Lottery

    Charles opened his eyes slowly. The first thing he noticed was the ceiling fan motionless overhead.

    He found himself lying on his bed; the sunlight filtering in the room through a small gap in the curtains providing a faint illumination in the darkness. He could see dust particles floating in and out, dancing merrily without any sense of direction. He kept staring at them for some more time.

    Just then, the door opened up. His eyes were suddenly hit by the brilliant glare from the tube light lit in the corridor outside. His eyes watered and his head hurt. He tried to raise his arms, but felt it heavy and was unable to raise them.

    “Close the door!” he yelled loudly.

    The figure at the door stopped and rushed back outside. He heard the person’s voice say ‘He’s awake’ to unseen people outside. Within minutes, a crowd burst in.

    The lights were turned on in the room now. Slowly, Charles got up and raised his head. His head throbbed again painfully. Eyes still watering, he took in all the faces of the ones who had just come in.

    He saw his entire family in there. The closest person to the bed was his sister, Mary and her husband James behind her. Next to James, watching Charles with a pitiful expression stood his younger brother, Samuel. He noticed Samuel had a swollen lip and a band-aid on his left cheek. Beside Samuel, staring with open contempt was Sneha, Charles’s sister-in-law. His two nieces and nephews stood on the left side of the bed, looking at Charles with fear in their eyes.

    “What are you all doing here?” asked Charles angrily, “What is HE doing here?” pointing at Samuel.

    “Brother, please,” said James softly, “Please calm down. You have just woken up. The doctor said you need to relax.”

    “Relax?” spat Charles, “Why should I? After what happened last night at dinner?” He looked at Samuel's face and great anger bubbled in him.

   

    “He was not the one who started it, you madman!” yelled Sneha, coming forward, but held back by Cajetan.

    “Sneha, ssshhhh!!” said Samuel angrily.

    “Yeah, listen to your husband,” laughed Charles, scornfully, further mocking the couple, “See! How he controls her?! Our younger brother is such a MAN!” Saying this, he started clapping.

    Samuel’s face contorted in rage. He clenched his fist and stared threateningly at his elder brother. One blow from his fist and all those teeth would be knocked out on the floor. He thought of ways to hurt the frail, thin man lying on the bed in front of his eyes.

    “That’s enough,” said Mary, coming between the two, “Sneha, take the kids and go.”

    Without saying another word, Sneha took all the kids and left the room. 

    “Charles,” said Mary, addressing her brother by his first name, “you need to apologize to Samuel and Sneha.”

    Stung by his sister’s support for Samuel, Charles said, “After what happened last night?”

    “What do you remember about last night?” asked Mary quietly.

    “What I remember,” said Charles, pretending to think, “Hmm, lets see...

    “I got hit on my face by my brother. The brother, whom I have raised as a kid, punched me mercilessly. In my house. In front of his kids, who love me and come to my house every weekend for dinner. This is what I had spent the last fifty-three years of my life for, preparing myself for this day, anticipating when he would raise his hand on me.

    “And Mary, you! You just stood by and allowed this violence to happen. You said nothing – NOTHING! You let him beat him!” Tears started rolling down his cheeks, but unable to lift his hand, he let them slide down.

    “No. The reverse of it happened last night. It was you, who beat Samuel ‘mercilessly’, not the other way around. Do you not remember calling Sneha a whore before that?” asked Mary, a hardness in her voice. She took a step closer to the bed and staring directly into her brother’s eyes. 

    Charles felt uncertain. He clearly did not remember saying that. “LIES!” he bellowed.

    “Do you not remember calling me, Samuel, James and all of our children free loaders? That you have spent your entire lottery winnings on us and how you took care of us? That we all should be grateful and indebted to you forever through our lives because you, the elder, chose to leave the cares of a comfortable life and spend all of your prize money on us and handling our financial needs?” continued Mary, with the same hard tone in her voice unwavering.

    “Have I not?” said Charles, firing back. He would not let his younger sister intimidate her in front of her husband. He expected more retorts from her. 

    But to his bewilderment, Mary started to cry. Her face covered in anguish and she started weeping copious tears. Samuel rushed forward to console her and to his shock, Charles realized he had tears on his face too. They both looked at Charles mournfully, their eyes full of pity. Mary looked as if her heart had just gotten crushed completely.

    Feeling uneasy and full of remorse now, Charles tried to get up. He tried to get down, but got a rude shock. His legs were chained to the bed, which he had not realized earlier. Fearful, he turned his head towards them and tried to lift his hands. They were chained too. 

    “What is happening?” he asked them, suddenly realizing they were backing away from the bed. His heartbeat started to rise. He felt his breath racing and a slight tingle in his nerves, “WHY AM I CHAINED LIKE THIS?” 

    Just then, three more people entered in the room. A tall man accompanied with two more people.

    “Mr. Rodrigues, please remain calm,” said the tall one, “I’m Dr. Khan and I am here to help you. Ashok, go ahead. Fatima, take Mrs. Crasto out of the room.” 

    With a feeling of dread, Charles realized Ashok was a nurse, advancing towards him with a syringe in his hand. He saw Fatima forcefully take a weeping Mary out of the room, along with Samuel and James, who blocked her view and prevented her from seeing the bed. 

    “STOP! STOP!” shouted Charles, “MARY! SAVE ME!” He kept calling for his sister, but no help came from her. 

    A slight pain near the elbow told him Ashok had already administered the dosage from the syringe. He felt his eyes getting groggy. A dullness seemed to settle over him as drowsiness crept over his mind. The last thing he remembered was the colour white clouding his eyes and then all faded to black.

                                        ------

    “Thank you, Samuel and Mary for getting him here,” said Dr. Khan, “I am afraid your brother may need more help than we initially thought.”

    “What are you saying, Asif?” asked Samuel uncertainly. Mary started trembling.

    Dr. Khan looked directly into his friend’s eyes and said, “I am afraid Charles has schizophrenia. It has advanced more rapidly than I initially thought and is now progressing at an alarming rate.” 

   Samuel stood stunned. He had seen this coming, but still the news hurt him horribly.

    “Are you absolutely sure about this?” 

    “Yes,” replied Asif, with a sombre expression, “His delusions of winning the lottery, which we both knew was not true at all, triggered his disorder. Mary told me how he kept talking about winning the lottery and daydreaming of what he would do with the money. It was one ticket, then another, then another and so it went on for the last 17 years. His constant hope of winning it one day and then not getting his heart’s desire drove him insane. 

   “If we had known this earlier, we could have started him on medicines immediately. I feel we may be at the point of no return now. He seems to be completely deluded, might be beyond any semblance of his old self. That daydream – a life he envisioned with the prize money – that has become his reality now. There is nothing that can be done, apart from praying for a miracle.”

    Mary looked as if something had died within her. The loss of her brother’s sanity felt like an absolute end to how she knew him. She had never anticipated a day like this would come. She knew her brother had a crazy obsession with lottery and sometimes, even entertained his wild thoughts of a glamourous life, even if it helped her too escape the mundane realities of her middle-class existence for a second. But she had never taken them seriously. 

    Apparently, Charles took them to his heart, confusing his reality with those escapes into daydreams.

    “I’m sorry, guys,” said the doctor, “Although Charles seems to be beyond our reach, with medicines and therapy, we can try. One can only hope. The decision lies with you guys. With your consent, we can try electroshock therapy, get him started on neuroleptics and have some psychotherapy sessions arranged. Only time will tell if these prove to be helpful.”  

    Samuel and Mary said nothing. They held hands all the while and let the doctor’s words wash over them. Even at the darkest of times, hope seemed like a dual-faced entity. Hope was the reason that drove their brother into insanity; he unable to come out the reverie of a non-existent life, pushing him further down into the void of hopelessness. 

    Yet, hope seemed to be their best bet now..

    “So, do you guys consent to this course of treatment?” asked Asif.

    

                         --- Sometime later ---

    Charles beamed with happiness, gazing at the framed ticket on the bedroom wall.

    He sat in the balcony of his penthouse, overlooking the Arabian Sea and basked in the evening glow. Far away at the horizon, the sun approached her journey’s end, colouring the sky with yellow, orange and red. The breeze wafted in through the open window, ruffling the teal blue curtains as it filtered in through the room.

    The doorbell rang. Smiling, he got up and went down the stairs. They were here.

    He opened the door and saw a smiling Mary enter the room, a casserole in her hand. Behind her, with two kids in tow entered James, giving Charles a hug. They headed to the dining room, with Mary checking with the chef for the evening’s dinner menu and discussing something about the dish she had brought over. James immediately sat on the soft couch and turned on the huge TV watching some movie. The kids ran and stood by the beautiful Koi pond in the living room, chatting excitedly and trying to touch them.

    “Where is Samuel?” asked Charles.

    “I called him up,” Mary replied, still busy with the casserole, “He should be here soon.”

    Just then, Samuel sauntered in with Sneha and their two kids. They both hugged him and immediately made a beeline for the dinner table. Sneha, like Mary, had brought along a large dish covered with an aluminium foil. She opened it quickly, revealing the contents inside to be rows of cupcakes she had prepared for the dinner.

     “Kids!” said Mary loudly, “Dinner is ready. Everyone-” she beckoned the men, “-here now.”

     Charles, as usual, sat at the head of the table. The entire family sat down. His nephews and nieces always sat next to him, their parents sitting further down the table. The TV was switched off. Chef Alok brought over the dishes cooked with the help of the other two servants. Chicken ghee roast, chicken thai curry, meatloaf, Russian salad, brown rice, assortment of breads and rotis, various types of sauces, chocolate pudding, carrot and moong dal halwa laid down on silver platters. Sneha’s delicious cupcakes and Mary’s special curry complimented the rest of the dishes well.     

     Soon, the entire family, along with chef Alok and the two servants, started dining together. Time flew by as they ate and drank merrily. The kids regaled their uncle with the stories from school and how they miss travelling in the school bus. His siblings were deep in discussion about their upcoming trip to Europe once the school vacation would begin.

     Post dinner, they played a game of charades as they indulged in some excellent homemade ice-cream, followed by a quick story time with their uncle. Later, the kids were put off to sleep in their room upstairs, while the adults chatted over a glass of whisky. Charles went off to sleep sometime later. 

   He felt blessed for this gift, for his luck, for his existence. 

   He was at peace.