Pronunciation: Moray (Mother): More-Aye
Bachay (Child): Baa-Ch-Aye
***
From the past incident, the last few days have been pretty rough. During the daylight father is usually nowhere to be seen and returns to the tent late at midnight. He won't talk much either. Father would quietly eat and force himself to sleep. On the other hand the same is the situation with my mother. She is usually quiet and clumsy. Her friends come over to visit her but leave with disappointment since mother's company isn't joyful anymore. Both mother and father are on such strict conditions that even my ignorant brothers are greatly concerned. However; since it is the carnival today, this is the least of my concerns.
Today, mother woke me and my brothers with the crack of the dawn. We hadn't slept much last night yet the excitement made our day better. I squinted my eyes to adjust them to the slight sunlight entering from some holes in the tent. Outside, the birds chirped as they unraveled their wings and flew in the clear sky enjoying a few moments before the noisy humans in the camp woke up.
"Children, immediately wear your slippers and accompany me to the lake. You will have to scrub yourself before the natives wake up. Make haste hurry!" Mother said as she fixed her shawl on the head.
The weather was quite good today or maybe that was my assumption since the wind is usually cool in the morn. The squally wind whistled in the surroundings making us four shiver with cold but, we liked it. On such hot days having a cool breeze is the matter of luck. Luckily, in the morning no one was here to bathe in the lake, therefore; we could spend more time scrubbing and cleaning ourselves. The boys bathed in the far end of the lake while I bathed behind the bushes at the other end. I occasionally threw water at my mother but she wasn't pleased with that. She would give me an angry stare forcing me to stop playing with her. I could hear laughs and giggles of the boys as they splashed water at one another and took full advantage of the icy cold water. Ironically, after we had just bathed, we all still scratched ourselves. Me and my brothers reached our hands to our backs with great difficulty and begun scratching our backs wildly.
"What happened? Mosquito bites? Ant bites? What is it?" Mother sounded quite concerned.
"Mother, we just took a bath in the water that all the natives take a bath in. Technically, we took a bath in their germs and dirt." Replied my little brother as he scratched his face.
Me and my brother shivered in disgust while mother seemed to ignore us. After letting some water drip from our clothes, we travelled back to the tent and managed to keep ourselves from any puddles or mud along the way. I was quite excited for the carnival and wanted to dress in my best clothes and enjoy the day. Luckily, I had brought this one pretty suit that I had worn in my uncle's wedding. The cloth was of a blood red color, soft with beads and embroidery swirled at the front. I combed my hair at the nape of my neck and fixed the shawl on my mildly wet hair.
"You look beautiful!" Brother commented as he chewed on his bread. My mouth remained wide open since I had never heard him say that before.
"Why thankyou brother. You also look handsome!"
