If you want to read the story from the beginning click here.(https://wp.me/p2b25R-fw)

**************

Sharada has finished making dinner. She is waiting for Arjun to come downstairs and join them as he normally does. She thinks he may be talking to his friend Dan. 

“Arjun, Arjun. We’re ready to eat. Come down, Beta.”

When there is no answer, she calls him again. She goes halfway up the stairs and faces Arjun’s bedroom. This is unlike Arjun’s normal behavior. He is always downstairs at dinner time.

“Arjun. Come on down. We are all waiting for you. I made the pasta you like so much.” 

There is no answer.

“Daddy, what’s up? Why is he not answering?” Sharada asks Vijay.

“I don’t know.” Vijay is nonchalant. “Maybe he’s sleeping.”

Sharada turns to Lakshmi. “Lakshmi, Beti,” she says. “Will you please go upstairs and wake up your brother?”

Lakshmi looks up from her iPhone. “Okay,” she says as she keeps the phone down and goes upstairs.

A moment later, Lakshmi leans over the balcony railing. “Maaa! There’s no one in his room. He’s not there.”

Vijay and Sharada look up.

“What do you mean there’s no one there?” They say together. “We all saw him going upstairs.”

“Didn’t you?” Sharada asks Vijay.

Vijay doesn’t answer.

“I was busy reading this India Abroad magazine,” he says after a pause.

“I’ll go check again.” Sharada goes upstairs. She enters Arjun’s room because Lakshmi has left the door open. She looks everywhere in the room. There is no sign of him anywhere. She checks the windows to see if they are left open. They are closed.

“This is terrible. I don’t understand,” she says, coming down. She notices the front door is unlocked.

“Daddy, the front door is open. Lakshmi, did you forget to lock the door when you came in?”

“I didn’t come through the front door.” Lakshmi has gone back to checking her iPhone as if she is not concerned with the unfolding drama.

“Daddy, I don’t know what to do. Where can he go?” Sharada says.

“I don’t know either. Maybe you should call Vicky, Dan’s mother, and see if they were going to practice for the band.” Vijay says.

“But, …but, …they don’t practice on weekdays. You both go ahead and eat. I’ll see what’s going on.”

“Why don’t we all eat?” Vijay says.

“No. I’m not hungry anymore. You go ahead.”

Vijay and Lakshmi fill their plates and sit down for dinner.

Sharada calls Vicky. “Hello, Vicky?”

“How are you, Sharaada?” Vicky asks. “Are you calling about our lunching ladies’ lunch get-together next week?”

“No. It’s something serious.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Arjun and his Dad talked about his meeting with the counselor at school. He was kind of upset. We all saw him go upstairs to his room. But now he is not there. We don’t know where he is.”

“What do you mean he’s nowhere?” Vicky sounds concerned.

“Well, we were getting ready for dinner. He didn’t come down when I called, so we checked his room. He is not there. Was he supposed to meet with Dan today?”

“Hold on a minute,” Vicky says, and there is silence for a moment.

Sharada is holding the phone, waiting for her to return.

“No,” Vicky says. “Dan says they don’t practice until next Saturday. Is there anything we can do?”

“No. Thanks.”

“Sharaada. Look. Don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything we can do. Wayne has connections. He’s in the army, and he knows a lot of people.”

“Thanks, Vicky. I’ll call you if we need any help.”

Sharada puts the phone down and walks over to Vijay, who is eating his dinner.

“What happened?” he asks.

“She doesn’t know.”

Sharada wipes her eyes. She starts pacing the kitchen floor. She has no idea what she should do next. Lakshmi and Vijay finish their dinner, place the dishes in the sink, and move to the family room. Vijay turns on the TV and pushes the buttons on the remote to watch CNN. Sharada doesn’t understand why Vijay doesn’t show any concern.

“My poor baby,” Sharada says, sobbing.

“He’s not a baby anymore, Mom,” Lakshmi says, taking her eyes away from her iPhone for a minute. “Why don’t you call him or text him?”

Sharada ignores the comment.

“Well, you have the phone in your hands, why don’t you call him?” Sharada says.

Lakshmi taps her keys on the phone. “I’m texting him,” she replies.

They wait for a few minutes, but there is no response from Arjun. Sharada asks Lakshmi to call Arjun. She does. The phone rings, but there is no answer.

“We have to do something, Daddy,” Sharada says helplessly.

“Like what?” Vijay asks.

“Get in your car. Let’s drive around the neighborhood. See if he’s walking around. It’s cold outside.”

“Okay. Let me get my coat.” Vijay walks over to the closet in the foyer.

Sharada doesn’t like that Vijay is not concerned at all or doesn’t care. It’s dark outside. Many houses have their lawn lights on, but still, it is difficult to see if anyone is walking on the streets. Vijay and Sharada make rounds of all the blocks in their community. The neighborhood has over five hundred houses with walkways, tennis courts, and a clubhouse with a swimming pool. The streets are quiet except for an occasional car passing by or a cyclist riding his bike wearing a yellow reflective jacket.

What jackass would ride a bike in the dark, thinks Vijay? They drive through all the side roads. There are many pathways for walkers. Arjun could be on any of these, but there is no way to drive their car on those pathways. They would need to park somewhere and walk on foot. After driving for an hour or so, they return home frustrated.

“I’m scared. Daddy,” Sharada says with a quiver in her voice. “Especially after that shooting in the school, and his article in the school paper.”

“What article in the school paper?” Vijay sounds bemused.

“It’s the article he wrote about the shooter.”

“How come I didn’t see it?”

Sharada doesn’t answer. It’s lying on the family room coffee table. You just neglected to notice it; she says to herself.

“You’re too harsh on him lately — even today. You should have waited until we had our dinner. Now he’s gone. Maybe you upset him,” she says after a pause.

“I didn’t say anything to make him upset. What I said was for his good.”

That’s it, Sharada thinks. Daddy doesn’t think he did anything wrong to upset Arjun. But he is wrong.

“That’s what you think,” Sharada raises her voice a bit.

“Oh. It’s always my fault, is it?” Vijay is upset that he is to blame for what happened.

“Forget about it. We have to decide what to do now. Call 911 or something.”

Vijay calls 911 to file a missing child report. They ask for the child’s name, physical characteristics, and the clothes he was wearing. They ask whether there was a domestic fight or argument. Vijay answers no. The officer tells him that most young adults return within twenty-four hours and that they will start the search in earnest if he doesn’t come back within that time. Vijay takes down the name of the officer taking the report.

Sharada starts pacing the family room floor again. She has not eaten yet. Lakshmi has gone to bed, ignoring what is going on. At 11 o’clock, Vijay prepares to go upstairs to bed.

“I’ll stay down here a bit,” Sharada says. She’s still upset with Vijay’s attitude.

At 11.30, she goes up and lies down on the bed next to Vijay. She’s more upset that Vijay has started to snore already. She cannot sleep. In the morning, I should call the school and report this if he hasn’t shown up, she thinks, and tries to close her eyes.

It’s half past midnight. Sharada hears the whirring sound of the garage door opening and then footsteps coming up the stairs. She knows it’s Arjun. She’s relieved but doesn’t want to confront him at that time.

Let him cool down, and I’ll talk to him in the morning, she thinks.

“He’s back,” she whispers to Vijay.

“Uhm,” he says, shifting his position to sleep on his back, and starts snoring again.

Sharada turns on her side, places her right hand across his chest, inhales deeply, and closes her eyes after sighing in relief.

Vijay has to leave early for a seminar. He goes before Arjun comes down. Sharada is stirring pancake batter with raisins, Arjun’s favorite. She is rehearsing what to say to him when he comes downstairs, but forgets her practiced speech when he does come down.

“I made pancakes with raisins for you. I know you like them,” Sharada says, looking at him.

Arjun sits on the high bar stool across from the cooking range. “Thanks,” he says slowly.

There are awkward minutes of silence. No one wants to discuss last night.

“We missed you at the dinner,” Sharada finally breaks the silence. “I still have some pasta leftover. Want me to pack it for your lunch?”

Arjun keeps looking at the pan on the gas range but doesn’t answer. She is trying to bring up the subject of his disappearance the previous night. 

“Beta,” she can no longer control herself. “We were so worried about you last night.”

“Yes,” replies Arjun.

“Well. Where were you?”

“I was just hanging around with some friends.”

“But you could have called or texted us.”

“I’m not a kid anymore, Mom. Why do you worry so much?”

“You are to me. I called Vicky, and she said Dan didn’t know where you were. Besides, there are crazy people all over. You should know this from what happened at school.”

“You called Dan?” Arjun shouts. “You’re too much, Mom. You worry too much. You shouldn’t have.”

“What were we supposed to do? We called your number, but didn’t answer.”

“I left my phone in my room. I wanted some quiet time to myself.”

“Lakshmi called you, but we didn’t hear a ring.”

“I had it on vibrate.”

“Okay,” Sharada tries to compromise. “Next time, please, please let us know where you are. When you grow up and have your own family, you’ll understand what parents go through. Remember, parenting never ends, no matter how old kids get.”

“I will.”

“All right. Eat your pancakes.”

Sharada loads his plate with a three-stack and passes the bottle of maple syrup. She walks over to the pantry in the corner to retrieve something.

“Ma,” Arjun calls her. He has finished half of the stack and is holding his fork upside down on his plate.

“Yes, Beta.”

“I think Dad doesn’t like me.”

Sharada is baffled by this sudden announcement. She comes close to him and places her left hand on his back, slowly massaging it.

“Oh! Why do you think so?”

“He never appreciates anything I do. He’s always talking about Krishna, Krishna. Krishna’s going to be a doctor. I don’t know what I want to be, Ma. I don’t.”

“You still have a lot of time, Beta. Don’t pay much attention to your Dad. You make up your mind.”

“But he’s always telling me to be an engineer. Be an engineer. Hell, maybe I want to be someone else and be happy.”

“Please, don’t use such language in this house. Your Dad may say things. But he means well. He loves all of you. He’s a nice man.”

“Then he should stop pestering me.”

“Remember, he and I came to the US thirty-five years ago. Your Dad’s still in the ‘old India’ frame of mind.” Sharada moves the fingers of her hand in an air quotation when she says old India. “The new India is changing, and he doesn’t realize that.”

“How can he? He keeps watching old Indian movies and cricket all the time.”

“You’re right. There’s not much we can do. We have to accept him for what he is.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Well, eat your pancakes. You may be late for school. I’ll see if I can talk to him.”

Arjun finishes his breakfast and goes upstairs to get ready for school.

“Aaigah, what a mess. What can I do?” Sharada shakes her head, worried. “What am I going to say to Vijay about his attitude? He is what he is. At least Arjun came back home. He’ll get over it.”

Sharada starts tidying up in the kitchen. But her mind is in the future. If there is another confrontation between father and son, there may be dire consequences. Arjun disappeared for an evening this time. What might he do next time? Maybe he’d leave for good. A shiver goes through her whole frame at that possibility.

She has to do something, but she doesn’t know what or how.

**********

To red chapter 15, click here. https://wp.me/p2b25R-h7