Brush Up, Brush Off
Story By Thiyam Ningol, Africa

*

“ Hi Uncle, How are you?”

Charles could not utter a single word. Stared at the girl in front of him.

18 years old Gloria greeted her uncle. She was lying down on the couch. The TV with the full volume was watching her. She was munching a frothy chewing gum and filing her 1 inch long nails. No effort even to sit up.

When Gloria was 5 years old, her mother, Martha, decided to send her daughter to a boarding school. Martha wanted her daughter to be able to speak good English like the children of her brothers. “Boarding school is the ideal place for learning good English”-Martha assumed. Also she needed her daughter to be away while she continued her life. She sacrificed her own daughter as a bait. It was easier for her to ask for money from her clients in the name of educating her daughter. Since then Gloria had been staying in the boarding house.

Gloria came home only during the long holidays. Public holidays and weekends, she stayed in the hostel. She learnt how to entertain herself. During the nights of those days, when most of the students had gone home with their parents and relatives, Gloria spent the time counting the number of stars in the sky. Tirelessly she would sit in the corridor and count them and watch them if by any chance she could see a shooting star.

She heard and strongly believed that any wish made when one saw the shooting star would certainly be fulfilled. The pole-star represented her mother. Daily she reported to her about her developments and complains. She named the brighter stars after her best friends. When all her friends had gone home, she still felt their presence by looking up, at the sky.

During the holidays, when Gloria came home to be with her mother, Martha was always busy with her guests, Gloria’s uncles. They were many, some of them were really kind to her, gave her a lot of presents. But none had given Gloria the real company she was looking for. Gloria herself did not know what to expect from an “uncle”.

As she stayed in the boarding, she did not have friends in the locality. Her mother was not friendly with her neighbours. Nobody wanted their children to be seen with Martha or Gloria. She passed the long days of her holidays in solitude.

The only company she relied on was the TV and radio. Those items entertained her and kept her busy, they showed the programs she liked and the songs she loved. Sometimes even when she was not watching, the TV was switched on, full blast.

Her mother had never mentioned about any relatives, when asked she simply answered “all these friends of mine are your uncles, your relatives.” Gloria lost count of her uncles.

Her friends from the boarding school told her stories about their fathers, mothers, uncles, and relatives. She wished she also could tell similar stories. As she grew up, she understood her mother better.

Martha had fought with all her brothers. They did not approve her way of life. She cut off any relations with them. She did not allow them to talk to Gloria. None of the brothers knew where Gloria was sent to.

Charles, Martha’s eldest brother knew Gloria was already 18 years old. He did not like her to follow the foot steps of her mother. He waited for the chance to talk to Gloria. After persistent requests, Martha allowed him to go and collect her from the bus stand when she would be arriving for her holidays.

Charles’s wife went to collect her. While coming back from the office, Charles was imagining about the first meeting with his niece. Martha had informed Gloria that she would be visiting one of her uncle’s places, no further clarification was provided. To Gloria, all the uncles were the same—temporary relatives.

Charles tried to control his anger and hide his dissatisfaction at the first meeting with his niece. The young lady lying on the couch, in his sitting room, not caring whom she was greeting was not the picture he had imagined on his way back home.

Martha sent Gloria to the boarding school to brush up her English, Charles found Gloria had brushed off her culture and manner.

He promised to himself - “This is the last time my niece will say Hi to me. She came as Martha’s daughter and she will walk out as my niece”