Twenty-two

 

One evening, while wandering around in the forest, which had by now become her home, she came upon a path she had never taken before. She walked along the path and quite suddenly, she heard the sound of children’s laughter. She hid behind a tree and saw the most beautiful balloons bouncing around the place. She could see an old man arranging the balloons, and an old lady fussing over the children, bringing them fruit and cakes. From that day on, every evening, after she finished at the bicycle shop, she would hurry to the same spot, sit under a tree and watch the children play.

The old lady saw her one day and brought her a fruit. The little girl did not know what to do. At first, she thought of running away. But she was hungry and the old lady looked kind and gentle. And so, she stayed.

And soon a new friendship began between the little girl, the old balloon-maker and his dear wife. For the first time, after her parents died, the little child smiled. She was like a forsaken puppy, which had once again found kindness and not been spurned with a kick.

The memories came flooding back. She felt her eyes smart with tears, and she looked from the corner of her eye to see if Lost was watching her.

‘It is such a relief not to be Lost anymore. My family will be so happy to see you all,’ Lost said as he smiled at her. He then waved, to the three figures, who were standing by the street lamp, looking in fact quite lost, but of course only in thought.

‘There’s Lost,’ one of the three figures yelled excitedly.

‘He’s Found,’ shrieked the other.

‘Hmm!’ said the third.

‘That’s my family,’ said Lost proudly, looking as happy as ever. ‘My sister must be inside, pacing the floor with worry.’

‘How fascinating!’ said Crow, scratching his head. ‘Do tell us who Worry is because Curiosity wants to know.’ He paused. ‘I take it,’ he asked sarcastically, ‘that you’ve met him. Oh, pardon me! Did I get the gender wrong?’ Crow raised his eyebrows questioningly.

He mulled at the thought and continued, ‘Strange…very, very strange, indeed! Wonder what Worry or Curiosity are like!’

Balloon kicked Crow, as only balloons know how to. Crow did sound terribly rude and sarcastic.

‘Things have to be a bit different from what we are used to Crow, because this is a neither-here-nor-there slightly mixed up sort of place,’ Balloon whispered softly and knowledgeably in Crow’s ear.

Lost was so excited on being Found that he did not reply. It is doubtful if he had even heard Crow’s caustic remark.

The three brothers cautiously approached them, as indeed anyone should when they see strangers. But seeing Lost with a big smile on his face, they were naturally reassured.

Little Girl noticed that the brothers were in varying age groups. While one was terribly old, another was just a little boy, and the third somewhere in between, or what one may refer to as being neither-here-nor-there.

‘We thank you for bringing Lost home,’ said the oldestlooking brother, with a broad smile of welcome and with great caution.

‘Everyone calls me Old,’ he continued, ‘because I am old and it’s so convenient.’

‘We would never have guessed,’ said Crow sweetly.

Old scratched his bald head. Did the bird talk or was he simply hearing things, he wondered. His brothers were equally startled.

‘Hush!’ he told the others. ‘Hush, my brothers! Let them speak!’

‘We’ve come from a far-off place and we are strangers here,’ said Little Girl hastily, clamping one hand tightly around Crow’s beak, hoping very much that Old had not heard Crow’s quite unnecessary remark. Most impolite, she thought. She would need to talk to Crow about it sometime. It would be best to do the introductions right away, she decided, before Crow put his foot into his mouth once again. So, she politely curtsied and said, ‘I am Little Girl. You may call me Little Girl, sir. Everyone does. And these are my two very dear friends, Balloon and Crow. It is Balloon who flew us here from a distant, distant land!’

‘Oh dear!’ said Old. ‘A girl child accompanied by a talking bird and come to us from the sky!’ He came near them and peered closely. ‘Could it be that you are…? Oh dear! Oh dear!’ he mumbled. ‘We’ve been misled so often, you know. Makes us cautious.’

Old kept on muttering somewhat mysteriously.

His two other brothers stood beside him expectantly, waiting to be introduced.

‘Oh dear me!’ Old grumbled. ‘I hate to do these rounds of introductions and can’t for the life of me figure out why it is always me who has to do it. I find it most complicated and rather confusing. Fails every time.’

‘I don’t see why!’ interjected Crow. ‘Fact One! You are called Old. And pardon my saying so, you are rather old. Fact Two! You are much older than your other two brothers. Anybody can see that. Fact Three! One of your brothers is only a little boy. Deduction…going by the sort of names you all seem to have in this place, I’d say that the names of your two brothers are Younger and Youngest. Quod Erat Demonstrandum, shall we say?’

Crow folded his wings across his chest triumphantly. ‘Well dude,’ he asked, ‘am I right or am I right?’

‘Actually,’ mumbled Old apologetically, ‘it’s Youngest and Oldest. You are right about one of my brothers being younger to me but wrong with regard to the other.’ He sighed, knowing that it was not making much sense, but decided nevertheless to continue, ‘You see, while one of my brothers is younger to me, the little boy who looks the youngest is actually the oldest amongst us. Terrible problem really, this introductions business,’ he said sadly, ‘and I did say that it fails every time.’

He paused for a while, and on seeing the blank expression on Crow’s face, muttered, ‘Oh dear me! I wish I knew a simpler way of putting it.’

‘How can the youngest-looking be the oldest?’ asked Crow indignantly. ‘I’ve never heard anything more absurd in my whole life!’

Crow was, in fact, most upset because he had honestly believed that by the sheer use of brilliant deductive logic, he had guessed the names of the brothers correctly.

The little boy, who looked the youngest but was the oldest, smiled and said, ‘It’s a long story and difficult to cut short. Let’s just say that it’s something like letting your mind decide rather than deciding for the mind, which is what we normally end up doing.’

Seeing Little Girl looking most perplexed, the little boy suggested indulgently, ‘Why not give it a chance? A little time perhaps? Who knows what might happen.’

He smiled mysteriously.

Balloon, who had taken an immediate fancy to the little boy, promptly said, ‘I totally agree with what has so wisely been said because there really is no point in hurrying things. After all, we are here for a holiday, aren’t we?’

Balloon smiled at the little boy, seeking his approval, and then proceeded to counsel wisely, ‘As we all have learnt, things are quite strange and mixed up here.’

‘You most certainly are as wise as an owl!’ said the little boy. ‘What I would recommend is a good meal and a night’s rest. Does wonders and opens up the mind!’

Little Girl nodded gratefully because she was by now terribly confused by the entire conversation and extremely sleepy too. The thought of food, of course, brought a big smile to Crow’s face.

Old opened the door to the cottage. ‘We’ve returned,’ he said, ‘with the prodigal lamb and some guests who seem to have dropped in from the sky.’

Lost’s sister stood wide-eyed as she looked at them. She could not believe her eyes. Then, a broad smile slowly enveloped her face as she said, ‘Heaven be praised! Our prayers have finally been answered. Welcome, welcome to our home!’