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The Notorious Duck
By Meghna Mundkur
Copyright 2011 Meghna Mundkur
Smashwords Edition
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“This sucks” I said to the 3 girls next to me. We were kneeling out in the sun as a punishment for having fooled some kids…and it just so happened to be the last day of school. I couldn’t wait to leave for the holidays. I studied in a boarding school and it had been 3 months since I had been to the city.
“Janet, say hi to your brother Michael for me!” yelled one of the 6th graders.
Yes, she is calling out to me, and no my name is not Janet. I just told her that Michael Jackson was my brother….and she believed me!! Of course I had to lie a lot, write letters to myself and fake his signature (which I knew how to pull off) at the bottom.
I did feel quite smug about it, I’ve always been good at making up stories. I even fooled the 12th graders (senior to me by 4 years) into thinking that I had met the Backstreet Boys and interviewed them!! All I did was put on an American accent and recorded an interview between me and one particular band member…Nick Carter. Then while playing it back to them I reduced the tempo to make him sound more like a boy…and they bought it!! Apologies to the girls for taking them for a ride!!
About the whole Michael Jackson thing, I was a massive fan..still am. One day 11 years ago, during our evening study hour, one of the new students came into our room. Word in the hostel was that if the newcomers got on our good side, they wouldn’t get bullied. I was rummaging through my cupboard, trying to make room for me to hide so that the matron wouldn’t catch me tucking away into some cake during study hour.
“Hi” squeaked someone from behind me. I turned and saw a short girl, about 12 years of age with spectacles that were too big for her face.
“Hello four eyes!” I grinned. She just looked down at her feet and chewed her nails. “Sonia!! A little fish seems to have wandered into our net!” I shouted down the room. I heard a crash at the end of the room and a short fair haired girl emerged from under the covers of one of the beds. “That’s not a very good hiding place…bed sheets are supposed to be flat on the bed, not all lumped up!” I snickered.
“I’m working on it” she grumbled. She walked up to the new comer and stared at her with piercing green eyes.
I shoved Sonia away “You’re going to make her cry!”. She just walked off and left me to deal with this nervous girl. “What’s your name?”
She looked up at me, but then her eyes darted to the contents of my cupboard. “I’ve never seen those!” she exclaimed.
I moved to stand in front of my cupboard and crossed my arms. “Your name..or you will regret walking into this room”.
“F-Farah” she stammered.
“Ok, for future reference, when a senior asks you a question, you do not reply with another question.” She just nodded mutely. Man was I enjoying being a senior! I never got bullied when I joined the boarding school because my room mates were the school seniors, so no one messed with me. I just figured it would be fun to try and intimidate the freshers, and this one standing in front of me was my first catch. “No need to be scared now. What did you spot in my cupboard?”
She leaned to one side and pointed to my body cream. “That’s not from here”.
All of a sudden I had this sudden urge to take this girl for a ride. “Oh yeah, it’s not. My brother sent it to me from the States.”
She turned and sat on my bed “What’s his name?”.
I wagged my finger at her and pointed at my chair “No sitting on my bed, that privilege comes later.” She didn’t seem to mind. “His name is Michael” I continued, knowing that she will question the name, mainly because it is not a common Indian name.
She looked confused “ But you are Hindu!”.
Now this is where my ability to spin yarns comes into play. “My name is not actually Meghs, it’s Janet”
She just looked at me blankly till recognition dawned on her face. “Jackson” she whispered.
I just nodded my head sagely and whispered back “No one but the girls in this room and you know who I really am. I didn’t want to give people my real name because the press will find out and hound me” She just looked at me in amazement. I have no idea how she believed that, I’m just glad that she did because it made that term very interesting! “Those things in my cupboard are from my brother Michael Jackson, he sends me something every time he goes on tour.”
Just
then the matron walked into the room and spotted us whispering in the
corner. She started stomping her way towards us when one of our
sports bras that were hanging on the drying line caught in her hair.
It yanked her head back and then there was a loud TWANG as the
clothes line came off the wall and all the clothes on the
drying line fell on the floor. It took her a minute to disengage her
hair from the bra hook “Prep hour is for
preparation!”
“Matron, I am preparing her for life in this
boarding school!” I said trying to suppress my laughter.