TALES FROM READERS

• A Parrot and A Crow NEW
• Speaking Garden and Speaking Well NEW
• The Mysterious Voice NEW
• Be Helpful
• When Trees stopped speaking
• Gujarati Dhokala
• Village Leader and the Fallen Berries
• Lucky Pandit Tida Joshi
• The Coconuts story
• A Dream Saved the King!
• Lazy Pigeon
• A Scary Cold Water Drop
• Intelligent Merchants
• A Clever Old Woman
• Father, Son and a Crow
• The Mystery of Twin Town
• Miracle
• Bhola Bear Gets Honey
• Fear of LIZARD
• Rinku Rabbit Teaches A Lesson
• Every Tiger Has It's Day
• Mrs. Squirrel's Beachy Holiday
• Bella, Billu And The Billi
• A Suitable Match
• Chimpu- The Jungle Detective
  The Case of The Hidden Treasure
• Daring Sia and The Theft of The Twisted Candles
• Chimpu-The Jungle Detective
  The Case of The Stolen Honey
• The Princess of the Blue lotus
• Inspiration
• A Better Place to Live
• Sid And The Pirates 1
• Sid And The Pirates 2
• Sid And The Pirates 3
• Rinku
• Tula Wants To Grow Up!
• Shining In The Dark
• The Guru
• O.D.D.
• The Girl With X-Ray Eyes
• An Eerie Experience
• Scared Speechless!
• The Haunted House
• The Lily Pad(dle) Boat
• Little Tom And His Pets
• Deepa And The King of The Ocean
• Magic Rose
• Charlie's Pet Lion
• The Three Princesses
• The Ring
• Traitors You Can't Sustain!
• Friends And Enemies
• Bruno, The Sheep Dog
• Roses And Cacti
• Hardwork Pays
• No Pain, No Gain!
• The Magical Pond
• Everything For Something
• The Eavesdropper
• The Crow That Boasted
• The Golden Bird
• Asha And Aadesh In Frogindom!
• Moon's Magic
• Baby Tree Wants Ice Cream!
• Jackal And Birds
• Roll Model
• When The Teacher Became The King
• The Blind Beggar
• A Night of fun in the Desert Village
• The Blind Woman
• The Pirate's Mistake
• Team Work Wins
• Bobby Turns Brave
• The Two Princess
• God Everywhere
• The Mongoose And The Snake
• The Missing Sweetmeat
• The Mule
• The Wishing Tree
• The Magic Potion
• King And The Three Sons
• An Old Lady And The Lamp
• The Kindhearted Villager
• Christopher's Encounter With The Aliens
• The Mysterious School
• The Coconut Tree
• Count The Blessing Not The Curses
• Wonderful X'mas Gift
• Tikku and the Rats
• The Magic Hole
• A Mysterious Memory
• The Lost Ball
• Gundu and Mithu
• Home Alone
• Holidays
• Sleepovers
• The Secret of Work
• Little Friend
• Mr. Twinkle Transforms
• April Fool
• The Call
• The Thief Caught Atlast
• The Monkey And The Dolphin
• Toko Castle
• Elephant, Croc And Toad
• Vice of Dice!
• Laughter Is The Best Medicine
• My Meet With God
• The Impossible Magic!
• Encounter with the Friday Ghost
• The Last Wish
• A Fearful Event
• A King's Costly Mistake
• The Clever Pussy Cat
• The Dangerous Silky Bed!
• The Magical Ink
• The Magic Of The Map
• The Stormy Night with my Cousins

The Call

It is hard to explain what it was. Maybe it was a dream, maybe it was someone's idea of a joke or maybe it was extraterrestrials. All that can be said is "The truth is out there".
I was sitting comfortably in my favourite couch, enjoying the heavy rain outside by watching my favourite programme on television (the advertisements) with remote control in one hand and potato chips in the other, when suddenly the electricity went out. I was alone in the house as my parents had gone to a wedding. I was asked to sit at home and learn for the exams which were due next week but of course the matter had comfortably slipped out of my mind.
For a moment I was completely blinded. In my concentration in watching television I had not noticed the nightfall and I had forgotten to charge the emergency lamp. As minutes passed by, the eyes got accustomed to the dark and I was able to see the furniture around me. I got up and groped in the drawer nearby for some candles only to remember later that we were out of candles. I usually thought of myself as very brave but now sitting in the dark all alone, I was not so sure. The rain outside was getting stronger with the thunder and lightning making matters worse. I hoped others would be back soon. The stillness around me was getting denser. I decided to walk to lighten up myself, trying hard not to think about all those ghost movies I had seen lately, but my legs had gone very stiff. Wait! The candles were not the only source of light. I remembered that there was a torch somewhere in the house and decided to look for it. I found it a couple of minutes later but they were out of battery. Talk about bad luck. The sudden hope that had flickered died and fear started to creep in again. Long creepy shadows looked out at me from everywhere. A cold shiver ran down my spine as the wind howled outside. I started to panic at the slightest sound: the clock ticking, the window banging, the cat mewing and what was that thud thud noise. Oh! That was just my heart pounding with fear. I sat down again trying to get a hold over myself when suddenly I jumped out of fright. Whew! It was only the phone ringing. I went to get it falling twice on the way. With a shaky voice, I said "Hello".
I was flooded with relief when I heard Tina's voice on the other side. Tina was my friend who lived next door. She had called to see if I was alright as she knew that I was alone. Soon I forgot all about the rain and the dark. I was at ease again sitting on my couch chatting away with my friend. Almost half an hour had passed when I heard someone banging on the gate. I asked Tina to hold and being sure that it would be my parents I went to open the door with the keys to the gate in my hand. But it was not my parents at the gate.
There was only one person. I looked hard to see through the rain, who was it in the dark. It was a girl with long hair, about my height standing with an umbrella. My fear of ghosts was now ten fold. But did ghosts use umbrella? I hoped not. As the lightning flashed across the sky her face came into view. Tina!
"Hi", she yelled. "My mom asked me to check on you if you needed anything. I couldn't call you over the phone as all the phone lines are dead. Are you okay?"

"I... on phone... here... you... what..." and not being able to make any sense, I ran back to check the phone. It was dead!

By:
Jaimy Susan Davies