The mysterious sponge

Pranit  rubbed his eyes, as he got up from the bed, yawning and trying to process why he was sleeping so late. A smile slashed across his face when he realized, it was Sunday. 'No school today', He thought happily. 

He walked to the drawing room of his one room kitchen apartment, where he lived with his parents. A lower middle class family, with a place to stay in a 'chawl' at a remote suburb of  Mumbai. Starching his belly, from his favorite Donald duck T-shirt that he wore every night, since his parents had brought him for his tenth birthday a couple of years ago. His father was watching Rangoli on DD. He sat beside him, as his father affectionately pulled him towards him, before patting him on his back and asking him to go brush his teeth.

As he was going to brush, the commercial showed something about a sponge absorbing a blue colored liquid. This was not the first time he saw that, ad.

'Whatz this about', He asked his dad.

'Go brush your teeth, or you won't get any tea.' , his father brushed him away. He waited for the commercial to end, memorizing the product name, 'stay free secure'.

'It must be come kind of kitchen cleaning product, may be mom knows about it ' He thought to himself.

Picking the brush of the stand next to mirror, he asked his mom, 'what is stay free secure'.

His mother slapped him before angrily taking brush away from him and putting paste on it for  him. 'Just brush your teeth properly, I'm making poha for you.'

' maybe its something rich people use', He thought to himself. 'That must be the reason, ma is angry'. He brushed his teeth making a mental note about asking this to Pranav, his bench mate who was a bit rich.

Pranit's mom was surprised, when she found him enthusiastic about attending the school on Monday morning. What she did not know was he remembered, that he needs to know the details about, mysterious sponge that earned him the slap. 

After the prayers were over, inside the 6th C class, on his bench, he whispered to Pranav, not wanting others to know about his ignorance, 'do you know what stay free secure is ?'

Pranav raised an eyebrow, not getting what it was, thrilled to know something worth a whisper from his partner in crime.

'The white color sponge, which sucks blue liquid ?', He paused to see if there was look of recognition on his Buddy's face, finding none he continued to whisper, 'the one whose Ad was there in yesterdays Rangoli.'

A look of horror encompassed Pranav's face, ' listen friend, don't ask about it, my father belted me for it.' Pranav replied in deep whisper.

Sadden by his last hope failing him, Pranit looked towards the board for thought of the day, it read, 'Curiosity killed the cat'. 

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