Two Little Birds

My school look similar to Hogwarts with tall dark ceilings located in the middle of green dense forest. It has a huge round white wall clock in one of the ceilings. It's black pointers meet each other and it was 12 pm, familiar bell sound flies along with the windy air and it wake our ears which brought relief smile to our lips. It was the end of third period, it has one more class before our lunch break. A dark obese figure holding a book entered our class. My friend in the previous desk whispered "Dino" with a worried look. It was our Maths teacher Agnus, she was probably in her late fiftes, her face was mostly covered by big ugly specs. She have a nick name "Dino" because her appearance was little similar to dinosaur. I am Arun, studying 7^th grade in this class. For me, maths is always a problem; I never got more than 50 in any exam. So, she hates me; I hate her more than that.

 She writes some academic stuff in the black board. I wasn’t paying attention to her. I look over the window; it was my favorite place to stare the outside world. Winter chill air caresses my black hair softly; it reaches my nostrils, and I inhale it slowly. All the trees are wet due to the morning shower, gentle rain drops slowly fall on the leaf. I got Goosebumps every time when I see the dew drops on a leaf because it reminds me of her. It was two years before; still I remember that exact incident.

I was sitting alone outside my house garden catching the glimpse of nature. My parents were inside fighting and there was more yelling that I could ever take. My dad was a sales guy; so often he will be out of town. I am pretty cool with that because he always buys me new toys each time, but mom can’t bear it. She advises to take another job which dad doesn’t like it. It started like this and soon they fight for even small things. I plug one of the leaves from the nearby tree.

Leaf is wet; as I was glancing, a plastic air ball fell on our garden. There were hardly any kids in my neighborhood. I wondered who is playing. I grabbed the ball; it was weight less suitable for me. I heard someone is opening the gate. I turned back then I saw a little angel walking into me. She is skinny, pale and her hair is well tied. She wears a violet color gown and kind of dirty shoes. She looks at me, and I can barely see my reflection in her eyes. She smiles and I greet her back. She has the best teeth I have seen in anyone. It was all well-arranged, and it was white as ice. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. She said something with pointing her fingers towards the ball. I couldn’t hear it; I was lost in her thought. It took me a minute to regain myself and gave her the ball. I wish to play with her but don’t have courage to ask her. She took a few steps towards the gate. I rub my hair and wonder what next to do. She turns back and said “hey, would you like to join” Then I nod positively with a relief smile.

She introduces her name is Anusha and they were just moved opposite to my home. From that moment on, we become inseparable. We play almost every day and went to school together. My dad teaches us to swim where her dad teaches us to cycle. I was pretty much awful in both where she was far better than me. An old saying states that girls mature faster than boys. It may be true but I never mind. I enjoy being with her and She likes even more.

A piece of chack has waked me up from my memories. It was my teacher; she got me staring outside, and her face suggests that she is gonna tear me apart. Fortunately, bell saves me from further damage. It was lunch period and I always have lunch with Anu. She was one year younger to me, and she eats only in her class. I rush to her class; it was almost empty. She greets me with the same adorable smile. I thought these two years have made her even more pretty. I sit opposite to her; she opens her Tiffin box. It was my favorite food “Maggi”. We often exchange our foods but when it is maggi there was always fight. Her mom Latha is the best cook, and it was her finest dish, but today she wasn’t in a fight. She gave it to me and I took the most in a single gulp’ it was yummy.

She keeps her hand in her cheek; her eyelids point something outside. She asks me to “hey, look at those birds”. She is always crazy about birds. She has a diary of all bird image collections. She always wants to grow one as a pet but her parents thought she was two young for that. She insists me to grow one which eventually I had. I grow one pigeon for a week which was soon turned as our house lunch. My father likes meat, and mom wants to do something different. She cooks my bird, Anu gone mad and cries for almost a week. After that, no such risk was taken. I look outside, and it was again pigeon but this time it was alive. It was in the tree branch, a couple of little white bird sitting beside each other. I bet those two birds were drenched wet. So, it flaps its wings and feathers to get dry. It was a heck of a site, which we both like it. I asked her “so, what do you want to tell me?” She replies “yeah actually; I want to give you something.”

She opens her box with her teeth and took a beautiful toy from it. It was also a bird; white colour with open feathers. There was two of it looking similar with a small hole at the back. It was actually a pencil holder. I queried “What’s special in this?” she explains with wide eyes “granny actually gave it to me. She tells that these are white turtle birds, and they won’t leave without each other.” Girls always believe in fantasy stories; I don’t believe in them. I asked “so, what?” she then gave a plane look and explains “If these turtles are with two people, they can also be inseparable.” I took one turtle and said “I like what you have said last. Doodles?” she replies with a doodles. Then bell rang, and it was the end of the lunch. I told her that I will meet her in the evening.

After school, my mom had the bizarre idea of taking me to my grand mom. My granny lives some 50 miles away from our town. I didn’t tell anything to Anu which I was never aware of my mom’s intention. Granny will turn 60 tomorrow, so my mother thought that we should both go to that party. I didn’t like travelling much and it often got me sick. We reach there at night; I am damn tired and when I woke up, I have some few blisters on my neck. My mom and granny rush me to hospital where doctor confirms it was chicken box. I was kind of happy initially that I didn’t have to go to school but later blisters spread all over my body. I pinched it, which makes it even worse as a wound. They moved me to one dark room where raw vegetables are only my food. My mom and granny took well care of me, but soon I missed Anu miserably. I often glances that white turtle bird which she gave me. I feel she was with me at that moment. I couldn’t talk to her because granny house doesn’t even have a telephone.

After a week, I felt somewhat better, which was also the same day that dad come to visit me. He brought us some clothes and other stuffs from our home. He also carries one familiar diary with him, which was a little blizzard. I know it was Anu’s diary. She often draws or writes something. She always kept it to herself. He went on his knees hugs me and gave me the diary. He gave me the diary; she wants to have you this. He explains Mr.Kapoor got promoted, and they moved to Bangalore yesterday. I was in terrible shock; it took me a minute to realize what dad is saying. It was Raj Kapoor, Anu’s dad got promoted and they all have gone to Bangalore. My dad also reveals it was a sudden thing. Anu cried all the week, but no one can do anything. It was good for their family. He asks softly “You are ok dear?” “Yeah” I nodded; a single tear fell down on my cheek. I took the diary to me room and wrap all the diary pages; it was full of drawings and writings.

She wrote about birds, her mother and me. On the first page, there was a beautiful painting. The page is also slightly wet; Anu might have cried when drawing. There were two little birds sitting on one branch. Taller one was Arun where the shorter one was Anu. It was the same sight we have witnessed in our school. Both are flapping its wings and feathers; soon, they will fly together in the sky.