The Last Penny - Chapter 14 – Moving In With Kids

During Srini’s travels Rohan and Anita had moved into the new homes that Srini had arranged for them. They took Srini to his own house that he had arranged to be sold off when he had gone. He had leased it back himself, to live out his last days there.  The house had fetched a good price above what he had expected.  Srini’s checks for his charities and others were covered by the sale of the house.

Rohan and Anita insisted that Srini spend some time at each of their houses and live out his last days at their homes.  They had discussed this among themselves. Anita wanted Srini to spend six months at his new house and then Rohan wanted to have Srini at his house until the end. They expected many of Srini’s relatives and family to visit him near the end  of time and needed a big house to accommodate all the guests. Rohan’s house was certainly the best for that. It had a couple of bedrooms for the twins that they were too young to use now.

Srini tried to suggest otherwise, saying he could move when his condition became worse. They argued a little and finally came up with a compromise. Srini was to stay at his own place for a couple of months, dispose of most of his ‘stuff’ and then move to Anita’s.

Anita had recently met a young man she liked. He was a bright, cheerful professional engineer named Tarun, who worked near Anita’s office.  He had a sunny disposition, ever ready with a laugh and joke. They had met at a coffee shop nearby.  Anita wanted to get to know him a bit more before bringing him along to introduce to the family in a more formal way. She wanted to give Srini all the attention without having to worry about dividing her time between her new friend and Srini. It was a good test of the young man’s character, she figured.

Tarun seemed to be doing well on his test. He was patient, understanding and kind. It was getting more serious. Anita wanted to have Srini spend time with her before she and her boyfriend decided to live together.

Finally, Srini agreed. He settled back into his usual routine, but then slowly proceeded to dispose of most of his belongings by giving them away and having a huge garage sale. He had a farewell party with his neighbours and friends. Dr. Fa came with his family. Dan and his wife and kids too showed up. With the help of them and his family, Srini moved out to Anita’s with a very small set of belongings that fit into Rohan’s family van.

Srini felt very good and active as he started his days at Anita’s. He was like a perfect housekeeper instead of a guest. He cooked meals, cleaned, organised the laundry, planted a little kitchen garden, went for walks. He made her breakfast, packed her lunches and made dinner. She too joined him often, coming home early from work to cook or do chores with him.  They would sing along or even dance along as they worked, often smiling, laughing and even crying a few times when they realised it might all come to an end soon.

Rohan’s house was just a short walk away. Srini babysat the twins. He occasionally did some yard work at Rohan’s place or cooked meals for them. He made new friends in the neighbourhood on his walks and at the community centre. They all often had dinner at Anita’s or Rohan’s together.  The twins started to look forward to walks with Srini. He became a familiar figure at the park nearby along with many young mothers and fathers. Time just flew by.

After a pleasant six months, Srini moved to Rohan’s house. He had already set up his own room – one that was to be the bedroom of one of the twins when they were older. Anita was emotional when she saw him leave with his small set of belongings.

Despite the familiarity of Rohan’s house, it took Srini a bit longer to settle into a comfortable routine there. Srini quickly developed a daily routine where he would be up early and help Rohan, Molly and the kids get started out on their work day.  He managed time for himself. Molly was very appreciative of Srini’s help in breakfast, feeding the kids, packing lunch for Rohan. She pampered Srini in return. He would get warm packs for his back and legs when he sat back to watch the news. He was plied with new and exotic herbal teas, new items from exotic menus. Molly had started to work part time from home and part time at her office. The twins seemed to prefer spending time with Srini as much as at their day-care centre.  They liked to sing or hum along with Srini’s singing or dancing.

Anita started to bring Tarun by more often to visit the family. Molly and Rohan would often smile knowingly and sometimes jokingly suggest to Srini that Tarun had not gone back to his home until very late at night, or very early the next morning.

Srini would smile indulgently. He knew and trusted his daughter’s judgements and decisions. He knew that Anita was mature and wise beyond her years.

Srini went for regular and periodic visits to Dr. Fa’s office for his medical check-ups. He often met Ben on his way there or back to shine his shoes.  They would chat a bit. After a couple of big tips, Ben asked him quietly, but looking into Srini’s eyes, “Is everything OK with you, Srini-man?”

Srini told him of his diagnosis.

“I knew it! I reckoned something was different a while back,” said Ben.

He went on with his work as usual. The next time Srini was there, Ben offered him a ‘seated’ service. He had moved his shoe-polishing kit closer to the bench nearby and he asked Srini to sit on the bench while he polished his shoes. He noted that Srini seemed to walk a bit slower of late.

Four months passed easily, happily and in a blur with Srini at Rohan’s house.  Srini was still feeling good. From the last visit to Dr. Fa, he had come back with good report about his health. The cancer had not yet shown up enough.

As he lay down to sleep that night, Srini was mentally going over the situation. He realised that he was running out of money that he had budgeted for the time he had expected. He still had enough to last him an extra six months. He was not a big spender and lived on very little, happily and comfortably. He really saw no need for any great purchases.  He felt strangely odd and a peculiar unease when the thought of having good health and no money left to life occurred to him.

“Not likely that I will reach that state of being a healthy pauper,” Srini told himself. He laughed it off and went to sleep.

At the same time God had a little laugh too. Little did Srini know what fate had in store for him.  He slept peacefully, as did all others.


Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2015
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