The puzzle

   “Please give me some money.” a little homeless orphan asked.
   ‘Go and work somewhere’ was what he received.
   What could he do at the age of five? Only begging could keep him alive. Thirst and hunger were his knowledge and wisdom. He roamed the pavements of the great busy road expecting a generous tip to buy some bread. He saw a flashy woman walking with her little daughter and went to her begging for a coin.
   She flinched “Keep away you filthy thing!”
   He drew back in fear. The little girl turned to stare at him. His big dirty shirt dangled down to his feet. He looked like a little man without legs. His long tousled hair crowded around his thin shoulders making up for the missing collar.
   The little girl asked “Mama, why is he like that?”
   The woman said “He is suffering because he didn’t listen to his mother.”
   The boy was puzzled ‘My mother died when I was born. That was why I couldn’t listen to her talk. But how did this woman find out that my mother is dead?’

Annie’s advantage

   Little Annie completed kindergarten and arrived at the big school to begin first grade.
   Her parents introduced it “This is a wonderful school.”
   Annie observed it, comparing it to the fair, park, playground...
   “Hello Annie.” a cheerful teacher smiled “I am Miss. Susan.”
   Annie said “Hello Miss.”
   “She has exceptional poise.” the teacher whispered to Annie’s parents “Stay in the waiting room.”
   Ten minutes flew by.
   “Your girl is bawling the ceiling down.” a harassed attendant led Annie’s parents out, ignoring their anxious questions.
   The broken parents saw Miss Susan comforting whimpering Annie.
   Annie cried “I don’t want this school! My best friends, Freddie, Susie and Tony are not here!”
   Annie’s mother said “They were her classmates at kindergarten.”
   Miss Susan asked them to take her home and talk to her.

   Annie came swearing all the way that her best friends wouldn’t go to any school without her. Her father made some quick calls and learnt that the three musketeers had joined three different schools.
   He tried to reason with Annie “Choose one. You can’t study in three schools.”
   “I want all my best friends in my class.” Annie ran to the playground in the hot sun.
   Excited Freddie, Susie and Tony came from different directions.
   Stout Freddie beat his chest “I’m the strongest boy in my class!”
   Lanky Tony’s hand shot up “I’m the tallest boy in my class!”
   Freckled Susie stroked her red hair “I’m the beautifullest girl in my class!”
   Annie was disgusted. How could they dump friendship like used paper cups? She went home and announced “I don’t want those three fools in my school!”
   Annie returned to the new school. Her parents were elated when Miss Susan praised her conduct. That evening, Annie went to the playground and told the former friends who were still basking in their newfound glory “In my class, there’s a boy who is the tallest, strongest and most beautiful!”
   “Is he stronger than me?” Freddie’s voice crackled with doubt.
   “If he gives you a kick, all your bones will break!” Annie crushed his eminence.
   Tony’s gaze climbed the lamppost “Is this fella taller than me?”
   “You’re only as big as his legs!”
   Tony’s pride crashed on the ground.
   Susie stammered “Is he is beautifuller than… than... me?”
   “You look like a dustbin before him!”
   Dream world hurled Susie back on earth. The demoralized three helplessly eyed each other. Annie looked up at the sky, tapping a March rhythm with her feet.
   Susie stung “Okay! He is great. What are you in your class?”
   “I’m his best friend.” Annie left them scorching with envy.

The finishing touch

   Pencil poised on pad, the little boy sat beside his dog “Brownie, dad told me to make a list of things I need. What do I need?”
   The dog ran and fetched his damaged shoes.
   He wrote “New shoes.”
   The dog rolled a broken drum.
   “New drum.”
   The dog unearthed a torn ball from a boggling heap.
   “New ball.”
   He held up the list “Is that all Brownie?”
   The yapping dog licked his face.
   He wiped his face and added the final item “A new talking doggie. My old one is a dumb fool. I get licked every time. I’m sick of it.”

Fuzzy wish

   “Whee!!” the monkey swung happily on the branches heading for the mango trees in the forest when it saw a man riding a horse. Astonished, it followed him closely “This animal looks somewhat like me and goes places on a horse. Now, why should I strain my limbs when I can get an animal to carry me?”
   A donkey brayed.
   The monkey jumped on its back and pulled its ears “Hi! Hi! Take me to the mango trees.”
   The startled donkey jumped like an idiot throwing the monkey down and delivered a sensational kick reversing him from his destination.
   The monkey mastered aches and got up “If that thing had kicked me towards the mango trees. I would’ve at least made some progress.”
   A horse trotted by.
   The monkey leaped on its back “Come on horsie! Run to the mango trees.”
   The neighing horse shook off the monkey and kicked it farther away from the mango trees.
   “Why did that stupid brute move me backward?” the monkey didn’t mind landing there with a series of kicks.
   Another man came swinging a stick in his hand.
   “Lets ride on the creature that rides on others?” the monkey jumped on the man’s back and pulled his ears “Run to the mango trees!”
   The terrified man took off in the opposite direction shrieking like a demon.
   The monkey tried to steady the man’s bobbing head “Turn back! The mango trees are behind you!”
   The man’s cries fried the air.
   “I doubt if I can ever tame this wild animal!” the monkey climbed over the man’s shoulder and bent over his head meeting eye to eye for an effective training “I said…”
   A low branch knocked it off the man’s shoulders. The man whizzed off like a bullet.
   The monkey scratched its sore head “How can I be influenced by a crazy lazy creature that can’t go places on its own?”
   The monkey reached the mango trees in no time, climbed up and went for a ripe mango. Zwaaawk! A stone brought the mango down. The stunned monkey looked down. Standing beside his meek horse, the man threw up a stone and knocked down another mango. The man picked the fallen mangoes and began to eat.
   The monkey blinked “Now that’s a good idea. Why climb and sweat when you can simply throw up a stone?”
   Ignoring the mangoes within reach, the monkey came down and sent up a stone which hit its bitterest enemy who was going for the targeted mangoes. The furious foe screamed for revenge. Four supporters seized the stone thrower and gave a great beating. The man felt sorry for the battered monkey and offered some spiced peanuts. Dazed by the divine smell, the monkey took some peanuts and munched. They melted in his mouth producing a heavenly mix of exotic tastes.
   The monkey refused to be swayed “Bah! These peanuts taste like nothing on earth but so did the idea of moving around on other animals and stoning mangoes. If I had put my limbs to good use, I would have enjoyed some juicy mangoes and avoided those awful blows.”

A dog’s view

   Tickled by the strange sounds of the lovely forest, the excited bull dog pranced outside the Travelers Bungalow enjoying his first outing away from the noisy city. His master was inside busily typing on a laptop. There came a pair of glowing fireflies and flitted over his head. Wagging his tail like a pendulum, he yapped at the flying gems thinking they were stars from the sky. Wanting to show them to his master, he jumped up to catch them but missed every time resulting in a badly bitten tongue. The naughty fireflies drove him crazy and disappeared.
   He blinked up at the static winking stars “Up there, these twinkling things don’t move a wag’s length but come down and dodge wild enough to take your barks away. Why is that so?” he stared hard at the sky and grinned “Ah! That’s because there are no dogs like me out there to catch them.”

   Clara was thirteen. Her sweet oval face smiled at everyone and everything for no reason. She came up with crazy ideas like having a beach in her backyard, switching on the sun at night when required and so on. Clara wanted to help others but those who knew her well kept away as she excelled at converting a small problem into unimaginable catastrophe. She could easily confuse the moon into thinking that it was really a stale piece of cheese thrown out of the world...
   Clara observed the proceedings at home on Sunday morn. Their new motor had broken down. The plumber replaced it with an old one.
   She appraised the outdated substitute “Will this motor work well? It looks so old.”
   The plumber said “Don’t underestimate…”
   “Yah! Yah! I know. An old motor will surely work better than a new motor because it has more experience.”
   Treating it as a joke, the plumber asked her to switch off the motor after half an hour and left. Twenty minutes later, the motor stopped. Clara called the plumber. He came, fidgeted and adjusted. Nothing worked. He finally kicked it. The motor came alive.
   He winked at Clara “Kicks work miracles!”
   Clara was dazzled by the new phenomena. Alden’s broken fridge in the garage could wake up with a good kick. She picked the phone to tell him. It was dead. Wasting no time, she gave it a solid kick. The phone crashed on the wall breaking into pieces.
   “What was that?” her father yelled.
   Clara sighed “The phone didn’t work.”
   “So?”
   “I kicked it. It was a wrong thing to do. The motor worked because a plumber kicked it. Phones must be kicked only by telephone mechanics. Professional kicks matter much.”
   Her father frowned “I hope some professional kicks you.”
   Clara went to her room and soon shouted “Mama!”
   Her mother came in and met a mess. Pools of colored water decorated Clara’s room flavored with brushes and scattered paints. Open inverted art books formed semi pyramids on the bed. Posters of Vincent Van Gough, Rembrandt and Picasso struck crooked poses on the wall.
   Clara held up two similar paintings showing a smudgy yellow sun peeping between two brown triangular mountains “I’m sending them to a painting competition.”
   Her mother said “They look alike. Send one of them.”
   “Can’t you read what I’ve written?” Clara pointed to illegible scrawls on both pictures “This is Sunrise and this is Sunset. I made them look alike to tell a very important message. Great paintings must have great messages. My Sunrise will hang on the eastern wall and my Sunset will hang on the western wall of the exhibition hall…”
   “What’s your message?” her mother hoped for a clever flash after all these years.
   “The sun that rises in the east and the sun that sets in the west is the same sun.”
   “Great. My sun, will you please shine in the kitchen?”

   Clara brushed the chinaware roughly and banged them on the table. She picked a thin veined old bowl, admired its lovely red flowers and carelessly ran a towel over it.
   Her mother came in “Be careful! That’s an antique.”
   Clara shook a bright white plate “See. I made it look like new.”
   “That’s a new plate.” her mother went off to dust the curtains.
   A cat crept in through the window and mewed. Startled Clara dropped the precious bowl shattering it into pieces. She saw the scared alley cat jumping out of the window.
   Her mother rushed in “What happened?”
   Clara cried “I didn’t break it! The cat...”
   “I saw you torturing that bowl. Don’t blame the cat.”
   Clara stalked out angrily and climbed up on the compound wall.
   A soft voice said “Meow!”
   Clara saw the purring cat licking its paws imminently at the front door. She jumped down and ran after the alarmed cat which sprang into the house, raced to the kitchen, leaped over the table, knocked down a bowl and jumped out of the window. The shocked mother shook her head at the mangled second antique on the floor.
   Clara cried “You saw what the cat did? It broke the other bowl…”
   “You were chasing it…”
   The clock struck four. Her mother dropped the issue and rushed off to a party.

   Blasting music rocked the house when Clara’s parents returned. Clara was jumping and swinging her limbs bizarrely.
      Her mother turned the volume down “What are you doing?”
   “I’m practicing for the dancing contest!” Clara twirled and fell “Eeeeek!”
   Her father inspected her leg “A sprain.”
   Clara wailed “I have to dance in the dancing contest tomorrow! I’m going to win. I’m the best dancer.”
   “Who gave you this idea?”
   “I was declared the best dancer.”
   “By whom?”
   “Bobby.”
   “Don’t get carried away by what your classmates say.”
   “Bobby is not my classmate. He studies in first grade. He saw me dancing and said I’ll come first in any dance contest.”
   “What does he know about dance?”
   “Bobby knows everything about dance because it was he who taught me to dance!”
   The dismayed father said “You will feel better if you take a brisk walk.”
   Clara kicked the air, felt negligible pain and decided not to strain herself since great dancers didn’t rehearse all the time. She set off to see a good friend...

   Desolate Simon sat alone in his small bakery cum residence that barely saw him through food and rent since he didn’t have money for a proper capital investment.    Clara came in eyeing the letter in his hand “Did the bank people give you that loan?”
   “No.” Simon smiled “It’s my father. The usual ‘Get into the family business and don’t expect money for anything else.’ What about my ambition? What do I know about leather business anyway?”
   “Yah! How can I help you?”
   “Can you sell biscuits door to door?”
   “Yes.” Clara set off happily with two baskets full of biscuits and returned sweating at noon without making a single sale. Simon hadn’t expected a miracle but the total rejection was a big disgrace.
   Clara scratched her head “I went to many people but nobody bought anything.”
   Simon brooded “What did you tell them? I mean your sales talk.”
   “I said, Simon is suffering because he has no money for capital stuff. His father won’t help him and is always asking him to get into their family business. What does he know about leather business anyway? What about his ambition? Please buy these biscuits and help poor Simon.” she hastily pulled out a coin from her pocket “A man told me to keep this for the establishment.”
   Simon took the coin and diverted her “Have you seen that baby?”
   “Gosh! I forgot...”

   When Mrs. Elizabeth Harris named her baby Clara, she didn’t know what she was asking for. Clara was not acquainted with the Harris family but had heard the great news and eagerly wanted to meet the newborn named after her. Held back by quirky fate for more than a week, Clara finally made it to the house. The little board Beware of dogs on the gate annoyed her. Her excited calls were not answered. Any nasty dog would have barked by now. She strode in expecting a tiny harmless dog. A big bulldog in a wrong mood booed her. Shrieking Clara ran in circles.
   Mrs. Elizabeth rushed out to chain the dog “Didn’t you see the board at the gate?”
   “That board was small. So I thought the dog would also be small...” sniffing Clara explained the purpose of her visit.
   “Strange angle.” Mrs. Elizabeth shooed an irksome fly and searched a shelf in the veranda “I can’t find the fly beater.”
   “I’ll find it in a minute!” Clara opened attack on a pile of newspapers. Book racks suffered next… She bulldozed the place and gave up “It’s not here. By the way, what’s a fly beater?”
   The dumbstruck lady was now scared that she had let a lunatic into the house.
   Clara touched a big fused bomb in the showcase “Nice rocket.”
   Elizabeth cried “That’s a heavy bomb!”
   “Booooomb?” Clara dropped the bomb on her to
e and jumped all over the place banging against everything in her way. After getting over from the shock, she surveyed the wreckage “Did the bomb burst?”
   The shaken woman came out from under the dining table where she had taken cover with her baby whose cries were now breaking Clara’s heart. A sparkling feeding bottle inspired a remedy. Seizing it, Clara dashed into the kitchen, picked a white milky bottle from the washbasin, loaded the feeding bottle with the strange smelling thick milk and ran to offer it to the bawling baby.
   Mrs. Elizabeth snatched it and smelt the strong white disinfectant “You tried to kill my child with Phenyl!”
   Clara was appalled “I didn’t know. You should have told me where the milk was.”
   “Psychopath! Killer…”
   Shattered by escalating accusations, Clara sat crouched in a corner bursting into tears.
   “I’ll call the police!” Elizabeth blasted Clara and softly consoled the wailing baby “It’s okay Clara. Don’t cry.” she lashed out at Clara “They’ll thrash you in jail…” she comforted the baby “No Clara, I won’t let anyone harm you…”
   Stooped Clara stopped crying and started thinking ‘She calls me a killer and wants to thrash me in jail and then she asks me not to cry because she won’t let anyone harm me…’ Clara grabbed the baby and ran out crying “Help! Mrs. Elisabeth has gone mad!”

   The two friends were observing Clara all day. One was an elf: six inches tall, dressed in skin tight plain brown material that looked wet. His thin hands and legs were not proportionate to his big head and chest. Pointed ears stuck up like peaches. Little sharp nose twitched over wide toothless mouth. A light green aura surrounded him.
   The other one was a gnome: thin cadaverous lanky dark brown being with a lantern jaw and small black eyes sloping upwards at the sides. His odd long limbs were bent at the joints. He appeared like an old fashioned alien from an extinct planet.
   The elf chuckled “Unpredictable thing! Let’s watch her for another day.”
   The gnome said “She’s a disaster.”
   “Indispensable in battle…”