Jar 39

by Sakuntala Gananathan

Part 2

  Mustafa was now taller, but leaner than before on account of ill nourishment.

  On a moonless night, all the robbers including Mustafa were asked to assemble outside Ali Baba’s courtyard. The chief ordered each of them to hide inside the jar allocated to them on the previous occasion.

  And so it happened Mustafa had to step into Jar 39 again, but to his grief found that the vessel was too small for him. Half his body was out, but the chief pushed him down brusquely.

  “It’s all because of you that I have had to wait four years. No more of your pranks,” he warned him. As an afterthought, the crafty man said, “If you help me kill Ali Baba tonight, I shall give you a share of the gold pieces he stole from my cave.”

  Mustafa hadn’t eaten anything since morning, but the bandit chief’s offer made him forget his hunger.

  Of a sudden he thought he heard a scratching noise coming from underneath his earthen pot. Within a few seconds he felt the vessel crack slightly. Next, he heard it break with a loud thud. The clay bottom had come off altogether.

  Mustafa’s immediate response was one of immense relief and he jumped up, with the broken jar dangling around his shoulders. Not minding his comical appearance, he looked around to speak to his comrades in the other jars and seek their help to meet his parents.

  The next instant, he heard his master suppress a sneeze, and he quickly brought down the remains of the jar over his head. Even as he tried to get back to his original squatting position, Mustafa experienced a strange sensation. “Am I being sucked through a tunnel?” he asked himself. Down he fell into a dark passage and the fellow let out a piercing scream.

  Somebody, smelling of damp earth and wood rot, shut his mouth.

  “Goodness! Gracious! Take off your grimy paw!” Mustafa yelled.

  “You ungrateful thief, if you are stupid anymore I shall not help you. Quick! Follow me without a sound.”

  “Why should I go with you down all this rubble …?” Mustafa broke off, coughing. He somehow got hold of the rabbit’s ears and pulled himself up the passage.

  White Rabbit shrieked in pain and kicked the boy with his hind paws.

  “Let me go back. I am soon going to be rich after we kill Ali Baba. Also, I need to find my parents. I beg of you to let me return.”

  Before he could speak any more, Mustafa found himself hurtling further and further down a rough tunnel, barely big enough for a boy of his size. By now his mouth was full of earth and dust. He had no choice but to get dragged away by the rabbit’s whiskers.

  “How degrading! To be at the mercy of a small animal is worse than being in jail! I am glad, though, my friends cannot see me.” He shut his eyes to keep the grit from getting in them.

  Presently, he lost all sense of time. Did he dream he was swimming in salt water? He had a faint recollection that the rabbit had one of its forepaws around him and was swimming across a wide expanse of water.

  Presently, there was light at the end of a tunnel and White Rabbit hopped out of the opening.

  “Many thanks to you, Rabbit,” Mustafa said on regaining consciousness. His smile vanished the next moment. “But this is a foreign country. Where have you brought me?”

  He saw five children wearing blue trousers and sleeveless tops. “Who are you, Strangers?”

  “You are now free of your bandit chief,” said Vaani, giving him her hand in welcome. “Please turn over a new leaf from today.”

  “No, no,” Mustafa wailed loudly. “Please send me back to where I came from. It’s important that I get back immediately.”

  “It’s not safe for you to be there tonight,” Vaani cautioned.

  “But the chief has struck a bargain with me. He promised me a share of the loot after we murder Ali Baba tonight. When I am wealthy I shall send you costly gifts and silk trousers so that all of you can throw away these rough clothes.”

  Venyaa looked at him sadly. “You are so foolish to believe the bandit chief.”

  “I know he is a crafty fox,” agreed Mustafa. “However, my journey wouldn’t be over until we kill Ali Baba.”

  “Isn’t Ali Baba the good guy?” Annika asked. “Why do they wish to kill him?”

  “It’s a long story,” said Vaani. She turned to address Mustafa. “What do you think will happen if you return to Ali Baba’s house?”

  “Vaani, please don’t say anything more!” called out Tulasi. “Arthi, Seerohn and I haven’t read ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ as yet.”

  “True,” agreed Vaani. “Let me not spoil the fun for all of you.”

  “I beg of you to release me,” Mustafa entreated, tears streaming down his face. “I appreciate your concern and give you my word I’ll stay clear of the thieves, but I have to find my parents.”

  Just at that moment Vaani received a SMS from her old mobile phone she had put in White Rabbit’s pocket. “Who could it be from?” she asked, frowning.

  “It cannot be from White Rabbit,” said Tulasi. “He is over there, admiring a koala bear up on the gum tree.”

  The message read, “Sultan’s men arrested Bandit & co. Thanks W. Rat for gift. But where’s charger? Oooooops!” The message ended abruptly.

  The cousins giggled. “W. Rat indeed!” exclaimed Annika and Tulasi in one voice.

  Controlling her laughter, Vaani said, “I am extremely happy for you, Mustafa. But whose voice was that?”

  The boy was in a state of shock, a pleasant shock to put it mildly. His tears of sorrow turned instantly to tears of joy. “At last my parents are free from that bandit!” he screamed at the top of his voice. “Thank you, Morgiana, but where are you speaking from?”

  He rushed up to the tunnel through which he came out, “Are you down there, Morgiana?” he called out. Getting no response, he explained to the girls, “She is from Ali Baba’s house. Even after four years, I cannot forget her voice. I was resting on the silk sofa in Jar 40, when she gave me a timely warning to get back into Jar 39.”

  After all the excitement was over, the children decided it was best Mustafa return home at the earliest.

  Mustafa grinned from ear to ear. “I had to come all this distance to receive the good news. Thank you, all of you. If not for your intervention, my parents would still be in the clutches of that brute.”

  Vaani said to the girls, “Let’s help him to the tunnel so he can find his way back home to his parents.”

  “Would you like to express your appreciation to White Rabbit?” asked Venyaa.

  He shook his head, laughing. “After I am gone, please convey him my kind regards.”

  After Mustafa vanished through the tunnel, Venyaa came over to speak to White Rabbit. “Many thanks to you,” she said, smiling. “You have done a wonderful job and have made us proud.”

  “Thanks,” he said, his pink ears turning crimson. “But where are Vaani, Venyaa, Annika, Tulasi and Arthi?”

  “I am Venyaa, whose book you jumped out of. And here is your pair of white gloves.”

  “Many thanks for keeping them safely with you,” he said, quickly slipping them on.

  “I am Vaani, who lost contact with you after I called you up. I give you my eternal thanks for carrying out your assignment to our satisfaction.”

  “Thanks, Vaani. But how is it I can’t recognize any of you? All of you have grown so tall. What’s the matter? Has Alice cast a magic spell on you?”

  The girls chuckled.

  “Have you forgotten it’s four years since you saw us last?” asked Vaani, smiling.

  “That explains it. Well, I have had a long vacation and have enjoyed every bit of it. By the way, this is for you, Tulasi,” he said, giving her a packet of dates.

  “Thank you, White Rabbit,” said Tulasi, her dimple deepening. She didn’t have the heart to tell him it was long past expiry date.

  “Girls, I am not anxious to get back to Wonderland. I find this land more wonderful and the people extremely charming,” said White Rabbit, cunningly eyeing beds of carrots and lettuce bey
ond the green lawn.

  Venyaa lost no time in catching hold of White Rabbit and thrusting him inside the book. “We shall not let you escape again after all the trouble we underwent.”

  Vaani was reading ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ immediately before White Rabbit appeared with Mustafa. She looked around, puzzled. “Where’s my book?” she asked. “Oh, my fancy bracelet, too, is missing.”

  The girls made a thorough search but to no avail.

  Somebody gave a snort. It was White Rabbit, waving a gloved paw outside a book page.

  “You are incorrigible,” said Venyaa, opening her book with care so that he wouldn’t jump out again.

  With his forepaws crossed behind his head, White Rabbit was leaning back across two whole pages. “Didn’t I warn you that there are no good robbers?”

  He thrust his head out to speak to Vaani. “I saw the fellow pick your book up together with a bracelet and slip them in his pocket. He also eyed a bike, a carom board, and two skateboards, all of which he hid under his cloak.”

  “But why didn’t you warn us?” asked Vaani, frowning.

  “Girls, come on in and have some lemonade,” said Grandma. “Vaani dear, here’s the book you were reading. But why use this bracelet when you have so many bookmarks?”

  At that moment Lakshman and Vignesh were seen speeding on their skateboards, while four year old Seerohn followed them on a brand new bike without training wheels. They called themselves the Super Three and had been busy drawing up plans for a tree house.

  “I have set the carom board in the play room,” said Grandpa, coming out of the house. “Anyone cares to join me?”

  “Me!” called out Vignesh and Lakshman, scrambling over each other. The boys were inseparable.

  “No problem. I am taking a walk, so you both can enjoy the game.”

  “Grandpa, let me come along with you, riding my bike,” said Seerohn.

  “That’s would be wonderful, Seerohn.”

  “I am going to relate a story to my dolls,” said Arthi, picking up her book.

  The four girls held a meeting. “Should we tell the boys about what happened?” asked Vaani.

  “I am sure they will not believe a word of it,” said Venyaa. “They will treat it as a joke.”

  “Let’s show them the tunnel through which Mustafa returned home,” suggested Tulasi.

  “So you want us to believe a boy vanished through a tunnel in our garden?” asked Vignesh, curbing a mischievous smile without much success. “Are there steps going down to …?”

  Lakshman joined in. “Watch out, Cousins. I understand a lion cub has escaped from the zoo by tunneling through a rabbit hole.”

  “Don’t try to be smart, boys,” said Vaani.

  “Come over here, you two” ordered Venyaa. “If you act funny, we won’t hesitate to send you along with White Rabbit to Wonderland.”

  Annika directed them to the spot beside the hibiscus, now a full grown tree with yellow blossoms. But there was no trace of the passage out of which White Rabbit appeared with Mustafa. Not even a small hole. “Well, Mustafa has made sure we don’t have second thoughts about his release,” she said.

  The boys winked at each other and chortled aloud.

  Venyaa wouldn’t give up. “Well, you will stop laughing when I pull White Rabbit out of the page I shoved him in.” She turned to the page she had left off reading four years earlier.

  There was no sign of White Rabbit. She glanced through the entire book. Not even a sketch of the animal could she find.

  “Venyaa and Vaani,” called out Vaani’s mum. “There’s a phone message for you both. You will be happy to hear ‘Alice in Wonderland’ will be available from next week and that you are getting a complimentary copy each.”

  End

  About the author

  E books published: “Mend a Bend” was placed 3rd under Category C at the Monash Word Fest Short Story Competition held in 2013.

  Historical novel published in 2009: “White Flowers of Yesterday” was awarded Editor’s Choice by my publishers, iUniverse. An excerpt of their appraisal: “The author has done a fantastic job of weaving setting, characterization, historical information, dialogue, and plot together to create a complete, unique and compelling story…” An excerpt from Kirkus Review of this novel: “…the author has a pleasant style, and she dresses up what might have been a flat history lesson with a surfeit of grace and wit...”

  Hobbies: Reading, writing, mostly short stories.

  I really appreciate you reading my book! My social media coordinates are:

  Friend me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sakuntala.gananathan

  Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com.Sakuganan

  Visit my website: https://saku.teamfours.com.

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