THE THREE GODFATHERS

“CRASH”! The window pane shattered to a zillion pieces! Chirag had struck again ! “Out, out I say. You are not fit to be inside the house!” shouted his mom! “Why can’t you stay for a day without destroying anything? Come home only when you decide not to break anything.”

Chirag got annoyed and left to ride his cycle. Along the way SLAP!SLAP!SLAP! Chirag heard his friend Anuj’s father slapping him. Chirag overheard.

“Sixth time, the sixth time you forgot your book at school! Now how in the world will you do home work?” Shouted Anuj’s father.

“I will borrow Chirag’s book, ”said Anuj.

“Oh no mister,you are not borrowing anyone’s book. Get out of here and come back only when you are responsible for your property!” SLAM! His father slammed the door behind him.

“Hi!” said Chirag to Anuj.

“Hi!” said Anuj in a low voice.

“Why are you feeling sad ?”

“My father...”

“Slapped you because you are irresponsible and left your book at school!!”

said Chirag finishing Anuj”s sentence.

“Ya! How did you know?” asked Anuj puzzled.

“I could not help hearing. Your Dad’s voice is not exactly soft ! Anyway let us go find Bharat!”

Along the way Chirag explained about how and why he got into trouble.

“You know adults stink! They always have to be right about everything! Life would be enjoyable without these pompous adults butting in to our business.”

“You guys are awful!” came Bharat’s tiny voice from his house. “You guys never keep up your promise. You guys never get me what I want. Not even an eraser. I am through with you guys!!!”

“Sorry son,but we just don’t have the time!” said his father without looking up from behind his Business Newspaper.

“Ahhhhhh !” Bharat stomped out of his house.

“That did not go so well. Did id?” asked Chirag.

“NO!” shrieked Bharat. “Lucky, your parents care for you.”

“Leave it. Calm down dude ! Let us go and cycle in the basement.”

Said Anuj.” At least we have each other.”

Along the way Chirag said, “I have a perfect nickname for us!”

“What?” asked Bharat.

“ABC! Awesome Brilliant Companions!!!” said Chirag.

“Swell!” commented Bharat.” Hey! ABC is also Anuj, Bharat and Chirag !”

After an hour, Anuj got bored and wanted to have a fast cycle race.

He said, “Pals, I am getting bored of just cycling round and round in circles. Let us have a fast cycling race!”

“Okay! I am fine with it,” said Chirag calmly.

‘Fine? Just fine? I think it is a really cool idea Anuj!” praised Bharat.

Anuj said, “I will be the referee.”

“Can we go now?” Chirag said.So they took their cycles and went up the drive way slope.

Along the way Bharat asked, “What will the winner get as a prize?”

“That depends on what the winner desires!” said Anuj.

“Yes we will put in our pocket money to buy the winner whatever he wants!” said Chirag.

“Let us begin!” said Anuj.

“Alright then. On your marks, get set, go!!!” cried Anuj.

VRRRRROOOOMMMM! Chirag and Bharat raced down the driveway slope. Chirag was leading. But suddenly ‘SKREEEEECH!” Chirag skid to a halt.

Chirag looked petrified! Anuj and Bharat came running to see what had happened.

“WHAT HAPPENED?” screamed Anuj breathlessly. “BLIMEY! WHY ARE YOU LOOKING PETRIFIED?” shouted Bharat in tension.

“Shhhh! Look!” said Chirag softly. He pointed to a rat-bitten net. “Look beneath it.” There was a sick looking pigeon. It was about to have babies.

But unfortunately a group of rats had surrounded it to eat the eggs! Chirag liked nature .He did not want the rats to kill the pigeon or eat the eggs!

He took a stick and started scaring the rats away. The rats scuttled away but nobody could tell when they would come back.

“Good job man!” commented Anuj.

Bharat remembered that the winner of the fast cycling race should get whatever he desires. The three friends agreed that Chirag was the winner.

So Bharat asked: “ Hey Cheese! (Cheese was Chirag’s nickname), what do you want since you are the winner? I have ten rupees from my pocket money!”

“The only thing I want now is to protect that pigeon and its babies!” Chirag replied.

“Listen, we must help this poor pigeon guys.”

“But what can we do? We cannot be its nanny!” said Bharat.

“Here is a plan. First let us take off that horrible net and give it decent shelter.” They took off the net very gently, so that the pigeon did not get hurt. Then they took a steel grill lying at the back of the basement and decided to use it as a roof.

“Good job!!” said Chirag.” Now we need something for the walls, so that those awful rats cannot hurt the pigeon!”

Anuj and Bharat cycled to the hardware store at the end of the road and bought extra strong steel nets. Chirag stayed and protected the pregnant pigeon..

Anuj and Bharat came back as fast as they could, and they made a fence for the pigeon.

:Excellent work!” said Chirag. Bharat scattered some puffed rice near the bird. The pigeon slowly moved its head and ate them one by one. The three boys saw this and felt elated.

The boys came everyday and fed the bird. One day the pigeon had laid three eggs which looked like spotted pebbles. After a few more days the ABC gang saw that the eggs had hatched! They felt very proud and happy.

“Let us give them names,” Said Anuj.

“Yes, let us call them Chirpy, Fluffy and Ruffles!” Said Bharat looking at the babies fondly.

“Hey guys, do you know what? We have become Godfathers today!” Said Chirag.

“Right! The boys in class will be so jealous when they know this!”

Just then Anuj’s father stepped down from his Santro.

“Dad, look we saved these babies from the rats!” yelled Anuj, forgetting that he had hated his father.

“You saved them?” asked Chirag’s mother getting out of the lift.

“Did you build this shelter?” asked Bharat’s mom.

“We did!” said Chirag and told them the whole story.

“How sweet!”

“How thoughtful!”

“How responsible!”

“What a magnificent piece of construction this shelter is!”

The grownups gushed! The boys blushed!

The three Godfathers quietly cycled away leaving the grown ups to fuss over their sons’ achievements.

Chirpy, Ruffles & Fluffy winked

By Akash