eXpressions: October 2011

The Twins

by Arathi Menon

‘Hi. I am Deepika. My friends call me Deepu. I am from Shalimar Colony where ‘anything’ can happen. I have had many experiences which seemed extraordinary since I shifted here. Well, this is one of them.

That night, when it all began, I was home with my best friend Keerthi, my neighbor Razia, and my snooty cousin Shreya.

“Do you remember our night shuttle challenge?” Keerthi asked me “The team who wins will get a box of chocolates and rise in their pocket money. This time, Razia is in my team”

“Okay then” I said “Shreya will be in my team”

Shreya might be a snob, but, I have to admit, she plays shuttle very well. Moreover, I knew she had other plans that night.

“I am not into any game tonight” Shreya said “I have to watch ‘Twilight’ tonight”

“It will come again on T.V” I said “Besides, you spend too much time in front of the television”

Shreya hesitated. “By the way, what is ‘Night shuttle’?”

“It is just shuttle!” Keerthi said “Played at night”

“Oh really” Shreya said “I am sorry, but my racket will not work at night”

Shreya was used to make lame excuses. So she left me with no other option than to drag her to the backyard.

We started the game very well, but Shreya smashed the cork, straight into Kumar uncle’s house, I mean ‘Terror-tory’. That’s where all the kids, especially I, fear to go. He will somehow get us grounded; by telling our parents some false complaints like ‘Sneaking into the kitchen’ or ‘Breaking the window’ or ‘Throwing a ball on his head’ (Even though they were all true for me).

“Shreya” said Keerthi “You smashed the cork there, you get it for us”

Shreya hesitated. Then we all forced her to go to the ‘Terror-tory’. So she climbed the wall and ‘Oops’ she fell.

We climbed the fence to see what happened. We found out that Shreya had fallen into a stinky compost pit.

“Urrgh!” cried Shreya “Get me out of here!”

“Not until you get our cork” said Keerthi

“Maybe it will be outside the pit” said Shreya.

“No, it’s not!” exclaimed Keerthi “It’s right there!”

Shreya picked the cork. At the same time, we heard someone laughing. It was a girl, about our age, laughing at us in the balcony of Kumar Uncle’s house, a two storied building chalked out by the moon.’

[This is just the first part of one of curious Deepika’s experiences which she had with her equally curious friends. For the remaining part of the story and her encounters with the unknown: Please wait until the next episode of:“The Curious Girls and the Twilight Twins”.]

Your Blessings and comments are welcome....

Contd..

The Curious Girls and the Twilight twins(contd…)

“You!” I cried “What are you doing here in this ‘Terrortory’? When Kumar Uncle finds out, you’ll be in trouble!”

“I don’t think so !” she said gleefully “I am Reshma, his niece. Rohan! You got to come here!”

A boy of her age came to the balcony.

“Wait!” he said “let me pluck off this tooth. It hurts!”

“Well, this is my twin brother, Rohan” Reshma said “Rohan, we have some friends here”

“Ah!” he said “Got it out”

He threw the tooth, right on Shreya’s head.

“Oops” he cried.

“You have the whole backyard, and you just got my head to throw it on!” shouted Shreya furiously.

“Ignore her” I said “Where is Kumar Uncle? Please do not tell him that we were here”

“You need not worry about that” said Reshma “He is…….. out of town. We are alone here”

“Now that’s good news” cried Razia

“But still, I will miss his scoldings” I said.

“Reshma..” Rohan said “You should have tasted it. It was hard to bite him, but it was juicy”

“You finished it, right..”

“…..Yes”

“Now get me another one!” shouted Reshma

“Hey girls!” shouted Rohan “Why don’t you stay for a while!”

“Later!” I shouted back.

Just after we reached home….

“Hey Shreya!” shouted Keerthi “ There is something in your head. I will take it out for you”

Keerthi held out the thing. Surprisingly, it was an animal tooth.

“Hound tooth!” I cried

“Rohan’s tooth!” cried Razia

“Vampire tooth!” cried Shreya

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“Those twins are vampires!” she exclaimed “They looked spooky and I’m sure they have eaten Kumar Uncle. They tried to eat us too”

We looked at each other and we burst into laughter.

“Okay then, We’ll find out tomorrow” I said

The next day at school, Keerthi and me were discussing about yesterday's strange incident.

“Are you sure that they are vampires” I asked her

“Not sure of it” she replied “but,I have found two points which can prove it. First, the tooth and then the fact that Kumar uncle is out of town”

“One more” I said “Kumar Uncle doesn’t like kids. Then how can he let them stay there, in the house alone”

“I guess, we should find out more about vampires” said Keerthi.

We rushed to the school library.

“Where will we find reference books?” I asked the librarian.

“You will get it in the shelf on the right” she said

We searched the whole shelf. Then Keerthi said “Surprising!There are books about almost everything, but not vampires”

The librarian looked at us as if 'we were ordering mutton kababs in a vegetarian restaurant'. Then she quickly hid her expression and said “You may try the shelf in the left. You may get what you want”

We selected a Vampire storybook and left the library. A teacher, who sat next to librarian, was still puzzled.

“Aren’t they weird?” the teacher asked the librarian “Why aren’t you surprised?”

“Why should I?” the librarian replied frankly “Last time, they came here searching for a book about operating magic lamps!”

When I got back home, Razia came running to us.

“What’s the matter Razia?” I asked her.She told me the matter and I wasn’t much surprised.

“They are Vampires!” she cried “Their hands were cold and they read my mind”

These were just the facts about a real vampire. I made up my mind to do something about it.

That evening, I went to their house

“Rohan! Reshma! You are busted!”

The twins came out , surprised.

“I know that you are vampires!”

The twins burst into laughter.

“Beware!” I cried “I have garlics!”

“Who's shouting there” a familiar voice called out. It was none other than angry Kumar uncle. The twins told the matter and Kumar uncle laughed out loud.

“Kumar Uncle!” I exclaimed “You’re alive!”

“Yes” he said “What makes you think that they are vampires?”

“Now I’m convinced” I said, not to be laughed at any more “Would you mind them coming home?”

“Yes” he said “If you don’t mind letting vampires in!”

I fled the place

The ‘Vampire’ story spread like fire in the colony. One day, the twins came to visit us.

“What a co-incidence!” Shreya exclaimed “You had all features of a vampire. How did you get it?”

“We’ll tell you later” Rohan said “Come home for dinner. We’ll enjoy eating you for sure”

They smiled, showing us their big teeth. Then ,within seconds, they disappeared. We paused for a while and then, somewhere in the dark..an owl hooted....we screamed!!!

The End