Read Online Bindi Babes by Narinder Dhami - Free Book Online Page A

piercing Jazz's ears, Auntie,” Geena replied politely.
    “Oh.” Auntie advanced into the room, and folded her arms. I waited for her to go mental. “Better get on with it, then.”
    “I'm sorry?” I said, hardly believing my ears.
    Auntie shrugged. “I said, you'd better get on with it. Tea's ready.”
    Oh, it was perfectly obvious what she was up to. She was trying to call our bluff. Like it was
really
going to work.
    “All right,” I said. “Get ready, Jazz.”
    “But—” Jazz began, eyeing the needle.
    “
Now
,” I said sternly.
    Reluctantly Jazz stuck the frozen peas on her left ear again, and Geena handed me the needle. We all ignored Auntie. She was still standing there, trying to put us off.
    “That's a big needle,” she said, as I held it over Jazz's left ear.
    Jazz squinted sideways at the needle. I glared at her.
    “It's going to hurt,” Auntie went on, standing there like some prophet of doom in a sari. “I mean,
really
hurt.”
    “She's just trying it on,” I whispered to Jazz. “Take no notice.”
    “I had my ears pierced with a needle when I was akid,” Auntie went on. “That's the way they do it in India, back home in the village, you know. That's why I can tell you for sure that it hurts like mad.”
    “OK, Jazz,” I said brightly. “Here we go.”
    “One of my friends, Sarbjit, had hers done at the same time as me.” Auntie examined her fingernails. “She must have caught an infection because her ears swelled right up. The other kids called her Dumbo for weeks.”
    “Forget it!” Jazz howled. She jumped to her feet and knocked my arm away. “I'm not having it done. No way.”
    Auntie went over to the door. “Tea's ready, don't forget.” She waltzed out, humming a song from
Reena aur Meena
.
    “Jazz, you complete prat,” I whispered. “That was exactly what she
wanted
you to do.”
    “I don't care,” Jazz said sulkily, clapping her hands over her ears. “I'm not going around looking like Dumbo the elephant.”
    “Look, maybe it wasn't such a good idea, anyway,” Geena said, jumping in between us before we started thumping each other. “It would've got us into big trouble with Dad.”
    “So Auntie's won again,” I said bitterly. Whatever we did, she got the better of us every time. I couldn't see any way out of it.
    “There's nothing else for it,” Geena said. “She's got to go. Any ideas?”
    We all flopped onto the bed. We lay there in a row, kicking our legs against the headboard, thinking. It seemed an impossible situation. Auntie was here to stay. There was no reason why she would go back to India. Her parents, our grandparents, were dead, so she didn't have any close family there. Most of her relatives were in England, unluckily. I supposed she might get married one day and leave. Or at her age she might not get married at all, and we'd be stuck with her until
we
left home. It was a totally depressing thought.
    Then I smiled. Call me a genius.
    “I've got it,” I said.

“A n
arranged
marriage?” Geena stared at me. I nodded.
    “Arranged by
us
?” Jazz's eyes were round as dinner plates.
    I nodded again. “We find a husband for Auntie, get her married off and get rid of her. It's perfect.”
    Geena and Jazz didn't seem to think so. They were looking distinctly doubtful.
    “We've got to find someone who'll have her, first,” Jazz pointed out.
    “
That
won't be easy,” Geena remarked.
    “If anyone's got a better idea,” I snapped, “just say so.”
    There was silence.
    “So it's agreed then,” I went on. “We look for someone daft enough to marry Auntie.”
    “Exactly
how
are we going to do that?” Geena asked. “Stop suitable husbands in the street, and beg them to propose?”
    “We could put an ad in the newspaper,” Jazz suggested. “
Wanted: one man daft enough to marry a bossy, interfering aunt
.”
    “We could hold a raffle,” Geena added. “The winner gets Auntie.”
    “Or the loser,” Jazz said, and they both