I was tucking my sisters to bed and Liza asked me
“Why didn’t Amma come today Nina?”
“Because she missed the train Liza. Don’t worry she will come back tomorrow”.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely”
“Nina, will you tell me a bed time story?”
“Yeah, even I want a story”. Sally got up from her bed and came and sat with us on Liza’s bed.
“I will tell you a Japanese story”
“How do you know a Japanese story, Nina?” Sally asked
“Do you want to hear the story or not?”
“Keep quiet Sally and listen to the story” Liza scolded Sally
“Once up on a time in Japan, a farmer had 2 hens. He decided to name them, Nullikko and Pichikko. Every morning both hens laid eggs and the farmer was very happy. One morning the farmer went to the coop and you know what happend?” I asked my sisters
“No tell us quick” Both of them looked at me eagerly.
“The sly fox came in the night and ate Nullikko, now who is left?” I asked my sisters
“Pichikko” Both of them spoke in unison
That was my cue and I pinched both of them.(pichikko in malayalam means, pinch me!!)
“You are mean Nina, this is not a Japanese story. This is a silly story. I am not going to talk to you anymore.” Sally got up and went to lay down on her bed.
I kissed both of them goodnight and went to my room. I knealt down to pray. This afternoon I prayed for my mother’s safe return. Now I am not so sure, if I wanted that. I decided not to confuse Jesus with my prayer. I said a silent Lord’s prayer and went to bed peacefully.

I was eating my lunch with my sisters and we heard the auto rickshaw stopping outside our gate. My sisters rushed out and yelled
“Amma has come”
Akkachi quickly went out to help Amma with her luggage. My sisters were already hugging Amma. I stood leaning on the main door and I watched Amma hugging my sisters.
” Why didn’t you come yesterday Amma?” Liza asked
“The train was late Liza, you know how the Indian Railway works!.”
Amma looked at me and I wanted to tell her,’no mother, the train came on time yesterday, you weren’t on it’.
“Why are you standing there Nina,Don’t you want to give me a hug and a kiss?”
“My hands are dirty Amma, I will wash and come.”
I knew my mother was lying. The porter told me, train came 3 hours ago, when I went to the station yesterday. But mother’s don’t lie. May be it was some other train. I shouldn’t doubt my mother. I quickly washed my hand and went to my mother and hugged her. It felt good to have her back.
“Did you buy me eraser Amma?” Sally asked
“Ofcourse, I bought so much of things for all of you”
Amma opened her suitcase and there were so much of things.
“These are for you Nina” She handed me a brown paper bag. I opened it slowly. Inside the brown paper bag was the most beautiful glass bangles I ever saw. There were three colours, violet, green and brown. Each bangle had shiny white stones stuck on it.
“Nina, come here, I will put the bangles on your hand” Amma called me
I saw Amma mixing the colours and dividing the bangles to 2 groups and she put them on both of my hands. They looked beautiful. But something wasn’t right. I didn’t feel happy.
Amma bought new dresses for all of us and even Akkachi got new clothes.
“Akkachi, heat some water for me, I want to have a hot shower” Amma told Akkachi.
“So what did you guys do all these days? Were you good? Did you give Nina too much trouble?” Amma asked my sisters
“Amma Nina pinched us yesterday!”
“Did you Nina?”
“hmm. I was telling them Nullikko, Pichikko story”
“you still remember that story eh?”
“hmm”
It was my father’s favourite story. When I was little he used to chase me around the house to pinch me.

A lot of things didn’t make sense to me. Where did Amma get so money to buy all these things?, Why did she say the train was late?
When Amma went to have her shower, I did what Amma used to do, whenever Appa came back from work. She would wait for him to go to the bathroom and have his shower. She would quickly check his pant pockets and his wallet.
I quietly opened her handbag and looked inside. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I saw her train ticket. I needed confirmation. I slowly took the ticket out and closed the bag. I didn’t want to get caught with the ticket in my hand and I quickly walked to my hiding spot inside the banana thicket, with the ticket in my hand. My heart was beating very fast and I didn’t bother to sit down. I slowly read the ticket. Bangalore-Kottayam. I couldn’t believe what I saw. My world was collapsing. I wanted to march back in to the house and ask my mother what she was doing in Bangalore?. I couldn’t do it. I looked at the bangles on my hand. I pulled them out of my hand. The bangles scratched my hand and in my anger I threw them down and 2 purple bangles broke.
I looked at the bangles on the floor and thought,’Good, Now I am going to get beaten for breaking the bangles within the first hour of wearing them’. I picked up the bangles from the floor and walked back to the house. I replaced the ticket back in Amma’s handbag.
Amma came out of the bathroom drying her hair.
“Why did you remove the bangles Nina? You broke them already?”
I didn’t reply. She rushed to where I was standing and took the bangles out of my hand. I saw her counting.
“I gave you the bangles 5 minutes ago and you broke them already? Do you know how expensive these bangles were?”
In a flash she slapped me across my cheek. I wasn’t sure what made me do it. I snatched the bangles from her hands and threw it all down. Both of us watched, as each bangle hit the ground and broke. My mother hit me till her hands hurt. I was just happy that all the bangles broke and I didn’t have to wear them.