The Noble Daughter

Varsha was a cute nine-year-old girl. She studied in the fourth grade and was good at her studies. She was well mannered and soft-spoken. She was loved by her parents, teachers and all her friends. But, her parents noticed one change in her behavior since the past few months which worried them. Varsha started asking for a lot of pocket money from her parents. Earlier, she used to be happy with a hundred rupees every week. But, now she used to regularly ask them for fifty rupees or hundred rupees every other day. Since she was good at studies, her parents did not refuse her the money initially. But, when she kept doing the same thing for a couple of months her parents started worrying. They feared that their sweet child might have fallen into some bad company.

They tried asking Varsha why she needed so much money. So, she reminded her parents that they had told her to spend the money wisely. So, she was doing the same and she asked them to trust her. Since Varsha was a young child her parents did not want to confront her or probe more details from her. But, at the same time, they also wanted to make sure that their child was not doing something wrong.  So, they discussed amongst themselves and came up with a small plan.

Next morning, Varsha's mom packed her lunch box and school bag and her dad dropped her to her bus stop. That day, Varsha's mom took leave from her office. She went to Varsha's school and met with her school teacher Miss Shantha. She told Miss Shantha about Varsha's money spending habit. Miss Shantha said that she was not aware of Varsha's bad habit and promised her mom that she would keep track of it.

After Varsha's mom had left, Miss Shantha approached Ananya who was Varsha's best friend and asked her to meet her in the staff room during the lunch break. Ananya came to the staff room during the lunch break and met Miss Shantha. Miss Shantha asked Ananya to sit down. She then asked her why Varsha had been spending so much money off late. Was she into some bad habit? Ananya became silent for a moment after hearing this and lowered her head. Miss Shantha had a strict temperament and she scolded Ananya for holding back details about her friend's bad habit. Ananya finally spoke. She told Miss Shantha that Varsha was a very good girl. She said that her friend had been spending the money on a very noble cause.

Miss Shantha became curious and asked Ananya to continue. Ananya said that their classmate Rakesh's father recently passed away in a car accident. Rakesh was from a poor middle-class family and his mom was a homemaker. His dad was the sole breadwinner for the family. After he passed away, it became very difficult for his mom to sustain their livelihood. Even though Rakesh was a bright student but his mom could no longer afford to pay his school fees. So, finally, she had decided to pull Rakesh from his studies and ask him to go to work.

Rakesh told his classmates during the recess that he would be leaving school that week. After hearing this,  everyone became very sad. It was Varsha who cried the most since she had studied with Rakesh since the Montessori. She promised Rakesh that she would not let him leave the school. From that day, Varsha started saving her pocket money. She stopped spending anything on snacks. But, when she realized that all her savings were not sufficient to pay her friend's school fees she started borrowing more money from her parents. Finally, at the end of the month, she was able to save enough money to pay for Rakesh's school fees. She has been doing this for the past two months. Ananya started crying after saying this and begged Miss Shantha to not punish Varsha.

Miss Shantha was left speechless. She hugged Ananya and consoled the child. She promised her that she would not punish Varsha. But, she also requested Ananya to not tell Varsha anything about their conversation. Ananya promised her teacher that she would not disclose details of their conversation to anyone and left. That evening, Miss Shantha went to Varsha's house. Varsha was very happy that her teacher was accompanying her to home. She was very fond of Miss Shantha. When Miss Shantha, came to her home, she ran to the kitchen to fetch some chocolate cake and lemonade for her teacher.

Miss Shantha sat down on the sofa with her mother. Miss Shantha narrated the entire story to her mother. When Varsha returned with the lemonade and cake she saw that her mother was crying. Her mother ran and hugged her daughter and kissed her forehead. She said that Varsha had made her so proud. Varsha was a little confused and asked her mom what had happened. Her mom said nothing and asked her to give the cake to her teacher. Her teacher smiled at her. She had the cake and lemonade and took leave of them.

Next morning, Varsha's mom and dad went to the school and met the principal Mr. DeMelo. They told the principal that they wanted to take care of Rakesh's school education. Mr. DeMelo said that Miss Shantha had already informed him about Varsha's nice act. He appreciated her parents for helping Rakesh. That day, the Principal called Varsha on the assembly stage and praised her for her kind gesture and good moral conduct. Varsha thanked the principal and requested him to open a charity box in the school for funding the education of children who were not from very affluent backgrounds. Mr. DeMelo promised her that they would start this noble initiative very soon. Varsha's parents felt very proud for having such a noble daughter.

The End

Where is Blooming Street?

This is the second part of the Mystery Series "Blooming Street Warning". To read the first part please click this link Blooming Street Warning.

As the lady uttered the words "Blooming Street" my head started to spin. The warning from my last night's dream rang in my ears "Stay away from Blooming Street". My face turned pale and I just looked on at the lady dumbfounded. The lady sensed that something was wrong and asked me,"Is there a problem? Are you alright? I could rent out a cab if you are going elsewhere". As she spoke, I came out of my trance and answered,"No, don't get me wrong. Where exactly is this place, er, Blooming Street? I have never heard of this place before." "Oh, don't worry, it is about five miles from here. I'll guide you." So, I turned the ignition and started driving the car.

As I was driving, I realized that I had not asked the lady's name. "What's your name?", I asked. "Selene" she answered in a low tone. My heart beat started to increase and cold sweat trickled slowly from my forehead. I wondered if I was still dreaming. I pinched my arm to check if all this was real. The pain I experienced assured me that this was actually happening. It seemed that there was a strong message in my dream. I just could not read it yet. But, whatever it was, clearly told me to stay away from the Blooming Street. I wondered if I should just stop the car, drop the lady and just turn around. But, the good Samaritan in me just wanted to do the right thing by dropping the lady safely to her destination.

"So, Selene, why were those men after you?" I asked her regaining my composure. "I had taken a lift from these men. But, they waylaid me and started demanding money from me. When I refused, they started attacking me. You came at the right time and saved my life." She said the last sentence with a great sense of gratitude. I was proud of myself for doing a noble act by saving her. "So, do you stay in Blooming Street?" I asked her curiously. "No, I just work there". We chatted casually for some time and I remembered all of a sudden that I had forgotten to inform Jimmy that I would not be able to go to the movie. I picked up my phone and dialed his number. The phone rang for some time and the call went to his voice mail. So, I just left a message for him saying that I would not be able to go to the movie and told him that I would explain all the details to him later.

Selene was guiding the route to me and after about twenty minutes we were able to reach our destination. The street was deserted. It had few old houses. Selene asked me to drop her in front of an old-fashioned building. The name "Opera House" was painted in bold letters in front of the building. "So, you work here? Are you an actress?", I asked Selene. "Yes, you are right. I work in the drama company. Would you like to come inside and take a look?" she offered to me. I always wanted to see a drama rehearsal and readily accepted her offer.

We entered the Opera House. It was huge from the inside. It did not seem so big from the outside. I stood for a moment marveling at the beautiful architecture. The huge white pillars and the carpeted red floors thrilled me. A rose scent filled the air. There seemed like there was some magic in the air and I was feeling light and blessed to be walking in this beautiful building. The roof of the building was very high and was covered by a huge black dome. Black wallpaper covered the walls. In the distance, I saw a person waving to Selene. Selene waved back to the man.

We soon approached the man. Selene ran and kissed the man. The man was tall and handsome. He looked at me curiously and said,"Hello. Are you a friend of Selene?". Before I could answer him, Selene interrupted and told him how I had saved her life. The man came over to me and thanked me profusely. "Thanks for saving my girlfriend. But, I wonder what you are doing in this lonely part of the city?".  I told him how I was going for my date with Jimmy and had to take a diversion owing to the heavy rains last night. Selene said that Rocky was her boyfriend and also the producer of the drama. The rest of the actors were in the makeup room waiting for her. She excused herself and asked me to wait in the audience section.

I went and sat in the audience chairs. After about fifteen minutes, the curtains opened to reveal Selene sitting on a couch in a pretty white dress. She was having coffee and speaking to someone on her phone. Suddenly, a masked man came from behind her and grabbed her mouth. She struggled furiously. But, at last, she died. The acting was so real that I felt really terrified. The masked man left quietly and Selene remained motionless. I clapped. But, even after two minutes when she did not move, I sensed that something was wrong. I ran to the stage and checked her pulse. I stood frozen when I realized that Selene was actually dead.

To be continued

A Queen's Love

Marie Edward was the Queen of the great kingdom of Victory Land. The kingdom had been ruled by the Edward house for almost five centuries. They had vastly been unchallenged for the last hundred years or so. Marie's husband was King George Edward. He was a noble, brave and a kind King. He was a just ruler and was loved by all his subjects. It seemed to the subjects that Marie and George were made for each other. They thought that they were an exemplary couple who had been married happily for ten years. But, things were not quite as good between the two of them as it seemed to others.

Marie and George had been in deep love at one time. But, as their marriage became older, George started to misbehave with his wife. He began to take her for granted and started neglecting her. Marie had been the only daughter of her parents and she was used to a lot of pampering. Even after her marriage, George had made her feel very special for the first few years. But, somehow after Marie gave birth to two beautiful twin children - John and Rosie, her husband started losing interest in her. Marie was also occupied in taking care of her children and somehow the distance between her and George started increasing.

George now started to take more interest in the Kingdom's affairs. He was keen on expanding his Kingdom's territories to the new world beyond the great seas. He commissioned great craftsman from across the world to help him build a powerful Navy so that he could send out his armies to fight and conquer the new world. He also commissioned scientists to build new and powerful weapons. George became so engrossed in all these activities that he completely neglected his wife and his children. Poor Marie had to cope up with the upbringing of her children all alone. She felt sad and lonely all the time. Sometimes, when no one was looking, she used to cry her heart out and remember the beautiful days from her Past when her husband still loved her.

One evening, when Marie was taking a stroll in the garden, she saw someone which made her heart skip a beat. It was her childhood friend Shaun Brave. Shaun's father was consular in her father's court. They used to play together as children. They used to pretend to be husband and wife and hoped to get married one day. But, when they grew up, Marie was married to George and she never again heard about Shaun. Marie was curious and she approached Shaun. Shaun bowed to Marie and greeted her with all the respect which a Queen commanded. The Queen reciprocated and greeted him likewise. Marie asked Shaun what work had brought him to such a faraway land. Shaun said that he had come to the Victory Land to discuss the battle plans with the King. Marie was completely unaware that George had even dragged her father's kingdom into his battle plans. Shaun said that he had an appointment with the King and took leave from her.

Marie could not help thinking about Shaun the whole night. She wondered as to how her life might have been if she had married Shaun instead of George. She thought that she would have lived comfortably in her father's land and Shaun would have kept her happy for the love of his life. She cursed George for marrying her and neglecting her. She wanted to teach her husband a lesson. She came up with an idea to take her revenge.

The next morning she invited Shaun for tea. She talked with him about their childhood days. She learned that Shaun had become a Minister in her father's court. He had married a beautiful Lady and had three children with her. Shaun said that his wife was very loyal to him and that he loved her deeply. Marie said that she felt very happy for him. She gave him some presents for his wife and children. She also gave him a sealed letter and asked him to hand it over only to her father and no one else. The seal on the letter was of her father's kingdom. Shaun promised her that he would protect the letter at the cost of his own life. Marie smiled and wished him farewell for his return journey.

After Shaun departed, Queen Marie hurried to King George and told him that Shaun had betrayed them and was fleeing the kingdom with a state secret. She said that he must stop Shaun at any cost. She told him that he carried a letter of utmost importance with him and it must be recovered at any cost. King George immediately sent out a unit of his cavalry to apprehend Shaun. 

As Shaun was on his way back, King George's horsemen stopped his cavalcade and asked him to hand over the letter. Shaun told them that the letter was meant only for his King and he was sworn to protect it. The King's soldiers forced themselves on him and Shaun was forced to draw out his sword. A small battle took place between Shaun's men and King George's men. King George's men were larger in number and were also very well trained. Soon, they killed most of Shaun's men and imprisoned him along with few of his remaining men.

Shaun was dragged to the King's court. King George asked him why he had betrayed him. Shaun said that he was just following his duty as he had sworn to protect the letter. The letter was handed over to the King. The King ordered the seal to be broken and demanded the letter to be handed over to him. As the King read the letter, he wiped the sweat from his brow. He fell on his throne. After some time he regained his composure and ordered Shaun and his remaining men to be released immediately. He also handed over some Gold and some expensive gifts to Shaun and asked to him to forget about what had happened. Shaun was a bit confused but bowed to the King and swore that no one would come to know of what had happened. He took his leave and left for his kingdom.

After Shaun had left, King George hurried to his Queen's chambers. He got upset with his Queen and threw the letter at her in anger and demanded to know the meaning of all this drama. Marie picked up the blank letter and said that she wanted to seek his attention. She said that the King had become so busy with his Kingdom's affairs that he was no longer paying any attention to her. So, she had handed over a blank letter to Shaun and had asked him to hand it over to her father. Next, she tricked her husband by saying that Shaun had betrayed him and was fleeing with an important secret. She knew that if her father had come to know that George had killed his men then he would not support him in his battle. She also told him that if ever she was harmed in any way her father would never forgive George. So, she asked George to mend his ways and give her more attention. George was left flabbergasted with his wife's trickery. He also realized that he had no other option. So, he sought forgiveness from his wife and promised to love her once again. As for Marie, she knew that her husband would have to keep his promise at the peril of his own kingdom. She smiled once again and hugged her husband.

The End 

The Painting

Sally Adams was a writer in a Children's Magazine and worked from her apartment in Manhattan. Her apartment was in a high rise in the posh locality of Chelsea. The high rise had ten floors and each floor had four apartments. She stayed in apartment 220 on the second floor of the building. The remaining three apartments on her floor were owned by a popular television actress called Elizabeth Styles. The actress was out of the city most of the time for her television shoots and very rarely spent more than a couple of days in her apartments. So, essentially Sally had the second floor to herself. She enjoyed the quiet atmosphere of her floor which helped her to write peacefully.

One evening, Sally was busy writing in her room, when she heard the lift door open on her floor. The housekeeping staff had already left and as she was not expecting any visitors. So, she thought that maybe Elizabeth had returned from her television shooting. She did not want to look nosy by going out and saying, “Hi". But, she was curious nonetheless and peeped out of the door eye. She was surprised when she did not see anybody on her floor. She looked hard and suddenly out of nowhere a lady's face stared back at her. Sally got afraid and she fell back in fear. She heard the person knock on her door. Sally was thinking whether to open the door when she heard the person say, “Hi! I am Lizzie's cousin. Do you mind if I have a coffee with you?” 

Sally thought she was being foolish and got up to open her door. She opened the door and invited Elizabeth's cousin inside. Elizabeth's cousin was a stunner. She was tall, slim and had very beautiful blue eyes. Her black hair was cut short and she wore a knee-length black color skirt and a silver top. Sally couldn't help admiring her and said,"Wow! You are so beautiful." "Gee! Thanks! By the way, my name's Alice" the lady said smiling and shook hands with Sally. Sally prepared coffee and the two of them sat down on the sofa. Sally asked Alice if she had come to visit her cousin. Alice answered that her cousin was out of town and she had come to Manhattan on a modeling assignment. Since her cousin was away, she had asked Alice to stay in her apartment till her modeling assignment was completed. Alice said that her modeling assignment would get over in a couple of weeks. Sally was glad that she had a wonderful new neighbor like Alice.

The two of them got along very well. They would go out jogging in the morning and would have also had dinner together. Alice usually came over to Sally's place and the two of them would talk for hours together. During their conversations, Sally came to know from Alice that Elizabeth had gone to Dubai for a new movie assignment and would not be returning for another couple of months. Alice also mentioned that her modeling assignment was almost done so she would be returning back to Los Angeles the coming Sunday. So, Alice wanted to throw a party for her friends before she returned home. She invited Sally for the party.

Sally rarely went to any parties. But, she did not want to disappoint Alice. So, she agreed. The party was on a Friday evening. Sally put on a beautiful red dress and gold earrings and went to Alice's apartment. She had never been to her apartment before. The apartment was beautiful and big. Elizabeth had combined her three apartments to make one big apartment. It was beautifully furnished and Sally just could not take her eyes off the beautiful chandeliers. Alice showed her around the house and introduced Sally to her friends. Alice showed her a painting in the drawing room and told her that it was worth One Million dollars which made Sally's jaw drop in awe. Alice said that Elizabeth had received the painting as a gift from her rapper boyfriend on her last birthday. Alice told that her cousin had installed a world-class burglar alarm system to protect it. She said that only her sister's fingerprints and a secret pin code could deactivate the alarm. After the party, Sally thanked Alice for the wonderful evening and took her leave.

Once, Sally returned to her apartment she could not help thinking about that expensive painting. Sally thought if she had a million dollars she could clear all her debts and live the rest of her days enjoying on a remote Caribbean Island. She thought about the painting for the entire night. The next morning, she came up with a plan. She decided to steal the painting. Alice had informed her that she was flying back on Sunday, so she invited Alice to her place for dinner on Saturday evening. When Alice came to her place for dinner, she laced Alice's drink with a drug. After Alice fell unconscious, she took the house keys from her purse and went to her apartment. She opened the door and quietly sneaked into the drawing room. In the drawing room, she saw the painting. She took out her camera and took few pictures of the painting. She took out a tape and took measurements of the painting and its frame. She then took out soap from her purse and pressed the key for getting an imprint. She then closed the door and returned to her room.

She waited patiently for Alice to wake up. Alice woke up after a couple of hours with a heavy head. Sally told her that she had a bit too much wine and helped her to return to her apartment. The next day Alice returned back to Los Angeles and Sally once again had the second floor to herself. Sally got a duplicate key made out of the soap imprint and also got a life-size replica of the painting done with a similar frame. She bought a few microphones and spy cameras and installed them in various places in Elizabeth's house using the duplicate keys.

Now, she waited for Elizabeth to return. Elizabeth returned to her apartment after about couple of weeks. Sally could monitor her every activity from her computer. She recorded her every activity and checked if she could get some clue about the secret pin code. One evening, she finally got what she was wishing for. Elizabeth had called some people from the art gallery to curate the painting. She entered the secret six-digit pin code and pressed her index finger to deactivate the two-stage alarm system. Sally recorded the sequence using her spy camera.

A few days later, Elizabeth left for her television shooting. Sally sneaked into her apartment that night and managed to collect her index fingerprint from a wine glass. She imprinted the finger scan on a sheet of plastic and used it to deactivate the alarm. She then cleverly replaced the fake replica painting and once again reactivated the alarm. She took the original painting and hung it in her apartment. A few days later, she managed to sell the painting in the black market for about 800,000 dollars using a fake identity. She sold off her apartment to Elizabeth for 400,000 dollars who was glad that she owned the entire floor now. Sally bought a small property on the Caribbean Islands and spent the rest of her days writing peacefully and sipping red wine. As for Elizabeth, she still thinks that she owns a million dollar painting.

The End