Day 1- The Surprise!
(December 23th)
We are inviting guests from our hometown.
“REALLY!” I said happily to my mom as she put away another dish in the dishwasher. She had just informed my brother and I that someone else was coming to our house on Christmas. I already knew my friend Jerry was coming over for Christmas because his parents had to work on Christmas. I don't know why, but they did. I thought no one else on the earth would have time to come at the last minute considering it's Christmas. There was only two days left. So I tried to guess who it was. I already knew that all of my dads friends that usually come for Christmas had plans this year, so they wouldn't come. And I soon learned that most of my parents friends already had plans for Christmas, so I wasn't sure who it was. After what seemed like a millenium of trying, I gave in. “ All right, who is it.”
Madan Uncle,” she said not even turning to look at me. She put the remaining dishes in the dishwasher, closed it, and walked upstairs leaving me in confusion.
“Who is Madan…”I said stopping quickly. It hit me like a lightning bolt. “Oh, that uncle,” I said to myself. “ The one with the movie theater.” “Who is coming,” my brother, Veeresh said peeking out of our room. “Madan Uncle,”I said walking up the stairs. “The one with the movie theater?”He said questionably. “Yup,”I said walking into my blue and boring room. “The one with the adorable girl?” He asked. “Is that the one you are referring to.”
Yup,” I said again eyeing him. How does he remember that? I thought to myself. He was a little older than 5 years old the last time we saw them. I don't even remember what happened yesterday! I kept resisting the urge to ask him. Finally, I asked him. “Veeresh, how did you remember who Madan Uncle.”
I asked Mom who Madan uncle is, and she told me,” he said turning to walk out the door. “Then why did you ask me who he was?” I said inquisitively. “ I don't know,” Veeresh said turning to me shrugging, and continued walking out the door into my parents room".
WHAT?! What do you mean you don’t know? I sat on bottom bunk and laid down on it. The world makes no sense. I thought. I guess that's because people make no sense.
I laid on the bed for at least 30 minutes before my dad threw me out of bed and told me to do something. I made the big mistake of talking back which got me a good spanking. As I walked out of the room rubbing my back, I found my mini-basketball and ran into the garage to shoot on my mini-hoop(I cant dunk). “Can I play?” Said a voice behind me. I looked behind to find my brother in his pajamas and a SLAM DUNK t-shirt. I nodded my head and gave him the ball. He stepped into the garage and shot. Nothing but air. I picked up the small, smooth ball before it rolled away. I threw it back to Veeresh. It wasn't a very hard throw. Just a lob. He dropped it. I covered my mouth with my hand to stop the laughter that was in me. He bent down to pick it up, but thought about it and just kicked it to me. It rolled to me so slowly that I bet a turtle could run a mile faster than this could move 10 centimeters. I don't know why it was so funny, but I just burst with laughter. I kicked it back to him a little too high that I expected it to hit his face in which case I would get another spanking from my dad. But it didn't come close to even hitting his face because he caught it when it got a little more than ten inches. It makes sense why he's somewhat coordinated. He is #2 in the state for his age group in gymnastics. He's behind his teammate Tyler who is a legit god at gymnastics. Wait a minute? So then why is he kind’ve uncoordinated? “Veeresh, why are you kind’ve sluggish?
“There's something called being tired.” He said with sass. He threw the ball at me quickly. Maybe to quickly because it hit me in the face. It didn't hurt, but there was something bugging my eye. When I got it out of my eye, I realized it was just a fruit-fly even though they are supposed to be dead. Thank God. I threw it at the ground and walked toward the door. My brother had the basketball in his small hands and was shooting around. I flicked my finger causing him to wince and walked out of the garage leaving him.
I went up the wooden stairs and turned into my room. There was something about this room that just didn't seem right. Oh right. Decorations. Suddenly, I realized something. WE HAD FORGOTTEN THE CHRISTMAS TREE! I ran into my parents room where my mom was watching the “news” as quick as lightning.
“MOM,” I said as she turned around. “WE NEED A CHRISTMAS TREE!”
“I already knew that.” She said. She turned back to the “news”. “ We are going shopping tomorrow with Mahi and her mom.”
Oh,”I said disappointedly. I wasn't disappointed Mahi and her mom were coming. I was disappointed that we were getting the tree tomorrow. Why couldn't we get it today. It will be so much easier to just get it today. We don't need to waste more tomorrow and we aren't doing anything today besides watching Christmas movies. They’re fun and all, but they get boring once you’ve watched them for SIX HOURS! UHHHH! I walked down-stairs slowly, like i'm taking my time and continued at this pace until I got basement to watch yet another movie.
When I turned to get in the garage, I saw my brother had already started to watch a movie from the mattress on the floor. I looked at the tv trying to figure out what movie he was watching. I think it was called Prancer, but I'm not sure. I turned of the lights, sat down next to my brother, and rested my head on a soft pillow. I pulled a blanket toward me and covered my body with it. It was 9 o'clock and I managed to watch 30 mins of the movie before I shut my eyes. “Go to sleep,” a voice said to me, but I was too tired to see who it was and went to sleep.
Day 2 - The Christmas Tree
(December 24th)I woke up to a crash. I jumped onto my feet and ran up the stairs three steps at a time. When I got up the stairs, I saw a pan had fallen and my mother in her nightie was cleaning something. She must not have noticed me because she looked up at me surprised.
“Sorry for waking you up,”she said sorrily, “I didn't know that this would fall.”
Its okay,”I said forgivingly. I grabbed another mop and helped her clean up. “I was about to wake up anyways.”
When we finished cleaning the mess that had been spilled, I put the pan back on the table, put the mop back in the closet and went upstairs. I walked into my room and got in the bathroom. I turned to the mirror and gasped. My supposedly always flat hair was sticking out and it made me look look like one of those people whose hair were always bushy. I grabbed a comb and continuously tried to flatten it. When I flattened one part and went to flatten another part, the part I just flattened before sticks up again. Eventually, it got to the point where I just didn't care anymore and left it alone. I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste, pressed the toothpaste onto the brush and brushed my...YELLOW TEETH. I kept brushing them until they shined and looked like I actually brushed my teeth. Once I finished, I changed from my green pajamas and Lebron jersey to a green cotton shirt and a pair of jeans. When I got downstairs, I found my mom still in her nightie.
Mom,” I asked her. “When are we getting the Christmas tree.” “At 9 o’clock,” she said not turning to me. She pointed to the clock. 8 o’clock.
I went downstairs to find my brother sleeping on his stomach. I nudged him and he moved onto his side. I sat on the mattress and searched the room for the remote. Where is it? I checked all the desks thoroughly to make sure if any of them had the remote. Nothing. Rats. I checked the tv stand and the drawers. Nothing again. Rats again. Finally, I gave up and sat back on the mattress. Sigh. Now I have to wait an hour before we go. Suddenly, just as Veeresh moved over, the tv turned on. I move Veeresh over and laying on the mattress is the small, samsung remote. I grabbed the remote and pressed Youtube on the tv with the remote. So, the hour passed by in no time and I wasn't bored. As I watched a basketball game, my mom came rushing down the stairs and informed me that we were late. I shook my brother furiously until he woke up and ran upstairs to get changed. I turned off the tv and ran up the stairs as quickly as my legs could.
My mom was now wearing a pair of jeans and a blue full shirt with a black jacket over it. She sat on a step and was putting a pair of purple sketchers on. She ran out the door and a few moments later, I heard the roar of an engine. I put on my red nikes that were a size too big, put on a light jacket and ran out of the door. In the place where my dad’s Honda Cr-v used to live now held my mom’s white Mitsubishi Galant. I threw open the passenger door and launched myself inside with my mom at the wheel. I pulled my seatbelt quickly and pushed it down as Veeresh ran out the door in a furry pant and a jacket he got from Gap. Once he locked his seatbelt into the seat. My mom put the car in reverse and drove out of our cul-de-sac. I pulled a book from the bottom of the seat and read it. It was a children's book, but there was nothing to do besides talk to my brother and he isn't exactly the talkative type of kid. I didn't even remember where we were going. The only thing I knew was that we were getting a Christmas Tree. When I finished reading the book for the 20th time(I’m not even kidding), we arrived to a medium sized and white house. I realized whose house we were at. Mahi’s. How could I have forgotten that we were going to pick up Mahi and her mom? Another Question: Why are they coming? As we pulled into their driveway, I noticed Mahi’s mom head poke out of the door and yelled something back into the house. I pushed open the door, got out, and opened the door in the back. Moments later...Mahi’s mom came out the door in a pair of jeans (everyone's wearing jeans)and a dark colored t-shirt with a jacket on top. She opened the passenger seat, sat in the passenger seat and attached the seatbelt into the seat. Seconds later, Mahi came out of the house in an Abercrombie sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants. She opened the door on the left side and sat next to my brother. They both immediately started talking about gymnastics since they both do it. Meanwhile, the moms were talking about something which left me to look out the window. Like I said before, there really isn’t much to do besides talking, talking to yourself(but that's just sad), playing on your phone(if you do) or reading a book(note to self: BRING A BOOK NEXT TIME). If all that fails, you have one more option. Look out the window. But there really isn't anything interesting to see.Luckily, the ride is only twenty minutes, so I didn't have to suffer for much longer. Unfortunately, because it was the day before Christmas, all the last-minute shoppers crowded the short way to the shops. So we had to take the long way. I knew we should’ve gone the long way.
Us posing for a picture before we got the the tree. That tree is in the background(I'm not in the picture)..
Finally, after what seemed like a year, we arrived at the first shop: Home Depot. As my mom parked the car, Mahi started to say that Veereshs pant was a pajama and he argued that they weren't.
“Why are you fighting over this?” I said strangling the laughter in my mouth.
“Because it isn't a pajama,” Veeresh said weakly pushing open the door. “Yes it is,” Mahi said surely.
It might be a pajama, or it might not. Who cares, we need to go.” I said as I hurried toward the moms who were already at the shop. Once they walked into the tree part of the shop, Mahi, Veeresh, and I ran toward. Veeresh obviously won even though he's the youngest. Once I walked up to the moms, Veeresh and Mahi disappeared into the warmth of the shop. Meanwhile, I was roughing it in the outdoors of the shop.
Me posing for a picture before we bought the tree
As I searched around for a good tree, my mom was asking the employee that works there how much the trees were, and aunty was deciding if she should take a tree at all. In the end, we took a medium sized ____ tree(I don’t know what type of tree it was. All I know is that it was a tree). I’m not sure why, but as we were paying for the tree and the employee was making the tree even by cutting of the stump, my mom asked for the stump so she could make them into picture frames( she's a nature person).
My mom, Veeresh and I posing for a picture.
As we put the tree in the cart and exited the shop, we realized we had forgotten two:Mahi and Veeresh. We ran back into the outdoor shop and went into the inside part of it. We searched around for 15 mins before we found them looking at the plant section which we had passed as we entered. But we had plenty of time left and needed to kill some time(not actual killing). Mahi suggested we walk around for a bit and look at interesting stuff. I expected there to be nothing interesting considering it was the home-depot and there's probably nothing except stuff you would need for your house. But there were a lot of things that you wouldn’t expect. Like a stuffed fortnite llama, or a monkey that sings Despacito if you press on it(Not even kidding). Eventually, we got pulled away by our moms because we spent too much time messing with the singing monkey(my brother is arguing that the monkey was a Chihuahua).
After they finally got us in the car, we drove over to Target with a tree in the trunk. When I got outside, I started to worry that the tree would be stolen because it wouldn’t take that much time to take the tree and all our stuff away. But out of nowhere, some random old guy says “It's not going to get stolen,” in a kind voice, and we all just start laughing. Not at the guy, but because it came out of nowhere. As we got inside, I noticed a large, red concrete ball that reminded me of the pommel that Veeresh uses at gymnastics and started pretending that I was Veeresh on the pommel.
Veeresh and I reading a book together at Target.
“Opps,” I say pretending like I’m falling of the pommel. I thought he was going to feel a bit embarrassed(because that's what older brothers do), but he just shrugs and walks into the store with Mahi following behind him like a guard. I jump off the ball and push through the door even though its automatic.
“Where are they,” I say to myself as I look around for them. “They couldn't have left already.”I walked into the small Starbucks coffee shop to check if they were in there. There were plenty of people, but no sign of them.
“Vikram!” I heard behind me. I turned around to see my mom at the end of the shop. “Come on!”
I ran towards her as she turned and walked to something in the kids section. As she got out from there and I caught up to her, I asked her why she went there.
“You know ___ aunty, the one who lived near us before.” She said as she hurried to Mahi, Veeresh, and her mom.
“Yah,”I said. “ Did you see her.” “Yup” “Is ____ also here?” “No.”
“Oh,” I said disappointedly. I ran toward Veeresh and Mahi leaving Mom with Mahi’s mom…
… As we walked out of the department with presents for the guests that arrive tomorrow, Veeresh went on the ball and started doing his pommel routine on it. “Next stop, Dollar Store!” My mom tells us as she runs to the car(It was really more of a speed-walk). I start to run also and pass her as she is near the car. “OH COME ON!” She says as she tickles me. As everyone gets into the car, I feel a bit sleepy and close my eyes. The same voice comes again. But like last night, I’m just too tired to care…
Mahi carrying Veeresh at the Dollar Shop.
I wake up to the sound of a horn and suddenly realize that we are here. I open the car door and walk into the store as everyone else is still unbuckling there seatbelts. Their slow. I walk into one of the aisles and look for anything to play with. It is the dollar store by the way. After some endless searching and an unusual glob, I find a container filled with all sorts of mini-balls. I grab a basketball and play taps with my brother who had just arrived in the store. We play that for the entire time we are there and managed to persuade our mom to buy the ball so we can use it at home.
As we walk out of the store, I look into the bag to see what she brought and found 3 packs of hershey kisses. Why. Oh wait. There for the project. The Hershey Kiss Christmas Tree. It's going to be delicious.
As we settle into the car, Veeresh, Mahi, Aunty, and my mom do what they did before: Talk. I do what I did before. Looking out the window. Unlike last time, the traffic had died down and we went the shorter way thankfully because I was getting bored from doing nothing. As we pass a couple of shops, my mom takes a left to where stands a medium sized restaurant. At least, that's what I thought. It looked okay sized on the outside, but reminded me of a shack on the inside. As I sat on a chair, it started to wobble and I quickly got up moving to another chair. As we started to wait for the food, we started to become extremely hungry. But the chefs said that the food was fresh and it would take time. Fresh. Funny Joke. When the food arrived, there were four problems that were clear. 1. There were 3 large bowls of food with rice filled to the top. So we probably weren't going to finish. 2. There was a small packet-full of yogurt. The yogurt gave the rice flavor and made it taste like food. But there was only a bit of yogurt. That's not even the worst part. NO REFILLS!!!!!!!! 3. It was in a meat-shop.4. They touched the meat with their bare hands.
EWWWWWWWW. So the smell was terrible while we were eating. After what seemed like forever, we threw the bowl in the garbage, gave the money to the cashier and left the place in disappointment in which we would probably never go back.
As we went back into the car, the moms decided that we could shop tomorrow because it was getting dark and they didn't want to drive at night. So we drove back to our house. The weird part, we were driving back in silence.
Once my mom parked the car in our driveway, everyone opened the doors at the same time and raced into the garage. While everyone was inside, I was still in the garage playing around with the mini-hoop until my mom told me it was cold and I had to come inside.Then, the second I came in, my mom told me to take the tree from the car and bring it in. As I grabbed the tree from the trunk, I realized that I had no plan to take it inside.
“Mom!” I yell from the car. “How am I going to bring it inside!” “Figure it out yourself,” she replied. I put the tree on my shoulders and started to walk inside. After a couple seconds, the tree started to dig inside me and I laid it down in the garage. I turn to my mom who is inside with Mahi’s mom drinking tea.
Thanks for helping.” I say picking the tree up again. “Your welcome,” she replies not even turning to look at me. Would it kill you to give some eye-contact for once. Uh oh. Door. I struggled to fit the tree the door without me getting stuck and destroying my shoulder while the moms didn't give me any sort of recognition.UHHHH!!!! When I finally managed to fit the tree through the door, I had to climb up one of the steps and try not to hit the ceiling. UHHHH. Finally, I managed to get to the living room where I attached the tree to the holder.
“Time for decorating!!!” I said excitedly. I ran back into the garage and looked around for the decorations. AHA. At the top of the shelf. I ran back into the living room, grabbed the stool, and placed it under the shelf. I stepped onto the top step and grabbed the box of decorations. I placed the decorations in one hand, held onto a pole for balance, and carefully stepped down the stool. I brought the decorations into the kitchen where the moms where finishing up there tea. I ran into the living room as quickly as I could and placed the box on the ground. I started to unbox the decorations when Veeresh and Mahi appeared from the basement and noticed me.
“YAHOO!!” They both yelled running into the living room. “DECORATIONS!!!”
They ripped open the new decorations wrappers and attached them to the tree like they’ve never done that before even though they have done it lots of times before. I grabbed some of the decorations that we couldn't tie together, some sticky hooks from the dollar store and went to the bathroom. I attached the sticky hooks with the ornaments and pressed them on the mirror. But they wouldn't. No wonder their from the dollar store. I kept pressing them until they finally stuck and wouldn't fall. As soon as I came out, my eyes started staring at the tree. It looked like someone threw a bunch of lights and ornaments thinking it would look good. But really, it looks like a mess.
This is Veeresh and Mahi decorating the christmas tree.
“Guys, what are you doing?”I said rushing up to the tree. “Mahi wants it to have random decorations so it looks creative. I want it to look regular. So we both agreed and just threw stuff on it.”Veeresh says from the cushion. “But now it looks ugly.” I look at Mahi and she looks at me agreeingly.
“We need the moms,” I say to them. “Thought you would never ask,” I hear my mom say. I look around and see her holding christmas lights and tape. In no time, the christmas tree came from looking like a mess, to somewhat of a tree with a couple of items we created. By that time, my dad had come from his home underground which is the basement. So it was time to take pictures.
This is our christamas tree(After).
NOOOOO!” The kids cry out. “WHY!!!!!! I refuse” Seconds later...the Bezawada’s are taking a family picture. For the 7th time. Finally, after that was done, we were brought to Mahi’s house were we would decorate her mini tree. It would taken 4 minutes if we were quick, but my mom and Mahi kept discussing on what to put to make it more “christmassy” as they say it. What else is there to put. Its a foot high. You probably can't even tell it's a Christmas Tree after there done. In the end, they put all the decorations in Mahi’s room that it looked like a bunch of things clumped together. By the time we came back, it was 10 o’clock and we were all sleepy. Once the car was parked in the driveway, I opened the car door with whatever arm strength was left in me and walked up the stairs half-awake with my brother who looked like it was still the middle of the day. As I laid in my bed and closed my eyes I heard the voice again.
Family Photo!
“Go to sl…” I open my eyes and see my brother over me. I push him away and tell him to stop. He shuts up and lays down next to me scared, like i’m about to punch him. Finally, I go to bed.
Day 3 - The Guests Finally Come
(December 25th)“Ahhh,” I say as I wake up. “Today's the day.”I sit up from my bed and immediately hit the top bunk. “OWW.” I rub my head and climb out of bed. Sunlight is pouring into the room and as I look out of the window, I see a couple birds sitting on a house. Even though its winter. I try to tell what type of birds they are, but they are to small to tell. The only thing I can see is the gold and black on their feathers. I race down the stairs, grab the small bird handbook, and run backup to my room to tell what type of bird they are. But they have already left.Rats. They probably left for somewhere warmer. I flip through the handbook and search until I find the bird that I’m looking for.
“Oh, it's the Goldfinch. The state bird of where I live.” I said placing the book in my bookrack.
I go downstairs and open the fridge to see if there is anything to eat. Nothing. I check the freezer. There are waffles, but we don't have any maple syrup or honey. Suddenly, my mom comes sluggishly out of the basement tired and in her nightie. So she probably slept downstairs. But when she looks at the clock, her eyes widen and she runs up the stairs and into her bathroom. I turn toward the clock. 12 o’clock. I had slept for 14 hours. A new record. That means Madan Uncle and his kids are coming in two hours. No wonder my mom ran up the stairs so quickly. She had two hours to do all the cooking, cleaning and preparing. So guess what? For the two hours I should have been relaxing, I had to clean the house while my brother got to make the hershey kiss christmas tree because he’s “younger”. What does age have to do with cleaning? It's not like your going to have to pick up 10 pounds of something. He carries stuff like that at gymnastics all the time. So what's the big deal? That was so unfair!!
Veeresh putting hershey kisses on the wrong tree.
I took a glance at the christmas tree he was making. It looked so good. Multiple layers of chocolate goodness. The cylinder he used to make it looks so much like a christmas tree. I look at the christmas tree that we had accidentally cut out. Veeresh used hershey kisses for that one also. How come I have to do the cleaning while he does the fun part. So unfair!
The right Hershey kisses Tree(After).
Once I am done with the basement and the living room, I check the clock in the kitchen. 1 o’clock. One more hour until they come. I look at my mom. She’s wearing the same outfit she wore yesterday, except without the jacket. I look at my outfit and realize my brother and I are still in our pajamas. I go back upstairs and wake up my brother. He immediately wakes up and jumps out of bed into the bathroom. I go outside of the room and wait for him to get out of the shower. Once he got out of the shower, I check the time. 1:20. 40 minutes until they come. I quickly turn on the shower and get in...as I walk out of my room with a green, under armour shirt and a track-pant, I notice Veeresh in a black suit. It was originally mine, but got too small as I grew and I gave it to Veeresh. But it looks like its a couple sizes to big.
“Veeresh,” I say strangling the laughter again. “That is waaay too big.” He looks down at his suit and looks back at me.
“Your right,”he said like a robot. “I will go change now.” He walks up the stairs like a robot and into our room. He comes back in another outfit, but this time, it's not a suit. It's a buttoned t-shirt that he buttoned incorrectly and a pair of jeans.
“Well now we have another problem,” I say. I kneel down to him and take of his buttons. He probably didn’t know I was going to fix it because he thought I was trying to show others his chest. “Um. No. Your buttons were incorrectly put on. So i’m fixing them.” That seemed to calm him down and I managed to button them correctly before the door rang. RING!!!
“Looks like the guest are here.” My dad said coming from the upstairs. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans, and his hair... Wait a minute. He doesn't have any hair! He walks over to the door and opens it. My brother runs downstairs to avoid any sort of greeting or embarrassment. But I just stay put and see a group of four people; 1 male and 3 females that walk through the door. I say hello to the people and do the same thing Veeresh had did: Go to the basement. I walk down the creaky steps and see my brother again on the mattress holding the tv remote in one hand a rubix cube in the other. He is looking straight at the screen, so he is probably watching a movie. I look at the screen and sure enough, he is watching a movie. However this time, it's not a Christmas movie. It is one of the Buddies movies. They are for kindergarteners, but he still likes them for some reason. Even though he is in third-grade. I collapse onto the mattress and lay there for sometime. Before I even get up, my brother starts to complain.
Madan Uncles Family Photo!
“Get off me,” he says trying to push me away. But an ant would have a better chance pushing a hippo than him pushing me away(I'm not saying I’m fat. He’s just too skinny.) Finally, I give him mercy and move away to another corner of the mattress, far away from him. By far away, I mean three inches(it's a small mattress). Suddenly, my stomach growls which is funny because I just ate two hours ago. But like they say, when you gotta eat, you gotta eat. I left the comfort of the mattress to the land upstairs. As soon as I got upstairs, I ran into another man I’m pretty sure I didn't meet at the door. I came up to my mom who was getting food. and asked her who he was.
“Veerendhar Uncle and his wife is Ashwini Aunty.” She said grabbing a metal spoon and scooping some biryani into it. I’ve never heard of Veerendhar uncle.
“Who are they?” I said to my mom as she scooped a bit of yogurt onto her plate.
"They are also from Kattavaripalem(my hometown village).” She said as she went into the living-room. “Also, Jerry just texted me that he’s near the garage.”
Veerendhar Uncles family photo.
“Okay, thanks.” I said turning, then walking toward the garage. I opened the door and outside stood Jerry with his bike on his right. I closed the door and opened the garage door. He walked into the garage with a Christmas bag on his side and his bike. He took off his red, razor helmet and attached it to his bike.
“Here,” he said handing the bag to me. I took it and looked inside. The bag contained a new basketball and a ball-pump.
“Thanks,” I said. I walked over to the tree and put the bag under it. I walked back to Jerry who was taking off his shoes and socks. “You coming.” “Coming where,” he said as he got up. “Coming downstairs.” I said as I walked down the stairs(again). I pulled up a spinning chair as Jerry came booming down the stairs. I grabbed the remote as Jerry pulled up a bouncy chair and sat on it. I turned the tv on and changed the channel to espn so we could watch the game. Besides Veeresh, we were the only ones downstairs. It was so peaceful and quiet… but it didn’t stay that way. The second we settled into the game, Leka(the older kid for Madan uncle) came bouncing down the stairs. She wore a sparkly dress and started to complain Veeresh ate too many chocolates. I looked at my brother and he started to giggle.
The kid`s photo.
“Its okay Leka,” I said turning back to the game. She huffed and went back upstairs. 30 seconds later, my mom is downstairs with Leka explaining the whole thing.
He is eating too many chocolates.” She said. I tried to stop myself from laughing, but I couldn’t. Thankfully, it didn't sound like a laugh. However, it sounded like someone was gargling water. GURRRRG!!! Everyone just looked at me like I was crazy. Meanwhile, my body was so hungry that I thought it was going to eat me. I got up from my chair and headed upstairs. The second I got to the top, I looked the table and there on the table was a bowl of food. I’m not sure what the food was. But it was food and I was willing to eat anything at this point. I grabbed a paper plate and took off the cover. GASP! Inside was the most delicious food imaginable: Biryani. My mouth watered as I grabbed a metal spoon and placed it in my plate. I opened the yogurt next to it and scooped some of it with the scooper. When I came downstairs, I found my mom had left leaving Leka with us. I sat down on my chair and started to eat. I probably got the attention of Leka because she immediately went running up the stairs. When she came back, she held a paper plate and sat back down in her chair. She said she wanted to watch Transformers instead of Basketball, but we said no to that. However, she continued to ask and so we said that we can put it on later.
When I finished with my food, I said I was going to go upstairs and get seconds, but really, I wanted to see what the adults were up to. Before I even got upstairs, I heard lots of talking in the dining room. Something about how Madan Uncle’s kids and my brother and I have grown up so quickly. I sat on a stool my grandfather had made and listened to what they were talking about. They were talking about Manavurivikasam’s (the organization that creates help for Kattavaripalem) health-care program, promoting education and environmental awareness and help. In the beginning, I was interested in the health care stuff, but eventually, I got bored and left for the basement. When I arrived at the basement, I found Leka and Veeresh both watching Team Edge and Jerry had a plate of food in hands watching the Thunder vs Rockets. I sat back down on my seat and continued to watch the game. But it got boring after ten minutes and everyone agreed that we should play something. Veeresh suggested hide and seek, so we played a couple games of that. But Leka wanted to play cops and robbers. So we played that and got in trouble for almost knocking Mansi down.
Good News: it was time to take pictures, so we were safe. Bad News: We were taking pictures. Most of the pictures were a little messy and the picture with everyone would have looked good if everyone was looking at the camera and if my mom hadn’t blinked. But the family pictures looked nice.
All the familys are posing for a picture(Jerry is taking the photo)
When the pictures had ended, we opened the presents. I got a new basketball that looked like the US flag, but gave it to Jerry because I already had a new one. Veeresh got a new nerf gun and Leka a new mini-kitchen set. Thanks Santa (aka mom). But Mansi was the one who got the most because she got a squishy and a barbie. The funny thing that happened was that Leka said that Mansi was too young to have a squishy, and took it for herself. HA! Madan Uncle and his family had to leave because they lived far away, so they had to go. Jerry and Veeresh went downstairs, however, I stayed for a bit longer upstairs.
Lekha is opening up her toy kitchen set.
Veerendhar uncle and Ashwini aunty stayed a bit longer and talked with my parents about the relatives and their parents. But they only had time for dinner because they had to leave for a movie. I left the upstairs and went to the downstairs to find Jerry and Veeresh using the nerf guns.
Veerendhar Uncle is teaching my mom how to use the camera.
“Can I play?” I asked. Jerry didn't respond, but threw me a gun and told me to listen.
“We are playing a game which we have not named. But it's basically capture the flag with nerf guns. Except with more rules. First rule: If the person who’s trying to steal the ball which is over here,” he said pointing to the mini-basketball which was under my desk. “...gets shot, he loses. Rule two: If the person/people guarding the ball get shot, they have to wait ten seconds before they can come back into the game. 3rd rule: the person trying to steal the ball gets the biggest gun. 4th rule: Don't Lose!” I look over at Veeresh who is the person trying to steal the ball. Good Luck. He definitely needed that because he lost so quickly that we changed the rules that you get 3 lives if your the person whos trying to steal the ball. So now Veeresh actually had a shot of getting the ball. But he still lost. Now, it's my turn. I grabbed Veeresh gun from the which he dropped and got ready. 3, 2, 1, GO! I hid behind a barrier and dodged a bullet that would have given me one less life. I put the gun on the side of the barrier and shot Veeresh. One down. Uh-oh. Jerry’s started closing in on me like a pack of lions cornering a zebra. There’s no place to run. I shot randomly and missed by a mile. Veeresh’s time is going to be up any second. Just like that, Veeresh came back and shot me in the back of the neck. 2 lives less. I shot Jerry as soon as he ran toward me. Suddenly, I look at Veeresh and he shoots me twice. I lost. NOOO! I gave the gun to Jerry disappointedly and received his gun.
I hid behind the bouncy chair because it was easy to shoot the other person and was a good hiding place for the mini-ball. Veeresh thought we should put it into a less obvious spot, but I shot him back saying its not like he can come over here and not get shot and lose. He didn't argue against that. 3, 2, 1, GO! Jerry ran out of the room and tried to come close, but didn’t realize that I put the gun in the chair so it would be extremely hard to get past. At least, he didn't realize that until the last minute. As soon as he stopped to shoot Veeresh and noticed my gun, I shot. 2 lives left for him. I shot until I didn't have any have any bullets left. But I already prepared for that. I had extra bullets in my pockets. I pulled a couple out a put them into the gun before Jerry realized I didn’t have any bullets left. He still thought I didn’t and he ran toward the seat. I shot him twice after he reached the seat and held up the gun to launch a bullet. Game Over. Jerry suddenly takes out his phone and checks the time. His eyes widen and say he needs to leave. I look at the time. 7:00. I call my mom and say Jerry’s leaving before he clicks his helmet.
“Thanks for having me,” he says as he gets on his bike. I open the garage door. He puts his new ball into his bag.
“No problem,” I say. He puts his hands on the handlebar and rides away. “BYE!”
“SEE YOU IN SCHOOL!” He says before I don’t see him any more. I close the garage door and go back into the house.
“Where's Jerry?”My mom asks as she races down the steps. “He left,” I said. “Ok,” she says putting away the bowl of biryani. I leave her and go downstairs where my brother had just turned of the tv. I fell onto the mattress too exhausted to change my clothes. I close my eyes and went to sleep. “Go to sleep.”