How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina

Author:Rahul Raina
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 2021-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

We went back to my old rented apartment. I stopped the Maruti outside and checked for anyone I knew. Just men, always men, minding their own business, doing the usual midday motherfuckery, keeping their heads down, YouTube-watching, eating, and spitting. My neighborhood was in that sweet spot between rich and poor, the one where people knew not to ask questions, not to look where they shouldn’t. To be a busybody, you either need lots of money or none of it.

“Now, kid, are you going to cooperate?” I asked our little princeling. I didn’t need to. He looked like one of Krishna’s calves, sweet and innocent. He nodded, and then the hatred returned.

“You’d fucking better,” said Rudi, who had decided to turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger, only fatter and less threatening. The kid nodded again, his brows knitted together, his gaze moving away from both of us. He hated us. Post-cricket loss-level hated us. I would have to talk to Rudi.

“Okay,” I said, opening the door of the van, making sure no one was around—I was in the company of a TV star after all—“on my mark, here—we—go.”

At my signal, as soon as the street was empty, we rushed inside, Rudi and I hauling Abhi between us, up the dark stairs, up past the apartments of suicidally depressed accountants and gas board workers and municipal planners who dreamed of killing their colleagues over stolen lunches.

We collapsed back into my little one-room flat. I saw it anew. There was the old bed, the desk, the computer, the life I’d had before Rudi. It all looked so small, so pathetic.

I had an elephant shit pat of junk mail, bills, marriage proposal website ads, and astrologers’ predictions that I kicked out of the way like kids do to cats. I threw the boy onto my bed. I took the cricket bat and kissed it. Thank you, Dravid! Thank you, Tendulkar! It was the only time I’ve ever cared about cricket.

“We’ll be okay for a couple of hours here,” I said, because it was obvious and it was what film stars said in such situations. With films and nuns as my chief educational influences, it’s no wonder I have turned out the way I have.

I knew I must have appeared crazy. Hair wild with sweat, looking like I’d just been kidnapped, because I had. I glanced over at Abhi. “Do not worry, little man, you shall be back with Daddy soon, celebrating Diwali, editing videos, and cutting off hands. No hard feelings about all this, ya?”

“Fuck you,” he said, snot running down his face onto his polo shirt.

“What did we do to you?” Rudi asked. I thought it was quite obvious what we had done to him.

“You fucked up my life. You fucked up everything,” Abhi said. “Everyone thinks I’m a joke.” His ferocity made Rudi fall quiet, his movie star bravado vanished entirely.

“My father thinks I’m a joke,” Abhi said finally.

Rudi and I looked at each other at the same time.

Fathers, huh?

“Well,” I said sweetly, “we are very sorry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.