Rikara Short Stories Collection

Bewitched : Epilogue

"School is an exception."

Arjun makes a face.

Veda quickly holds Arjun's hand and pulls him. "Come bhaiyya, let's go for swimming."

"But I am grounded." Arjun says looking at Om.

"Please dada." Veda says as she started making cute faces and blew kisses at him.

Om chuckles, "Okay, you can go. Take Dandi with you."

"Okay." Arjun says smiling as he jumped up from his seat and by the time his feet had hit the ground, his clothes had changed to his swimming trunks.

"Bhaiyya, me too."

"Which swimsuit you want?"

"My red one." Veda tells him excitedly.

And in the blink of an eye, her costume had changed.

"Dandi." Om shouts out to Dandi seeing that the kids were ready.

Within seconds, when there was no reply, Arjun waves his wrist and Dandi appears in front of them.

He had an earphone in his ears as he shook his head and with closed eyes was cutting a carrot.

Om turns to Arjun with a frown. And he grins at him in return.

"What was the rule on doing magic on people without their permission?" Om asks him.

"We had a bet with Dandi Uncle and he lost. So Bhaiyya can do magic on him for a week without permission." Veda tells Om.

"What kind of bet is that? And who gives you such ideas?" Om asks exasperated.

"Me." Veda tells him proudly.

Om shakes his head and turns to look at Dandi and stops in shock. Dandi was still not aware that he was cutting the carrot to the living room floor now.

"Dandi." Om calls out to him.

"Dhoom Machaaale." Dandi sings as he finished the carrot and turning to his side, started searching for the next carrot. He fishes around for a few seconds then curious he opens his eyes and jumps back in shock as he looked around.

"Sir... Baba... you wanted something?" Dandi asks as he composed himself.

"We want to go swimming." Arjun informs him.

"But lunch isn't ready yet." Dandi tells Om.

"It is now." Arjun declares.

"It better not be chocolates." Om tells him.

"Oh." Arjun bites his lips in shock.

"But why?" Veda asks sadly.

"Lunch means proper food."

"So what do you want?" Arjun asks confused.

"I want Pulao." Veda declares.

"And chicken curry." Om says, since Arjun was asking for opinions.

"Okay. Done." Arjun declares.

"Dandi uncle come." Arjun says as he took Veda's hand and started to take Dandi's hand.

"No." Dandi says as he pulled his hand back. "I'll come to the pool."

"But we will get there faster." Veda tells him.

"Last time, you took me right into the pool."

"Stop using magic for every single thing, walk to the pool." Om tells them.