Madison's Reverie

It was almost sundown when Madison walked across the asphalt road to her house. She got to the driveway and started walking when a movement in the nearby bushes caught her attention. She turned around only to find a squirrel running up the tree. Again she started without paying much attention to the bushes which made movements, thinking that it was some other creature. She reached the porch and opened the door. She stepped in and called, ‘Mom! Dad! I’m home!’ There was no response. Then she noticed a note on the coffee table saying that they had gone out to have dinner and that there was some broccoli casserole and a piece of apple pie in the refrigerator. Not feeling hungry, she went up to her room, changed into pajamas and went to bed.

She dreamt she was very tiny. She saw she was on her street and noticed small thought bubbles coming out of all the chimneys. She wanted to see what her friends were dreaming and so with great difficulty, she got into her friends’ houses. The first house was June’s. She got to her bedroom and popped into June’s thought bubble. She was dreaming about a horse, wearing casual clothes, galloping everywhere. Madison was apparently surprised to see this. Thinking that she saw enough, she popped out and got out of the house. The next house she went to was Rachel’s, another of her friends. She got to the couch, where Rachel usually slept and popped into her dream. She was dreaming that she was walking down the walkway of a fashion show wearing an original La femme dress. And the last house she went to was Kate’s. Her dream was of a clown doing somersaults all across a stadium apparently not aware of the people staring at him. She had checked all her friends’ dreams and was walking down the pavement to her house when someone called her name. ‘Madison!!! Stop daydreaming because we have reached school. Madison!!’. It sounded like June’s. And with strong realization, she understood that she and June were the only two people on the school bus. ‘What happened?’, she asked doubtfully. To this, June replied, ‘You were daydreaming………again.’ ‘Really?’ she asked and without waiting for an answer, thinking that the answer will most probably be yes, she got out of the bus and started for the school.

Conversion from Dollars to Rupees

A man of thirty years, named Sanjay Arun, did not know the difference between dollars and rupees!

One day, he was on his way to the bank to get rupees for dollars. He had gone to Jamaica and had with him now hundred dollars. He wanted to exchange them for rupees. So, as he entered the busy bustling bank, he sniffed the smell of fresh notes. He was eager to get those. He stood in line and there were six people in front of him, obviously impatient as the line was moving slowly. He waited............and waited..........and waited. After one hour, he was second in line. The man in front was also there to exchange bucks for rupees. He had sixty dollars and wanted it in Indian currency. So that would have been two thousand eight hundred and twenty rupees. Of course the man knew that but Sanjay was clueless. He thought that sixty dollars was sixty rupees! He thought the man was stealing money but he did not stop him. He knew that the security man will find out. After the man in the front left, Sanjay asked the counter clerk hundred rupees for hundred dollars. The counter clerk was obviously confused. What was wrong with this man? He thought he had heard him wrong so he asked, ‘Pardon?’ Sanjay replied,’ I want hundred rupees for hundred dollars.’ The clerk was puzzled. But he did as he was told. He gave Sanjay hundred rupees and called,’ Next!’, trying to suppress a giggle. After Sanjay left, he could hear murmurs and chuckles going up in the bank but he could not understand why they were laughing. So without looking back, he walked on home.

He still does not know how to convert dollars to rupees!

The Secret Portal

Once, a long, long time ago, there lived a girl named Laura Larose. She was eight and was loved by everyone. Everyday, she will go and buy vegetables from the market and buy fruits from the fruit stall. Her mother, Mrs. Larose, was a housewife and her father, Mr. Larose, was the town’s butcher.

She had every comfort and delight but she did not have one thing- any friends.

One day, she was feeding the goats her family raised when her parents called her for breakfast. They were having some carrots which Laura had bought from the market and some peas. After having breakfast, Mr.Larose went to sell red meat and Mrs. Larose went to her friend’s house because her friend was coming down with influenza. Laura was left alone in the house. She thought she will keep all the ironed clothes in the rightful cupboards. She first kept all her mother’s clothes in the cupboard and then her father’s clothes. When she kept all her father’s clothes, she thought of cleaning all the rooms. She wanted to go and see her grandfather’s room because it was locked for thirteen years. She had often heard her mother say to her father, ‘The key is safe in my cupboard.’ She thought of trying that key with the door. So she went to her mother’s cupboard and tried hard to find the key. At last she found it in the corner of the cupboard. It was rusted and was shaped like a crescent. She took it and tried it with her grandfather’s room’s door. As the key was rusted, it took some time to unlock the door but she did it. The room was full of dust and spider’s webs. She found another key on the floor next to a chair’s leg. She thought of using it for the cupboard in that room. So she took it and tried to open the cupboard. At last, she did it and when she did, she saw a bright glow inside it. She opened the cupboard fully and then everything was circling around her. She stopped and reached a beautiful meadow. She was confused and scared at the same time. Where was she? How did she get to the meadow? Then she had a faint memory that she had been in her grandfather’s room. As she thought this, a bunny with light blue eyes came and welcomed her to Funland where all children from different cupboards came and enjoyed with the other bunnies. Laura was afraid that she was somewhere far, far away from her house talking with a blue-eyed bunny! The bunny understood the expression on her face and told her, ‘Oh! You are a newcomer to Funland! I get it! This the first time you are coming here?’ Laura, finally finding her voice, said, ‘Y- Yes. This is the first time I am here. Where am I? I remember that I opened the cupboard and everything went circling around me. Who are you? How do you know that I am a newcomer?’ The bunny replied in a kind voice, ‘You are in Funland, a place where children of different ages came from special cupboards to enjoy and play with the other bunnies. By the way, I am Whitetoes, the person who makes sure that everyone is having fun. I know that you are a newcomer by looking at the expression on your face.’ Laura asked a question that was bugging her all the time, ‘How did I reach F-Funland? Whitetoes said, ‘You don’t remember how you came here? You opened the special cupboard in your house and you came here! Come and have fun with the bunnies and children! They will love to play with you!’ And with that, he took her hand and pulled her down the new-mown mead. She could see, to her surprise, lot of kids playing with the bunnies. She saw the fun in it and went running to the playmates. She played and played until she had realized that she had been there for hours. So she asked Whitetoes how to go back to her home. He said, ‘Just use your key, open a portal in air and say ‘My home’ clearly and loudly. She did just that and she was back in her grandfather’s room. She saw the clock and only a few minutes had passed. At that moment, she heard the door handle being turned and realized that her mother had come back. So she opened her grandfather’s room’s door and hid the key in a special hiding place. Then she went to the living room and sat in the sofa. The door opened and in came Mrs. Larose.

Everything was back to normal but Laura still went to Funland where she found the most number of friends from different cupboards to play with.