Short Story: The Annoyed Baby

Mahaveer Sanglikar

Nowadays, Baby has started behaving strangely with me. She acts very oddly, and I can’t predict what she will say at any given moment. She even speaks harshly to me in front of others.

It’s not like she always behaves this way. Often, she is very affectionate and caring towards me. But I can never tell when her mood will change.

I know she has a lot of problems in her life, which makes her irritable. Sometimes, she takes out all her anger on me. Once, I told her not to vent her anger on her daughter, but she could take it out on me if she needed to let it out. However, I asked her not to overdo it or not to say anything hurtful. After that, she started venting her anger on me within limits.

I would calm her, saying, “Baby, cool down, cool down, Baby,” and she would immediately calm down.

But the day before yesterday, things went too far.

Here’s what happened…

The day before yesterday, our group of friends went on a trip to Lonavala. Naturally, Baby was with us. If she hadn’t come, this story wouldn’t even have happened. The trip wouldn’t have been organized if she hadn’t agreed to come. I had organized this trip for my birthday. My birthday was just an excuse; the real reason was to spend a happy day with Baby.

The Annoyed Baby

We roamed around a lot the entire day. After 2 PM, we had lunch at a pure vegetarian hotel. My birthday was also celebrated there. We didn’t cut a cake, but everyone wished me and gave me gifts. Later, we also took a group photo. As usual, Baby stood right next to me in the photo, very close. But as soon as the photo session was over, she moved away.

Baby is a bit on the healthier side. She’s a little overweight, but not enough to be called fat. However, I always teased her by calling her fat. Even that day, I referred to her as fat several times in front of everyone. She laughed it off.

We all arrived at Lonavala railway station in the evening and started our journey back to Pune by local train. During the journey, Baby seemed sad. She sat in a corner by the window, far from me, and wasn’t talking to anyone. The seat opposite her was empty. I got up from my seat and sat in front of her. She didn’t like me sitting there and acted like she didn’t see me. In a low voice, I asked her, “What happened, Baby? Why are you so sad?”

In a soft but annoyed voice, she replied, “I don’t want to talk to you.”

Her words hit me hard. What was she saying?

“What’s wrong with you, Baby? Did I do something wrong?”

She didn’t answer and continued to look out the window, her eyes filled with tears. I asked her again, “Baby, what’s wrong with you?”

Then she abruptly got up from her seat and went to sit in another compartment.

By then, everyone had noticed that something was wrong between us. Navita asked, “What happened?”

I said, “I’m asking her, but she won’t tell me. Please go and sit with her and find out what’s wrong.”

Navita said, “No, you go ask her again.”

When I went to Baby, she shouted, “Why do you keep bothering me? Could you leave me alone? Go away, or I’ll end our friendship!”

I was shocked to hear it. Everyone heard her yell at me. I felt deeply humiliated. I was very angry with her. At that moment, we reached Chinchwad. I said bye-bye to my friends and got off the train. I didn’t even look at Baby.

The Annoyed Baby

When I came home, it was almost eight o’clock.
I must settle things with Baby today.
She won’t get home before nine o’clock. If I call her, she won’t pick up.
I’ll catch her on WhatsApp when she’s online late at night.
So, I sat at the computer doing my work. But I couldn’t concentrate.
I kept glancing at WhatsApp.
Finally, she came online at midnight.
I immediately sent her a message:

“Hi Baby!
I got an amazing gift for my birthday today.
Insult! Humiliation! Insult! In front of all my friends!
And that too from my closest and best friend!
I had never received such a gift on any of my birthdays till now.
Thank you, Baby, for this unique gift.”

I thought she would apologize. But her reply was,
“Who started it? How many times did you insult me today? Did you ever think about how bad I must have felt?”
“I insulted you? When?”
“Remember how many times you called me fat today? In front of everyone!”
“Haha! You are fat, aren’t you? If I shouldn’t call you fat, should I call you skinny? You insulted me because I called you fat? And that too on my birthday? Grow up, Baby!”
“Shut up! You think you’re so smart. I don’t know how I fell for your tricks. But it’s enough. Our friendship is over from today.”
“Go on then! I don’t need your friendship. Have plenty of friends!”
“I know! They are friends with you because you feed them!”
“Is that so? Then why did you befriend me? To date? Hahaha!”
“Shut up! Dating, my foot!”
“……”

The Annoyed Baby

“And all those days of chatting, what all did you write! Now I’ll show everyone! Even your friends!”
“Show them! Show everyone! Let’s see who people believe! You or me. I didn’t write anything bad in our chats. And remember well, I’m the only one who speaks well of you in our group. You know what others say about you. One of your friends even told me, ‘After eating a hundred rats, the cat has come to you…’ Did I believe her? No, I told her, ‘Count how many rats you’ve eaten first!'”
“……”
“So, when will you show everyone all those chats? Or should I show them?”
“You flirted with me in the chats.”
“So what? Did I ever write anything dirty? All my chats are clean. Such healthy flirting isn’t something just anyone can do. You’re an English teacher, didn’t you understand the high standard of my flirting? And all this time, if my flirting bothered you, why didn’t you stop me then? You were enjoying it, right? Hahaha!”
“Enjoy, my foot!”
“Hey, why do you keep saying ‘my foot’? Just leave! Enough of your tantrums! You’re taking me for granted. My mistake was loving you too much. You’re a heartless woman. All your emotions are dead. Still, I loved you. I thought your heart would melt someday! But you became more emotionless. I’ve tolerated you all this while, but now it’s too much. You love breaking relationships, right? Please say me goodbye!”
“……”
“Say goodbye, Baby, so we can end our friendship.”
“……”
“Are you going to say goodbye, Baby? Or should I?”
“Wow, wow! And you used to say repeatedly that you would never leave me, that you wouldn’t go away from me… was that all just an act!”
“No, Baby! That wasn’t an act. Look, Baby, I don’t want to say goodbye. You don’t want to either. Don’t you think our friendship should last forever? Then why do we fight? Will this help us progress?”
“I’m sorry… I will never insult you again.”
“Why are you saying sorry? It was my fault. You just reacted. I’m the one who should say sorry.”
“Still, I’m saying sorry.”
“Okay, fine! I insulted you, so you insulted me, and now we’ve both said sorry to each other!”
“Yes!”
“But it’s good we fought today!”
“Why? Why do you say that?”
“Hey, I got a new topic for a story!”
“Yes! Write it, definitely write it!”
“Okay, good night, bye! I’ll catch you tomorrow!”
“Good night, bye!”

The Annoyed Baby

“Baby, wait wait…”
“Tell me…”
“I have a request…”
“What..?”
“Keep fighting with me occasionally…”
“No way… I won’t fight with you anymore.”
“Come on, fight with me sometimes… for a change. No matter how much we fight, our friendship will never break. It’s such a thrilling experience when you fight! And you look so beautiful when you’re angry…”
“Hahaha… okay, bye!”
“Bye!”

*Mahaveer Sanglikar is a story writer, blogger, motivator and mentor

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