Young Writers Society

So, it was on the event of the birth of my twenty-third younger brother that the twenty-two of us were divided into eleven groups, two of us in each. The eleven groups were dumped to the houses various of the eleven various aunts and uncles we had. One might start thinking that we had a large family. We did indeed have a very large family. In fact, we could pride ourselves on having the largest family in the whole of Kolkata. It was lucky that Rapin and I were sent to an aunt living in the country.

This certain Aunt Cora had no family. All she had in her house was a companion who was a wonderful cook. Also, Aunt Cora had a horde of nine cats.

Rapin and I boarded a bus from Kolkata. Grown-ups have the power of sitting in a place tirelessly for an endless period of time. Not belonging to the disgusting species of grown-ups, Rapin and I did not have that power. I suggested that we go to sleep. Rapin followed my advice only to find himself on the floor of the bus after some time. He had slipped off his seat. Finally, after many a mishap, we reached our destination. To our dismay, we learnt that the wonderful cook was in bed with fever and was not in the house.

It was apparent that Aunt Cora was not happy to see us. She would be out the whole afternoon and she did not trust upon us to take care of ourselves. Although she tried her utmost, she could not find anyone to come over to the house to look after us.

After lunch, the day spread wide in front of us. We set out to enjoy ourselves. We were determined not to let the cats cause any disturbance to our enjoyment. After wandering in the house aimlessly for a while Rapin suggested that we go out to the garden. It proved to be a good suggestion and we rolled about on the ground for some time. We lost count of time and closed our minds to the outside world. Unfortunately, we did not think that we had left the gate open.

Ruff, a local dog, was straggling along the road, when he spotted a gate open. Instinctively, he walked into the house. There, he saw the cat, Barbara, the cat, licking milk gloatingly from a bowl. Barbara had insulted Ruff from an upstairs window some days ago. Ruff had sweared upon his bone that he would make Barbara pay at a later date. Ruff saw his chance. Barbara and all the cats started to run around the house, Ruff after them. Countless things saw their way to the dustbin that day. Aunt Cora’s favourite table had broken into three equal parts. After an hour of running around, Ruff prepared to leave, quite unaware of the calamity he was leaving behind.

Aunt Cora was in a perfect mood as she pushed open the gate of her house. She opened the door to see her two nephews trying to stare at her and the furniture of the house at the same time. Needless to say, the furniture was in a state worth staring. Aunt Cora’s view was obstructed when two unscathed cats jumped into her arms. She caressed the cats and put them down. As she viewed the house she hit the roof. A fit of hysterics had taken her. She was absolutely dumbstruck with grief and surprise. When the explanations had been given out, the vet called, Aunt Cora was quite herself again and her legs did seem to be made up of flesh and bones, an unspoken wrath descended upon us.

The day ended with a miserable dinner. My aunt (I felt quite sorry for the old hag) gave me a piece of her mind.