Short Stories 110: rescue story

Thursday, July 5, 2018

How to Save Papaya Tree?

Isabelle decided to plant a kitchen garden. "I'm going organic," she announced to her parents one morning.

"No packaging cost, no transportation cost, no storage and certainly no chemicals!" Isabelle chirped. "Our teacher told us that eating fruits and vegetable from one's own backyard or terrace is the healthiest option."

While Isabelle's Dad had dismissed this as one of her latest whims, Mom decided to help her.

Together, they decided to grow papayas.

Isabelle's and Mom bought a papaya from the market. On mom's advice, Isabelle cut the fruit in half, scooped out the seeds and dried them on a newspaper. Later, she scattered them in the soil.

"Now so close to one another, Isabelle.

Papaya saplings can grow really big," said mom.

Isabelle's mind began to race. She was reminded of one of her favorite fairytales-Jack and Beanstalk. She imagined that the papaya seeds were magical, and they would grow into giant plants overnight.

I'll have so much fun! I'll be able to touch the clouds and meet a giant who will chase me down the plant," Isabelle thought dreamily.

The next morning, Isabelle rushed to the garden, hoping to find giant papayas fighting for space. But all she found were little mounds of earth.

"Oh well," Isabelle sighed. "So much for magic." She decided to wait patiently and allow her plants to grow at their own pace.

Slowly, the saplings started peeping out of the earth. Isabelle was delighted. But there was still a long way to go before those plants would bear fruits.

Isabelle would often pester her mother. "mom, what if we used some magic potion to make the plants grow?" she asked.

"Well, we do get magic portion in the market. It's called fertilizers. But we don't want to add fertilizers because they contain chemicals.

You do remember what your teacher said about growing food without fertilizers or pesticides?

It won't be natural and organic otherwise," mom reminded her.

"But the teacher said we can use manure. Please mom, can we add some manure? I can't wait for my plants to grow," Isabelle insisted.

"Alright, alright. We'll add manure," mom sighed. But the wondered, "How will the garden smell after the magic portin' is added? Can we bear the stink?"

"Anyway," mom thought. "It's a small price to pay to see Isabell busy."

Isabelle has been lonely ever since they had moved into a new house on the outskirts of the city. She didn't have any friends here and missed the hustle-bustle of her old life. Mom had agreed to the idea of the garden because she thought that it would keep Isabelle occupied.

Every day Isabelle rushed to the garden after school to check in on her plants. Her enthusiasm was infectious. She managed to convince her dad to buy her a book on gardening.

"Oh look, mom! The papaya saplings are growing. Look at the leaves," Isabelle beamed as she pulled out some weeds.

Soon there would be sweet papayas on the table.

One day when Isabelle came back from school, Isabelle saw her mom looking upset.

"What happened, mom? asked Isabelle.

"It was the monkey," said mom. "I was taking a nap, so I didn't notice when they came and went. they pulled out all the sapling.

Everything is ruined. I'm sorry, Isabelle.

A troop of monkeys lived nearby and sometimes they wondered into houses and created havoc everywhere they went opening taps, pulling clotheslines, stealing fruits and damaging plants.

Before her gardening days, Isabelle looked forward to the monkey visits. She liked to see the cute babies hanging from their mother's stomachs. But on that day she was saddened.

"Oh, never mind, mom. It was too much work anyway," Isabelle said. She dashed off to her room and cried until her eyes hurt.

All week, Isabelle went to school with a long face.

Mom tried to console her. "Why don't you forget about this garden business? Sara's daughter, Rebecca has joined a Hollywood dance class. Would you like to join too?

You love dancing, don't you?" But Isabelle was not interested.

Then one day suddenly, Isabelle spotted a broad-leaved sapling in the garden. She then remembered what she had read in her book. "Scatterer a lot of papayas sees. Soon you will have a lot of saplings.

Some will be weaker than others, some stronger. Not all of them will make it as trees. But some will. It is the law of nature."

Sure enough, one sapling had grown into a tree. The plant grew and grew. Isabelle waited for it to grow- she had learned to be patient.

Ten months after she had planted eth seeds, Isabelle smiled as she looked at one beautiful orange green papaya being at the though the leaves.

"Whoopee! Finally!" Isabelle exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight and doing a little jig.

For many, the papaya may be a lowly local fruit, especially in comparison to the king of fruits, the mango, but for Isabelle, it was special.

THE END

english stories 0

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

How to use technology to rescue someone

Early one morning, Jacob was woken up by a commotion outside his house. He looked out of the window and saw a small crowd gathered near his neighbor Mr. Brown.

Jacob went to the living room and asked his mom about it.

Mr. Brown and his family had gone to Manchester last week. Unfortunately, their son, Liam went missing there.

They looked for him for four days but he has still not been found. Mr. Brown is in Manchester and is looking out for Liam. Mrs. Brown has returned in case somebody calls home with some information about him," explained his mom.

"have they informed the police about it?" asked Jacob.

"Yes The police are looking for him but they haven't got any leads as yet.

Manchester is a crowded city. Liam could be anywhere," said his mother, worries for the boy.

Six-years-old Liam was Jacob's friend. He was a nice guy and well liked by everyone in the neighborhood

Even as he went through his daily routine, Jacob continued to worry about Liam.

He ate breakfast glumly and then left for school.

At school, Jacob's friends noticed him looking sad. When they asked him what had happened. Jacob told them about Liam.

They tried consoling him but his mood remained unchanged.

When he returned home that evening, Jacob learned that there was still no news about Liam.

Later that evening, when Jacob's father returned from work, Jacob's mother said, "Poor Mrs. Brown! she has been crying all day. I wish we could help."

"There's nothing much we can do," said Jacob's father. "The police and Mr. Brown are trying their best to find Liam."

When his father went to freshen up, Jacob took his phone and started playing with it.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.

"We can help find Liam!" exclaimed Jacob.

His parents were puzzled.

"How can we do that?" asked his mother.

"Using technology," said Jacob, smiling, "we can share Liam's photos and details on all social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp.

We can request people to forward it to everyone on their list,

thus forming a chain. this way, we'll a better chance of finding him," said Jacob.

"This sounds like a good idea but the police have already broadcast his photo on television," said his father.

"But dad, these days people check their phone more frequently than they watch TV," said Jacob.

Jacob's parents were convinced. They went to Mrs. Brown and told her about the idea. She agreed to give it a try.

She gave them a photo of Liam, which Jacob shard on all the apps from his father's phone. Along with the photo, Jacob included some basic information about Liam. Jacob included the contact details and a request to forward the message to others.

after two days, someone messaged Jacob's father on Facebook informing him that a boy resembling Liam was seen at an Old age home in Manchester.

The boy had been lost on the beach and could not tell about his parents or his hotel.

Immediately, Jacob's father informed Mr. Brown and then left for Manchester to helm him. On reaching, they found Liam in the Old age home.

As soon as he saw his father, Liam ran to him. Mr. Brown was elated to finally have found his son.