he grew scared. "Are the babies coming????"
"Just do it!" she ordered, dizziness striking the second she tried to stand up. "And hurry Atharva! Hurry!"
Atharva scrambled for the nearest phone, finding it on the end table. Picking it up and turning it on, he carefully dialed the three digit numbers his father had taught him and tried to remember to talk to the person on the phone and tell them everything they needed to know. He kept watching his mother, who was still rubbing her stomach and groaning in pain.
"Two-one-one, what's your emergency?"
"My name is Atharva Walia and my Mama is going to have her babies and she's sick!" he started shaking, afraid of something happening to his mom.
"Kiddo, how old are you?" the woman asked, trying to keep him talking long enough to get a location on the call. She started typing quickly, taking notes on the case.
"Five," he replied.
"Wow, you're a brave little man to remember how to take care of your mom like this. Do you know your address?"
"Um…No, I can't remember it," he started crying. "Can you still help her? Please?'
"Of course, hun. You said your last name is Walia?"
"Yes! My Papa is Jai Walia!"
She issued the closest driver the job of getting to Bani at their home. "All right, kiddo, help is on the way, meantime I want you to talk to me and keep calm, all right?"
"Yes, ma'am," he looked at his mother who was relaxing a little.
"Do you know if your mom is sick with anything or if she's just having the babies?"
"She has pre…pre…I can't say the word!"
"Pre-eclampsia?"
"That's it!" he cried.
"Ask your mom if she's dizzy for me, ok?"
"Ok," he moved the phone away from his mouth. "Mommy, the lady on the phone wants to know if you are dizzy?"
"A little," Bani replied weakly. "More tired," she closed her eyes.
"She said she's feeling dizzy and tired," he started sobbing. "Is my Mommy going to be ok?"
"I promise she'll be ok," the woman replied. "Atharva, can you look out the window and tell me if the ambulance is there yet?"
"Ok," he ran for the window, pushing aside the curtain and looking outside. "They're coming! I hear them!"
"All right, you can hang up the phone and let them in. Be good for the ambulance drivers and good job on being such a good little helper."
"Wait! What about my Papa? I don't know his phone number! He has to come home!"
"We'll get him there, I promise," she hung up the phone so Atharva could take care of his mother.
"Mama?" Atharva ran to her, dropping the phone on the floor. "Mama!" he shrieked, the sound of the sirens getting closer.
Bani didn't answer; her head pounding too hard for her to even lift her hand. She just focused on her breathing, her palms resting against her rounded stomach.
"Mama, please talk to me," he cried, looking around for something to wake her up. "Please," he sobbed as the front door swung open to reveal two EMTs.
"Are you Atharva?" the one man asked, touching his shoulder while his partner took Bani's blood pressure and checked her heart rate. He could tell that the little boy was terribly upset and wanted to calm him down.
"Yea," he shivered. "My Mommy won't wake up. Can you help her?"
"We're going to get her the best help in Mumbai, we promise," he ruffled Atharva's hair and then helped lift Bani onto the stretched they had carried inside. Together they carried her out, Atharva grabbing her keys and locking the door like his father taught him as he followed along.
"Come on," the second EMT said, helping him inside the cab. "Let's roll."
The first EMT nodded, hopping into the front of the car while his friend monitored Bani and the twins. They sped off in the direction of the hospital, Atharva surviving on the beeps of the machines and the gentle smile of the woman taking care of his mother.
To be continued…
Asian Shows
Jhanak
Sports
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
