Kolshi returned home at the same time she usually returned from school. She went straight to her room and dropped the old man into one of the drawers on her reading table, keeping an inch gap so air can easily pass inside it and the man wouldn't suffocate. A trick taught to her by Cchuti.
They decided they will keep the man in turns until his whereabouts were discovered. They will begin their mission primarily in the marsh from where Kolshi took him. She must finish the homework today before afternoon, which she collected from Pola on her way home. Pola had been worried about Abdul. Kolshi appeased her by saying it was a very bad case of food poisoning.
She went to Ammu to give her the day's update and had to tell the same lies that Cchuti, Kolshi and Abdul invented in agreement. Kolshi was deeply saddened by lying to Ammu and promised in her mind that never again she will repeat it. Before lunch came Kamrun's mother, who was a helping hand in their home and Gossip Queen of the town, a title that she proudly acclaimed herself. Kamrun was the only daughter among her seven children, so everybody knew her by her daughter's name. Her real name was unknown to anyone. Kolshi overheard her giving strange news to Ammu while scribing down the table of six.
There was a jungle beside Baufol road, where shadows were tricky, and the ground was muddy. Locals said that the jungle was cursed, and evil souls lurked behind the branches, often attacking lonely pedestrians. The jungle was separated from the road by a big sandy field. No one dared cross it. The fear of evil ghosts was of course present, but on top of that the sand field also harbored quicksand. No one lived beside the jungle. No one, except mad Monju.
In clear view, the jungle was innocent looking. Newcomers in Baufol could never imagine the horrors it contained. But recently, the quiet jungle was not quiet anymore. Suddenly eagles and vultures were spotted there in manifolds. Such was the pack in numbers, and such was their gargantuan size that the other day a pack of vultures stole an ailing newborn heifer calf from Poultry Majid's farm, which was located opposite to the jungle. The vultures were also said to have been even roaming the town, scaring kids and old men all the same with sudden rendezvous. Nothing was reported of the eagles till now, but there seemed to be something terrible taking place in the Baufol jungle because at night times horrendous noises crept along from it as if a bloodbath battle was on operation. "Poultry Majid said the sounds are horrifying," said Kamrun's mother in wildest excitement, "keeps everyone on the farm awake at night."
Kolshi recounted the news that afternoon when she met Cchuti and Abdul near the marsh field.
"There is really nothing to worry about," Cchuti said. "The jungle is big and largely unexplored. Maybe some animal died down there so prey birds are appearing in great numbers."
He thought for a moment and said again, "Unless, it is a plague or anything."
Kolshi wondered for a moment. If the animals in the jungle were infested with a plague that might soon break out in the town as well. It will be then actually something to worry about.
"Whatever it is," Abdul said, "let's go someday and listen to the noises."
It was an exciting proposal and the other two consented with sheer eagerness.
"But now we have to deal with the matter of Grandpa U," Cchuti said.
The old man was given that name by Abdul. As he was old and must be the age of their grandparents, so respectfully he called Grandpa, and as he was a completely unknown creature, so U was added as an acronym.
The roads were comparatively empty at this time of the day. Kids were napping peacefully in their homes after a delightful lunch, dreaming colourful dreams which Kolshi, Cchuti and Abdul often dreamt as well. Playground children, gossiping aunties, chattering teenagers, hawkers, beggars, vagabonds will be gathering and shattering the peace as the day neared to dusk.
The marsh in winter was dry around the edges and overflowed with tall untamed grasses. Cchuti and Abdul had a habit of exploring untamed places and the marsh was no exception. They found a little clearwater pool around the only standing coconut tree in the marsh and in winter afternoons used it as their other secret base apart from the burned complex near the school. Kolshi would never step there if she were not accompanied by them. When with Cchuti and Abdul, she had always been braver.
They sat beside the pool all the while suggesting various possibilities. The tall grass concealed them from the nearby streets. Only someone as tall as the coconut tree could discover three brown heads full of identical curly hair.
Kolshi inserted the right fist in her flowery frock pocket and in her palm emerged Grandpa U in deep slumber.
"Maybe he is an alien," said Abdul, "arrived in a spaceship."
"Enough of the may be's," Cchuti said. "Even if he is an alien, he must have friends. If there is one, certainly there are others."
"If he arrived in a spaceship, there must be a spaceship," Kolshi contributed.
"Correct, and we will begin our search from here. Abdul and I will do the searching. Kolshi you stay here and guard him."
"What will we search for?" asked Abdul.
"I don't know," Cchuti replied scratching his head. "I guess, anything that is suspicious. It should not be there, but still, it is. Anything out of the ordinary."
"Gotcha," Abdul said and both of them spread in two directions beginning the search party.
For the next half an hour they looked in every nook and cranny. Under a coconut husk, wasted cans, cigarette butts, empty juice packets, potato chip packets, plastic straws, a rubber ball, an abandoned tire and in the grassroots.
Abdul came to Kolshi with a Broad Bean.
"Kolshi look. Ever seen a bean this big?"
Kolshi looked and saw it was about two inches tall and wide. Visibly bigger than the regular ones. "Find something useful Abdul. You had enough beans for launch already," she said exhaustingly, and Abdul threw it away at particularly nowhere. However, they were not successful in their mission and could not find anything that might somehow connect to Grandpa U. He was awake by the time they returned fruitlessly, and suddenly, recognizing the marshland began chirping and dashing to and fro. The children were dumbfounded to witness this hysteria. Being unable to communicate once again, Grandpa U got too much crestfallen and started a loud whimpering.
"Oh, man!" Abdul exclaimed. "We are in great trouble."
"Hey, you three, what are you doing there?" Someone called out from the street and as soon as they saw who it was, terror froze their bosom.
Mad Monju was looking at them suspiciously. He was wearing the dirty ash shirt that he always wore and tattered black pants with numerous patches of different colours. This perhaps was his only pair of clothing. Mad Monju never bathed, never shampooed, and never brushed his teeth. He lived with his stepmother after his father died and she took no care of him. There were even rumours that the stepmother was responsible for his madness. Abdul once informed them that she fed him dog milk and vulture meat to drive him mental. Cchuti however blew away the prospect. "Dog milk and vulture meat can't drive anyone mad, Abdul. The information is fabricated," he told them with confidence. But whatever he was fed, Monju with his appearance was enough to frighten anyone. He carried a dog around his shoulders. It was all black and vicious and hung in there so comfortably that it seemed it was born this way.
Cchuti, being the bravest one answered Monju's query.
"We are just playing," he said calmly.
"Really!" he was not satisfied.
Monju began coming toward them. Kolshi scooped Grandpa U from the ground and put him inside her pocket in a blink of an eye.
"It is a strange place to play," he said to them dreamily. "What have you been playing?"
No one replied and reluctantly kept gazing at his pet dog who was snarling by that moment.
"Are you frightened?" asked Monju. "Why are you frightened?" he asked rather sadly.
Still, they did not reply.
At this, Monju's expression changed. He was now looking as vicious as the dangling dog.
"Run," he barked, "run, or my dog will bite you. Stupid children."
Cchuti, Kolshi and Abdul did not wait to hear the rest. They ran for their lives, and although nothing ran behind them, they were certain that if they stopped for a second, a vicious black dog would rip out their stomach any moment.