Granny

Decision – Already Taken!

Flash Fiction
Surprise!
[Source – Stockphotos]

It snowed last night, cloudy white joy now sits hugging Joana’s village. She has seen it through the glass window. Decision – to step-out later!

Huh, huh, huh! “Butter tea, you want some, granny, so-o-o-cold, tell granny, butter-tea-you-want-some?”

Half-turn, a twist, a glimpse, a yawn, a nod, tttttap-dance-walking towards the kitchen. Joana hugs the kitchen and smiles, red cheeks like the monkeys.

Outside, Punnu and Zeenz, the two llamas, leave without registering a rhyme or reason, tttttap-dancing on the snow, in joy, in ignorance, going left to the right, to the gate, towards the green.

There, before sipping butter-tea, granny declares it is cold, but not as cold as it was then when she had stepped-out in her youth to give little ones in the barn a check, a hi, a pat, a slap, a rebuke, a hug and lots of love, for they are family – she cries and sips the butter-tea and continues to tell the stories of her youth. Go now, girlie! Move-o-move!

Joana side-stretches to pick the muffin and relishes it as granny peeks outside the window. It is snowing, she asks. Joana shakes her head, mouth full of muffin and sips the butter-tea.

Granny chews a sentence and plays with the tiny spoon and her cup.

Intuition, sixth-sense, hen-pecking – granny startles herself – cries, go check on Zeenz and Punnu, girlie go now, move-o-move! You!

Keeping the empty warm cup aside, Joana front stretches to get up and then back stretches and takes a pause, becomes a statue, sleepy sleep tickles her.

Kkkrrr!! Wooden door flung opens, Joana is thrown out, granny hen-pecks the furniture, it cries, kkkkrrrrr!!

Huh! Huh! Joana freeze-walks to meet her woolly family – the sheep, the two rabbits, the two llamas.

Now there, clap-clap-clap! Think sunny rays, it is still day. Decision – to rush back inside and sleep! Oh yeah!

Oh no-aaah! Punnu and Zeenz are gone!

Before granny could know, could strike, could shout and strike, could curse and strike and punch the air, and blame the lords, ladies and measuring scales, for she is poor with numbers, Joana runs to look for, catch hold of, bring back the two llamas.

Decision – already taken!

Punnu and Zeenz back at home, on a sunny day!
[Image by Joanna Jankowski from Pixabay]

We lived, then, in our days, we lived! We didn’t talk-talkie-talk about living!

– Granny

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Two Photographs

Granny’s smile has lots of secrets and lots of memories in it. She is always smiling, beaming; we can also count her wrinkles rising from her cheeks to her closed eyes; eyes shining with childlike brightness, watery eyes speaking the language of love.

It is early morning and everyone in the house is running hither and thither. Mummy is cooking food and packing the tiffin-boxes. The children are late once again and Daddy is going to give them a lift to the school. But Daddy himself cannot find his tie and the green file and somehow Mummy is managing everything right from the kitchen.

In this daily drama we see Granny sitting in the balcony, she is combing her grand-daughter’s plaits; Granny talks about her late grandmother who use to tie her plaits, to which her little granddaughter giggles up and says, ‘Granny you also had a Granny?’

Mummy shouts from the kitchen as the clock declares it is 8. Everyone is late!

In this relay race, this cute family is asked to stop and pose for a photograph. Daddy says no but the children agree and Mummy is caught between them; while everyone else hesitates only to agree in the end, the granddaughter brings Granny inside and both of them settle comfortably on the sofa for the photograph.

Say Cheese! Click!

Daddy is awkwardly smiling with a bad tie-shirt combination making him look funny; Mummy is smiling nicely and is hiding her apron behind her; the children are looking full of life and sleepy at the same time; the granddaughter is hugging her Granny and saying cheese loudly; Granny is smiling peacefully.


Daddy, Mummy and the children wish Granny a good-bye, she waves back at them from the balcony. They leave in their car and get mixed with the ‘bhroom-honk-honk-bhroom’ crowd on the road.

When Granny is asked about the brightness in her eyes and the secret behind her smile, she laughs musically and says, ‘thank you very much’.

Enjoying the scene from her gallery she seems to be waiting for somebody. She walks slowly to the kitchen like there is no need to hurry, this is how blessed she is, maybe this the reason behind her smile.

When we are about to leave the house, she calls us and asks us to meet her friend. Back in the gallery, Granny is feeding a stale roti to a crow with extreme joy in her eyes.

She indicates us to take her photograph with the crow. She is already saying cheese. Click!


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