“Do you think we should go back and save those children?” asked Megs.
“You mean the kids in Clocking Town?” asked Sandhya.
“Yes. They are all prisoners there. Can't we help them?”
Rohan jumped up saying, “I don't want to go there again. It was frightening the first time around. If those kids had used their brains they wouldn't be there in the first place. I say we let them be.”
But Megs and Sandhya felt that they should do something and so Rohan had to agree. They trooped into the dark, gloomy shop, as the clock was about to strike three and then placed themselves in front of the clock. All the clocks in the shop began to chime, but the old grandfather clock did not!
“What's wrong with this clock?” asked Megs irritated. She aimed a kick at it hoping to set it working.
They heard a shuffling sound and turning around they saw an old man. He smiled at them and said, “That clock does not work. It hasn't worked in ever so many years!”
“But…but…only last week…” began Megs.
“Oh yes! Last week it worked. For a few seconds…may be at three o'clock?” he said rather slyly.
“How can it work just when it wants to?” asked Sandhya.
“Well…a grandfather clock is a grandfather clock!” said the old man sniggering.
“What shall we do now?” asked Megs.
“You could travel to another world,” said the old man.
“We know that's all nonsense,” said Megs in a matter-of-fact manner.
“But I have a machine…”
“Yes, yes, we so believe you,” said Sandhya.
But Rohan was interested and followed the old man to the other side of the shop. The girls had no option but to follow.
“Get into that box,” said the old man, showing them a large wooden trunk!
“This is crazy. We can see that it is an old wooden trunk. Why would we want to get into it?” asked Megs
“Just do as I say!” commanded the old man. He was becoming angry now.
Into the trunk
They clambered into the trunk. Once in, they were surprised to find that there was enough room for the three of them to sit comfortably. The old man shut the lid on them and it became very, very dark. And then Immediately they felt themselves hurtling through space.
A bright dazzling light and they seemed to be in a beautiful place. Wide paved roads, green green trees, pretty flowers everywhere. Then they heard singing. It seemed to be coming towards them. It was a parade of very little people. And they were all dressed strangely. Up close they found that the little people were actually elves and goblins, fairies and leprechauns. They were singing and dancing and as they came closer, they grabbed hold of Megs and her friends. Caught up in the moment they too began to dance and sing. It was all very merry.
Then they came to a stream and the elves and goblins, the fairies and leprechauns began to wade across it. Megs and her friends being much taller thought they too could wade across, but when they tried they just fell into the stream. They tried to yell out for help, but they could not be heard. The parade continued but the three of them were underwater!
Gasping and spluttering they came up to the surface. They saw a giant fish. It seemed to be laughing at them.
“I can swear the fish is laughing at us!” said Rohan.
“It was so funny to see you guys go underwater,” laughed the fish.
“Oh yes. It's so funny…ha ha ha!” scoffed Sandhya.
“Okay, peace people. I see we seem to have gotten off on the wrong footing. Lets make up with a cool chai or something?” said the fish.
So they went along with the fish into his underwater café and had tea with fish and his friends. They met Toppee the octopus, and Jello the jellyfish and even Seedy the seahorse. They spent a long time chatting and laughing and having a very good time.
“What's the time?” asked Megs.
“Time?” said the fish. “Never heard of time!”
“Oh my goodness! We're sunk. We need to get back,” said Rohan a bit frantically.
They swam off and climbed onto the bank. A mole came along and rolled his eyes at them.
“Hmmm rather strange looking creatures,” he muttered. “Wonder where they have come from!”
“We are not strange and we are not creatures. And we come from a very nice place, where there are no rude talking moles around!” snapped Sandhya. They were all soaked through and were not feeling too happy about it.
“Don't be rude creature. And don't shout!” said mole rubbing his eyes.
Sandhya was just getting ready to have a good fight with mole when they saw their old wooden trunk lying close to a tree.
“Come on, come on. There's our trunk. Let's get out of here!” shouted Rohan.
“Can I come too? Can I come too?” asked the mole. But the three of them were so busy trying to get away that they did not hear him.
