16. Facing the Terrible Past

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CHAPTER - 16

FACING THE TERRIBLE PAST

I stared at the five huge, blue colored photo albums that Mom very keenly took out from deep inside her closet. The moment she heard about showing my childhood pictures to Kim, she started acting like she was high on sugar. The excitement and happiness in her eyes were dripping down. Her smile stretched from her ear to ear and anybody could count all the thirty two teeth, even from a good distance.

"There are five albums?" Kim asked in awe. She looked at the albums and then at the crazy lady whom I'm obliged to call my 'Mother'.

"Yes," Mom answered her excitedly. She pointed towards the album that was kept on the top and said, "This one is of when Keith was newly born." She pointed towards the other one and continued, "This one when he started walking; the third is of his first birthday." Mom looked at me with that huge smile of her's and I narrowed my eyes at her, but in no vain. She looked back at the albums that were kept one above another on the floor of the T.V. Room. "The other two has pictures of his growing up years. I had three more, but Keith took them from me and hid it somewhere." She ended her rant with sadness in her voice, but it was way too short-lived as she looked at Kim with a huge grin on her face and said, "Let's start from the first one."

Kim smiled, still looking at the five huge albums in front of her with awe and breathed, "Okay."

"No!" I shouted, gaining the attention of the three female species present in the room with me.

"Why?" Hailey smirked, looking at me with those happy, mischievous eyes.

"Because they are my pictures and I don't want anyone to see these," I told them firmly but Hailey just rolled her eyes and turned back towards Kim and Mom.

"But I want to see them. What's there to be embarrassed about?" Kim asked, looking genuinely curious. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief at her stupid question. 'Doesn't she know that childhood pictures are everything to be embarrassed about?'

She ignored my expression of disbelief and concentrated towards my dear mother whose main aim at the moment was to embarrass me.

And that's what she did.

Hailey and Mom started showing my pictures to Kim and at every 'aww' that escaped her lips, I just wanted to dig a hole and bury those albums in it.

"And this is naked Keith," Mom cooed looking at the picture of completely naked one-year old me.

"Mom!" I hissed.

She ignored me and started talking, "You know something, Kim? Keith loved to wander around naked ever since he was born. There were times when my friends used to bring their daughters here and he would always insist on not wearing anything. This went on for until he turned three, and finally, I was successful in making him understand that he has precious jewels which needed to be hidden."

Kim and Hailey started laughing like maniacs the moment Mom finished her rant and I was sure that my face was red as a tomato.

"Oh God!" I groaned in utter embarrassment.

"Oh, look here!" Mom said, showing a picture to Kim with pride in her eyes. Curiosity got the best of me and I bent a bit towards Kim to look at the picture that was the object of Kim's interest at the moment. My jaw dropped when my eyes landed on the humiliating picture.

"Is this you, Hailey?" Kim asked, looking at the three year old kid all dolled up in the picture in her hand.

I just turned redder and Hailey started laughing uncontrollably. "Kill me now!" I muttered with clenched red jaw.

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