Scene : A classroom
Ritesh : May I come in, Madam ?
Mrs Sen : Now? Don’t you think you are early ?
Ritesh : Pardon, Ma’am ?
Mrs Sen : I mean for the second period. You are too
early for the second period.
Ritesh : I am so sorry ! Ma’am, I’m really sorry.
I started well in time from home, you won’t
believe what happened.
Mrs Sen : Hmm, We’ll see. Let’s hear the story first.
What happened? Nothing short of an
earthquake, I ’m sure.
Ritesh : No, Ma’am, really, Ma’am. Honestly, Ma’am.
Mrs Sen : Go ahead. Go ahead.
Ritesh : I was walking to school as usual, I was half
way down the narrow lane that leads to the
market. Suddenly, I heard a scream from the
main road.
Mrs Sen : And of course, you had to investigate !
Ritesh : Yes, Madam, I had to find out if someone
needed help. And sure enough, there was this
person lying near the pavement – he was
groaning with pain.
Mrs Sen : So, you took him to Dr Jadhav.
Ritesh : No, Ma’am, I didn’t get the chance. Just as I
reached that man, another man came running out
of the shop there, with a packet in his hand. And
the shopkeeper also ran out shouting, “Chor!
Chor! catch him!”
Mrs Sen : Amazing ! Quite a handful for you to deal with
and all at once ! What did you do then ?
Ritesh : Yes, Ma’am, but the most amazing thing
happened then. That man near the pavement[1]he, too, got up and began to run with the thief.

Without losing a moment, I ran after them.
Mrs Sen : And then you caught them and took them to the
police station !
We couldn’t do that, Ma’am. They just vanished
around the corner. All this happened so fast.
Mrs Sen : Then why are you late ?
Ritesh : That’s not all. I realized that I had left my bag
at the shop in the mad rush. So I ran back to
get it.
Mrs Sen : And it wasn’t there !
Ritesh : No, Ma’am, it was there all right, but there
was a huge, hairy, brown dog sitting on it. I
didn’t know what to do.

Mrs Sen : Interesting ! A dog on a bag in a shop !
Ritesh : Yes, Ma’am. Even the shopkeeper was
surprised. He didn’t know where the dog
had come from. How that dog growled ! We
tried all kinds of things to make it move –
whistling and clapping, and showing him the
stick but he wouldn’t budge, and I couldn’t
leave without my school-bag.
Mrs Sen : But I see that you got your bag finally.
Ritesh : Yes, Ma’am. Finally the shopkeeper gave me
some biscuits. I offered the biscuits to the dog
and lured him away from the bag.
Mrs Sen : OK. So let’s say that accounts for fifteen
minutes.

Ritesh : But there’s more, Ma’am. The poor dog
began to follow me to school. It looked so
poor and lonely and small…….
Mrs Sen : Small ? Did you say small ?
Ritesh : I mean young, Ma’am. It was big in size but
it was only a puppy, really. And it looked lost.
Maybe it was looking for its mother or owner
and I thought it was asking for my help. So I
began a enquire with the other shopkeepers and
passers by, but nobody could tell and couldn’t
leave it behind.
Mrs Sen : And then you found the owner ? Who was it ?
Ritesh : That’s the funny part, Ma’am. The puppy itself
found the owner. It saw someone across the
road and just bounded towards the person. I was
so relieved. Then I turned and ran straight to
school.
Mrs Sen : Good boy ! Now that your good deeds are done,
there’s something else you can do. There’s a sto[1]ry-writing competition coming up. Would you
like to send an entry ?
Ritesh : Who Ma’am ? Me, Ma’am ? Now….. I wouldn’t
know what to write. I’m not good at making up
stories.