G - Grouchy #AtoZChallenge

It was evening and Raghu saw Mariamma sitting at the porch as usual. The frown was in its usual place too. He wondered what she had to say this time.

“Hey, you kids. Don’t you dare let the ball come near me. I will swallow you whole even if your shadow falls on my wall.”

Mariamma was frail and alone. Yet her almost toothless snarl was menacing nonetheless.

Raghu and his friends hesitated before going on with their game. Nothing would make the old woman stop anyway.

“Look at you, ignoring a grown woman. Haven’t your parents taught any manners?

How would they anyway, you are always on the roads, hanging out with chillar friends. Cough! Cough! Don’t you have any homework to do?”

Mariamma continued, shoving her wooden cane in the air to no one in particular. “What has happened to this country. Nobody cares. Everybody is a thief. The damn neighbours steal my electricity. No wonder I get such huge bills. And my son is too busy making his dumb wife happy. M**&$f**&@. ”

The tirade didn’t stop. “The government is to be blamed. Rascals. Corrupts. Thieves. They should go to hell! Why doesn’t anybody care!? Wait till you ..hey, hey.. didn’t you hear me? Not even a shad…” Mariamma stopped wobbling her finger at the round eyes that was staring at her. Seeing her face slacken a bit, 4-year-old Raghu mustered a tiny smile and took a step closer.

“What do you want?” Mariamma almost barked.

Raghu dug into his pockets, fishing out oil covered paper pouch. Opening it, he extended the onion pakoras his mom made for him.

“Do you want these? My mom made for me.”

The wrinkled face warmed up. Sniffing, she said softly, “Do see any teeth in here?”

 "Swallow, like you would have swallowed us".

Both erupted into unexpected laughter.

Thank you for dropping by :) The theme of my posts this year, for the A-Z challenge, is To Show, Not Tell. I hope you enjoyed this piece.