I'm From The Bay - SOS
“Ajay!”
Ajay’s mother burst into his room, still holding a slightly orange, curry laden spatula she was using to flip rotis.
“Why are you still sleeping?”
Wiping his eyes, he heard his mother moving around his room, the faint rustling of objects signifying she was cleaning up the culmination of 2 days of entropic damage that escaped the cleaners’ visit.
“Ēmi cēstunnāvu, You always leave your clothes on the floor. Get up idiot.”
Now morally uncomfortable in his bed, Ajay aimed to throw both of his legs simultaneously on the floor to efficiently make the transition to an active day. After a three second pause he swung his right leg over, followed closely by his left. Before his right foot hit the floor, he staggered the landing by waiting around 0.3 seconds so that his left could reach the same part of the arc. Both feet hit the ground at the same time.
Choosing from his selection of badly folded black Adidas sweatpants that his mother had just got from Costco, he opted for the one with red stripes, matching his red Nike hoodie. A once-over in the toothpaste stained mirror confirmed his theory - the contrast was impeccable.
Slicking his short hair back, he rushed downstairs, immediately met with a barrage of spices. He knew exactly what was for lunch - rice and sambar again.
“There’s no time Ajay! Go take this in your hand and eat. Make sure you finish all your rice today.” said Ajay’s mother, thrusting a rocket stickered lunchbox and an uncomfortably hot napkin in his hands. The napkin was full of 3 rotis, with an egg rolled in each of them.
Ajay eyed the rotis apprehensively, he could see a tinge of red on a piece of egg popping out of the left most roti. This almost certainly indicated that it was heavily spiced and would be difficult to eat without his customary glass of milk. He shifted the placement of his fingers as the top roti began to unravel, re-rolling them was incredibly tedious.
“Go now, they’re waiting” said Ajay’s mother, pushing him out of the door hurriedly. A grey Honda Odyssey was waiting outside, its engine idling.
As his mother waved, he walked around the car into the street. He knew Neil liked the right seat and the layout of the culdesac he lived on forced the car to face his house on the starboard side.
“Beta, just move the blanket, yes there okay. Everybody good?”
“Yes Uncle, thank you.” replied Ajay, shifting Neil’s obviously overstuffed lunchbox to make more legroom.
“Report cards came out” whispered Neil.
“I know” muttered Ajay under his breath “don’t say it so loud.”
With the cross communication of parents out of his control, he thought it best to not let anyone older than him get information about the end of the quarter.
“What did you get?” Inquired Ajay in a soft tone.
“All Os…for outstanding” replied Neil, raising his voice slightly to Ajay’s chagrin. With the end of the last word, he kept his mouth slightly agape in the form of an ‘O’.
“Nice” replied Ajay, looking straight ahead at the seat in front of him.
Ajay had gotten 4 Os and 2 Ss. The S stood for satisfactory, a tier lower than the O.
Looking down at his lunchbox, he remembered that he forgot to tell his mother to give him two containers instead of just one. He hated when curries were premixed with rice.
He liked determining the ratios of rice to curry himself with each spoonful.
SOSOOO