Gut slicing

The little man had an usual round of chores, with one mango that had become indispensable to be eaten, it was a rather warm summer afternoon.

He had a tendency to wash the knife over and over again, there is a reason good enough though – He had once chopped off green chillies with a knife he had later used to cut mangoes. Mangoes, of all, had turned unwittingly spicy that day.

Since then, he had been extra cautious with the knives at home.

That afternoon was no different, post his meal, he decided to have a mango. Most of the neighbours sucked the glory straight out of the pulp, but he had to go after it, piece by piece.

Just as he brought the knife close, he heard a sound coming out of the room adjacent to the kitchen.

If his hearing were any good, he reckoned it was of soft sobbing.

He dropped the knife in a jiffy; his mother had been napping since an hour or so, and now it seemed that a certain thought might’ve soaked her slumber.

His mother would cry at any given instance, considering her husband had abandoned her a very long time ago. She couldn’t even chase after him, for she had to leave this world to do so.

He knew her predicament; he started sweating profusely, and with all the courage that he could muster & bloat his gut, he managed to plod towards the room.

He could barely explain the butterflies that had already managed to make him weak, his vision at that moment had turned hazy too.

The last thing he wanted to see was his mother sobbing helplessly. He had seen it in the past, it had beaten his gut to pulp.

He opened the door and slowly walked his way inside. There it was. The dreaded sight. She had lost control of her senses, she cried like that. Window pane was left open, as usual, but today, sun shone bright, perhaps to pacify her grieving soul.

He quickly ran out. Picked his knife up, cleaned it for one last time. In one quick motion, he chopped the either sides, leaving the pulp naked, ready to be devoured in its entirety.

He would not stop just yet, he went onto slice the pulp itself, highly uncharacteristic of him, but little did he know, it was his gut that was being sliced in that unholy moment.