The story so far: I had been left behind by Ma and Priya. But, not for long, if Sammy and I had anything to do with it. We snuck behind, undetected. But, oops, Sammy dashed off with no warning, and Priya spotted us!
I didn’t know what to do! Should I turn and run home or should I run behind Sammy who was in the ravine already? Priya obviously didn’t know what to do either. She stared at me, then shook her fist at me and made a face then turned back to the group — but Sammy was in front of them, barring their way and not allowing them to go forward. I ran to him and said, “What are you doing Sammy? Let them go!”
Cloudburst
He snapped, “NO! We have to stop them! There’s been a cloudburst upstream and the water is coming!”
I had no idea what a cloudburst was, but as I looked behind him, I saw mongooses, moles, wild fowl, stray cats and some other small animals leaving the ravine and coming towards us and I knew they knew something that we didn’t, and they were getting to safety. I turned and shouted to Priya and the rest of the group. “Get back!”
There was a louder sound now. I pushed as many people as I could to the higher side of the path. And then all of us saw a wall of water dashing past in the ravine just a few feet away. The shallow stream disappeared and flashed by in a torrent — and what was worse, a huge wave backed up our way.
Priya grabbed hold of hands and shouted, “Run to the rest house! Run to the trees!”
Everyone was trying to scramble out of the way but the wave hit us and soaked us — and then the water got sucked back into the ravine. In the mad rush, I lost sight of Sammy. “Sammy!” I cried. “Where are you?”
I heard a muffled ‘mluffgluffgluff’ and I was horrified. The water had hit him first. “He’s drowning!” I said. “Help! Find Sammy!”
But everyone was trying to get as far away as possible from the ravine.
“Sammy!” I called again and again, but all I could hear was the same ‘Mluffgluffgluff’. I ran around desperately. I tried to get Priya’s attention, but she was lining up everyone and trying to count them. Ma and the others had heard the noise and were running towards us.
“Riaz is missing!” I heard someone shout and I looked around. Riaz was my classmate. Had he and Sammy been swept away?
“Sammy! Sammy! Say something! Where are you?” I howled.
“Mluffgluffgluff!” my earphones went again.
“He’s alive! I can hear him!” I cried.
Priya and Riaz’s elder sister Rubina were now racing back towards where I stood.
“Where? Where’s he?” asked Rubina, thinking I meant Riaz.
“We can only hear the water…” said Priya.
Then suddenly I heard Sammy’s voice saying, “Here I am!” and I gave a great shout of happiness. Sammy — wet and muddy and dirty — was limping through the mud towards the three of us. I flew to him and fell on him and hugged him.
And then I saw Riaz sitting against a rock behind Sammy. Looking about as dirty as Sammy, but with less hair. “I had to grab him,” grunted Sammy, giving a shiver and a shake to get rid of all the water on him. “My mouth was full of pants-and-boy…”
“You’re a hero, Sammy!” I said, hugging him tighter.
“No, you’re a hero!” said Priya to me.
I laughed. It was okay if Priya thought that.
Sammy and I know better, don’t we? And now you know better too.
The End
