"I knew your father." Reading that I got mad. That was one word my ears never wanted to hear as I held "him" solely responsible for all that me and my mother had to go through. My instincts made me tear that chit into pieces. I turned and walked away. I did not show it but that chit really did ignite the curiosity within me to know about my "father" and the "man". I had started to think and wonder how he knew where we lived ? after all we had changed our residence several times just to wipe off memories that reminded us of "him". I was walking on the main road but my brain and my senses were not there. A boy riding his bicycle was coming my way and he hit me. It was his mistake but I turned and apologized. Yes , I did and with a quick glance checked if the man was still there. He was there and again his lips were the only feature visible to me which seemed to have moved a bit from the last time I saw it. It seemed as if he was smiling and as if he had done his job. It was getting dark so I ran back home. As always , mom had kept the keys hidden beneath the flower pot so that no one other than me could notice it. That day I was not present mentally though I was physically. I did not notice the flower pot in my path and tumbled causing it to fall. I was again on ground but that time there was no one to blame and no one's head to break. I got up and as I moved forward to put the soil back in the pot and the pot upstraight I was shocked seeing envelopes appear out of the soil. "Papers grow from soil !" No they don't. I took the envelopes and the keys. I cleaned the mess so that it all looked normal. I unlocked the door and latched it from inside. As it always did the fragrance of my favourite "egg curry"which was my dinner kept in the hotcase did not freshen up my mood. Mom used to leave for the biscuit factory at 7:00PM. She worked in the night shift and would come back by 4AM. Quite late for a woman to work and walk on the streets that too in a city like Mumbai where there are always less registers to register complaints. She had to do some work to feed me and herself. She used to take a duplicate keys with herself. She never gave the keys to me because I could loose them any day. When she returned she would open the door quietly , lash it quietly and lie down on the couch. I sat on my chair kept the envelope on the table and switched on the lamp."Is this the reason she sits next to the pot doing nothing and is this why the flower pot has no flower." I unfolded the envelope and took out all what it had. I could not believe what I saw....