Outer - Somewhere - here he comes

Words: 706

"Tell me you're kidding."

"I'm not. If you don't believe me, here - look."

Arun held out the letter he'd been quoting from. His older brother, Pratap, reached out for it with some trepidation. He glanced at the letterhead. It looked official enough, not something Arun could have printed up as a joke. Anyway, it wasn't the 1st of April, so this probably wasn't a prank.

"It's real. They've actually appointed you."

"Yes! I'll be going to all their branches. They send all their trainees to all their branches globally. We apprentice with the senior crew for a while and then go off on our own."

"Trainee? You're fifty-seven. You'll be a trainee? With a bunch of kids?"

"They know my age and they liked my interview," Arun said, stubbornly.

"What did you tell them? That you've been minding your Dad's shop for thirty-five years and now you want to look around a bit?"

"I've been running Dad's business empire, not minding his shop, if you please, dear brother."

"But you've never been farther than three towns away. Maybe they're taking you on for some posting like Outer Mongolia or something."

"People live in Outer Mongolia, don't they? I'm sure it's beautiful there."

"Arun, take it from someone who has known you since before you were born. You've just got thing thing in your head as a freak. You don't really want to tell Dad you're going to quit the business ..."

Pratap shuddered. What would their father say? All the brothers lived in terror of his temper. Pratap, at sixxty, felt like a six-year-old when his father glared at him. The old man, at eighty-nine, hadn't lost any of his menace, hadn't mellowed at all, and his boys were as scared of him as they'd been through childhood.

Arun, in fact, had been the only one to escape for a while, in childhood. He'd managed to get himself a scholarship at a boarding school for a couple of years so he could live away from the alpha male in the family, his Dad, and stake out his, Arun's, own territory.

He'd had to come back when the scholarship had run out, and was promptly dumped into Dad's business. It was all very well, buying and selling jute, innovating from handbags to computer covers to mobile holders -- it was all very well, their market share growing, but Arun wanted more. He wanted some excitement.

Which is why he had sent off his application to the Culture Circle Reality TV people - who did cultural episodes from around the world. He hadn't expected to hear back, and he did. He hadn't expected to get through the interview, and he had. They'd liked him, they'd appreciated his enthusiasm - and they'd realised that at his age, he could bring a perspective that younger presenters could not. They could get more viewership, they thought, with a middle-aged guy showing what travel is all about.

Pratap bit his lip. "You're crazy," he finally declared, handing the letter back. "Dad doesn't believe in TV shows, you know that."

"I don't care." A defiance had come into Arun's eyes and tone. "I can't stay in the jute business no matter how innovative he lets me be in it."

"You've had to convince him of some of your innovations, though!" Pratap chuckled. Their Dad hadn't liked Arun's idea of jute hats, till they'd been a big hit with the customers.

"I'll convince him of this. Actually, Pratap, I have a secret weapon."

"What?"

"Mom's on my side."

"Mom? You've already told Mom and - and - "

"And she thinks it's a great idea. She was secretly pleased when I went to boarding school, too, though she cried at the time. She thinks I should be traveling the world, a strong young lad like me."

Pratap whistled. "Listen, are you going to tell Mom to tell Dad for you?"

"I'm not that low. But I'm going to tell her to be present when I tell him and to please back me up."

"Arun, listen."

"What?"

"You say they hired you for your age and the perspective you bring?"

"Partly that."

"I'm older than you. I bring a better perspective. You think I could apply and talk Mom over, as well?"