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Suckers


It was still dark when Reeta ,as usual got up from her bed.She could never wait for the sun to come up .She put on the light and looked to her side.Her husband was still in his deep sleep.She tried to gauge whether he gave the signs of waking up so that she could share tea with him. But he seemed to be farther away from coming up alive to the waking stage.His longish face drooped further ,the mouth and nostrils in unison making sounds of purring and hissing.She pulled herself out of the bed and proceeded towards her living room.She never put on the lights there because it highlighted the garishness of her recently overhauled furniture.It was her daughter who used to convince her that things were not that bad but she held to her views.Though she had spent a lot of money on the upholstry but the workmanship was of the poorest quality.For this she herself was held responsible by her husband and daughter.Her lethargy and lackadaisical attitude would take away the zest from her which was required to judge and assert her decision while employing the workers. She was taken in by their glib assurances but deeper inside she felt pity for them.Their haggard looks and emaciated bodies filled her with deep sadness and she turned indifferent to the stringent measures regarding their worthiness.But one thing she made very clear to them was that they should finish the job as quickly as possible. This too was to save her the agony of seeing them slogging.And now she was frustrated to see the shoddy work done by them.The looseness of stitching gave hideous creases to the sofa.The side arms had frayed threads hanging awry.So the only recourse for her was to let the room remain in subdued light.
She heard the 'thud' of newspaper outside and rushed to get it.A joy and satisfaction spread on her face.She put it on the table and went to make tea.The full army of cockroaches was scampering on the gas stove. It always made her repulse but she knew that they had an uncanny way of disappearing into invisible nooks and corners the moment they sensed intrusion.She waited as always for a moment and then proceeded to prepare her tea.She never tried to find out those nooks and corners fearing to find the grubby mass of dark round creatures.She took the tea and the news-paper in her room.Her husband was propped up against the pillows.She put the tea before him never trying to hand it over to him since he took aeons to lift his arm and hold it out to take the cup.He would mutely stretch out his arm to reach the cup and sip on it all the more mutely looking in distance in complete indolence because today was his sunday. And for Reeta to-day was the day when she would fritter away her time to ward off the drabness and gloom of a resting indolent man on sundays.

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