Washing Our Hands Off -- A Short Short

The child is giving final touches to a crossword, which has shaped into the form of a toy - a female body. The child is thinking on fifty-six down, the last word that has a hint - anagram “EITLYSXUA”. The child figures it out. Mother sees Father hooked up to the T.V. – a ball match. Father is taking no notice of the child’s report card, which she has given him. Father switches to the News channel as ads come up. Mother tells Father that they are responsible for the child’s conduct today. The child had e-mailed a photograph to one of the child’s girl classmates. The photograph was of a M country's girl taking off pants from a near naked Z country's soldier’s body. That girl classmate had found it disgusting. “The language it contained,” mother says, “it was so sadistic.” Father says, “This is a common problem. Parents cannot force their children not to use the Internet and see pictures, and then mail it to someone they found interesting. They have every freedom to do it. It is the society, which has given it to them. Parents just have to follow the norms, give them their due. One cannot always supervise.” After a pause, he adds in a demonstratively consoling voice, “I will talk to him.”

Mother fumes at Father. The child resolves the anagram and puts the “Y” of “SEXUALITY”. The doll toy starts to talk and pleads in a very seductive voice. The child looks on with wide open eyes and with an expectant half-fulfilled smile playing on his lips. The doll says, “I am a feminist. I want to be like a man. Rearrange the acrosses and the downs. You genetician, do it for me”. Mother is calling to the child, “Dear, come here, papa wants to talk”. The child speaks to the doll, “Sweetie, the rules of the game made me do this. You asked for it. Mother is calling, if only parents could stop parenting. I will see what I can do. You chose this and I am not responsible.”

The child makes his way through the rooms into the drawing room. Father is listening attentively to the latest sound byte. The president is in the middle of a speech, “…the death of Harry is unfortunate. But he ought to have to have read the instructions. This is a time of deregulation. The State needs investments and consumers are free to choose. He should not have taken more than six pills. We are not washing our hands of this episode. It’s just that we want to liberate our citizens…”