QUICK READ
Let's paly a game
NIMI KURIAN
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Snakes and Ladders could be exciting. The three friends just found out!
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Megs, Sandhya and Rohan
were walking down the
road when they heard a
voice calling out to them.
"Heellloooo! Hellloooo! Haven't
seen you guys in my shop for a long
time," said the man from the
`weird' shop. "I have a new smart
assistant. You must meet him." So
saying he walked off.
They arrived at the shop, to find
it the same - dark, cold and crowded
with stuff.
"Hey look at this!" exclaimed
Megs as she spotted a rather fat
doll on the counter. He was
dressed in red trousers that came
short above his ankles and a tight
yellow t-shirt that refused to cover
his round belly. He was bare feet,
but on his head he wore a rather
stylish beret. He wore spectacles
too. Megs picked him up to show
him to her friends.
"Put me down," came a rather
gruff angry voice. It was the doll.
Megs was so shocked she almost
dropped him. Sandhya and Rohan
stared open mouthed. The doll was
talking!
"And why creatures in my
shop?" asked the doll. "If no purpose,
leave."
"That is so rude!" said Sandhya.
She was turning around to leave
when she tripped on a ruffled rug
and sprawled out on the floor.
The fat doll began to laugh. It
was a loud, raucous, screaming
kind of laughter. He laughed and
laughed and his pink chubby
cheeks became purple and blue
tears fell from his eyes. He laughed
and he laughed. Wide-eyed with
fear and the maniacal laughter
echoing in their heads, the three of
them tried to tip-toe out of the
shop. But just as they reached the
doorway they tripped on the rug
and all three of them were on the
floor. They could not even figure
out how the rug had got to the
door!
Just then they heard a faint `psst
psst' from somewhere under the
counter. The fat doll was screaming
louder now and more blue
tears were pouring out down his
fat purple cheeks.
Just a game
Under the counter they saw a
dice. Just an ordinary dice. They
inched their way closer and the
dice rolled off. Every time they got
close to the dice it rolled a little
further, until finally they found
themselves in a little room. It
seemed to be covered from wall to
wall with rather colourful numbered
tiles. The dice rolled on to
one of the squares and Rohan was
pulled forward. The dice rolled
again and Megs got on to the coloured
tiles. The third time the dice
rolled it was Sandhya's turn. Every
time the diced rolled one of them
moved forward. Suddenly they
heard Megs shouting, "Snake!
Snake!" they saw her scrambling
away in haste. Then immediately
afterwards, Megs went shooting up
a ladder. It was all rather bizarre.
"Oh my goodness, I think we are
playing Snakes and Ladders," said
Megs. The other two could only
nod before they hurried out of the
way of snakes with open mouths or
were forced to climb steep ladders.
They had been so busy with the
game that they did not realise that
the doll had stopped laughing and
was at the door watching them.
"Boy! Boy! faster, faster, faster."
He began to clap his hands.
"Oh shut up fatty in red," shouted
Sandhya, as she battled a large
snake.
Megs was halfway up a ladder
and was panting hard. "Hey purpleface.
You enjoying this? When
we are done, you are in for it."
Once again the doll began to
laugh. Every time he laughed the
dice rolled faster Then, mysteriously
the dice stopped. The three
of them were stuck. The snake and
the ladders all became quiet. The
fat doll stopped laughing and the
blue tears stopped rolling down his
cheek.
"Woo hoo! Anyone here?" they
heard a soft cooing voice from the
front of the shop. The fat doll shuffled
and rolled his eyes. Then in a
high pitched sweet voice almost
mimicking the voice he answered,
"Heylloo, will be with you in a minute."
He traipsed out and the three
of them followed. The old man was
back behind the counter and a lady
was talking to him.
"I want a nice doll for my grand
daughter. It's her birthday tomorrow."
She turned around and spotted
the fat doll in red trousers. "Oh
he is so sweet. This is just what I
wanted. How much? How much?"
She was shivering in excitement.
The old man was in shock, he
couldn't talk. "But..but.." he
stuttered.
The doll said, "No sale, no sale.
Me assist."
"Oh so sweet. He can talk. His
name is Messist!" She threw a couple
of hundred rupee notes on the
counter and before the old man
could recover, she ran away with
the fat doll.
They could hear him screaming
and this time they were sure he
was not laughing.
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