Reprisal

"Hi sweetheart ! How wonderful to see you again ! " gushed my cousin Rebecca. "Quite the lady now, eh ?" winked Shamoel, her brother, nudging his sister as he eyed me from top to toe. "I know what you were trying to hide that night, " he grinned, evilly at me. "Now, now, leave her alone." Sarah, my uncle Isaac's daughter stepped in smoothly. "She might just fly into one of her rages, and throw you out bodily." There they stood the pack of them, hounding me, and i was transported back into time.

All of seven, i stood facing them. Clutched behind my back, was my precious ' Ellie', the small stuffed elephant that i slept with every night. "Grab it !" hissed Shamoel, as he and his sisters closed in. Up until then, i'd been terrified. But with Ellie being threatened, all my neanderthal instincts emerged. Screaming at the top of my voice, i launched into him, butting him in the stomach with my head. Caught off guard, he was propelled  halfway across the room, though he was double my size. "Rachel !" I could still hear my shocked Aunt Agatha, as she entered the room. "Stop ! What on earth do you think you are doing ? Let him go !" To my shock and dismay, she berated me, and commanded me to hand over Ellie to Shamoel, as a punishment for hitting him. For the first time in my life, i disobeyed an elder and pushing her aside, i fled the room.

Later, my dad hurt and uncomprehending asked me to apologise, and i did, looking only at my aunt as i did so, totally ignoring the smirking Sam aka Shamoel. My father's sister's son. Those days we lived in a joint family. Because my aunt's husband was a ne'er do well, we always ended up having her brood over for the holidays. We children, my sister and i, greatly resented having to share all our stuff with our cousins, mainly because they resented us too, for living in the city, thus having access to a better school and better living conditions, as well as parents who doted on us.

Now almost twenty years hence we stood, gathered at his sister, Miriam's wedding. " None of the enemity, the resentments have lessened,"  i thought a trifle sadly. "Too many bad memories getting in the way." "Baggage you must shed," my saintly sister tried to convince me. Sam was now a well to do business man, Rebecca equally well off having married into a wealthy family. They stood there sneering at me, whereupon, my sister stepped in neatly, admiring Rebecca's diamonds, while Sam flashed his new iphone.  My son, a techno geek at seven, stood behind him looking longingly at it.

A few hours later, we were done with the dinnner and seeing off guests when Sam rushed in to the room. "Where's my iphone ?!" an apoplectic Sam, almost shouted. "I can't find it anywhere!" As heads turned to look at him, and people started to look around, he turned around and saw the kids, his son and mine, sitting with the 'lost' phone. Unfortunately, just then it was in my son's hand as he was explaining a particular function to his admiring audience. In a flash, Sam reached the kids and flushed with anger, grabbed it from his hand. "This is not a toy ", he thundered. Then sneeringly, "Just something i would expect from Rachel's son. Go ask your dad to buy you one, instead of ..." What he had been about to say, we would never know. His wife who had been sitting beside the children, stood up, her face red with embarrasment, "Sam!" she exclaimed. " I gave it to him. You were asleep and there were six missed calls, which no one could access. This child offered to read them for me."

My son looked up at Sam and said," Sorry uncle."  Drawing my little boy to me, my eyes moist, i remarked " You owe him the apology, Sam. But then you owed me one too, all those years ago. " Only my aunt Agatha had the authority to proclaim, "Shame on you, Sam."

My reprisal was complete.