A Big Fat Rat
Flash Fiction
*grumble*
I held my stomach, tightly, as I was lying on my bed. All day long my stomach grumbles and isn’t satisfied with the food my mother gives me.
“He is a growing boy, he needs more food,” My grandmother had said once.
“But if he eats too much, he might grow fat, just like his father and uncle,” My mother had replied.
*grumble*
Can’t you quiet down for some time and let me sleep? I thought as my stomach grumbled for the umpteenth time. I need some sleep. Tomorrow is my cousin’s birthday and there will be no restriction on how much I get to eat. There will be so many sweets. My mouth started watering at the thoughts of the sweets that are kept in the kitchen.
*grumble*
“Damn it,” I said exasperated at the constant grumbling, “I think I would better drink some water to quench my hunger.” As I got up from my bed to drink water a thought came to me. There must be a lot of sweets, and taking one or two wouldn’t hurt. If I sneak into the kitchen now and eat two sweets, no one would know it was me. After all, everyone is sleeping.
“Hehehehe…” I giggled as I made my way to the kitchen. Before opening the kitchen door, I looked around to check whether anyone was awake. Thankfully, no one was.
After entering the kitchen, I closed the door and switched on the lights. The sweets must be in the freezer. I saw my mother keep it there herself. I thought walking towards the freezer in the corner of the kitchen.
“Huh? What?! The sweets are not here! But I saw my mother keep them here!” I exclaimed, disappointed seeing the freezer empty. “My mother must have changed the place. Where could she have kept them?”
After searching the kitchen for a while, I decided to leave. But something caught my eye. It was a shiny jar on the shelf. It was well hidden behind many other red jars. So, I took two stools to bring the jar down from the shelf.
“At last, I found them,” I said smiling when I saw the laddus in the jar. “I will take three of them so that no one notices the change.” So, I kept the three sweets in a bowl and went to keep the jar on the shelf.
*Crash*
A slight imbalance, brought me crashing down on the floor. “Ouch!” I said, rubbing my back.
“Did you hear that?” a voice came from outside.
Damn. Someone must have woken up from the stools crashing. I thought cursing my luck.
“It must be some rat. Don’t worry about it,” came my father’s voice.
“Why are the lights on in the kitchen?” It was my mother who said this. “Let’s go and see.”
Damn. They are coming here. I thought, rushing over to the bowl of laddus. I need to eat them before my parents come.
But the kitchen door opened by the time I had stuffed the last two laddus into my mouth. There were a few seconds of silence as I and my parents stared at each other before my parents broke into laughter. “Hahaha…Indeed it is a BIG FAT RAT!!”
This story was inspired by a writing prompt, Answer Me This, from the “Promptly Written” Publication and a bit from my past (and present) nightly endeavours into the kitchen.
Thank you, Christine Graves for the amazing prompt.
