The story so far: The other children are furious that Team C is not going to lose points for Kartik’s badly done homework. They want to know why Kartik is dressed in dirty clothes and he tells them it’s because of his washing machine.
“Your washing machine?” Reema Miss asked. “What did it do?”
“It didn’t wash my clothes, Miss,” Kartik said. “And when I looked for clean clothes this morning, what do you think I found?”
“A snake?” Vineet asked. “A bear, perhaps?”
“But…but, Miss,” Vedant said.
“Yes, Vedant,” Reema Miss said. “Kartik is going to tell us what he found in his washing machine.”
A hearing
“I found this,” Kartik pointed to his clothes. “The washing machine hadn’t washed my clothes. That’s why I am not neatly dressed.”
“You could at least have ironed the clothes,” Tejas muttered angrily. Why couldn’t Kartik have been in Monica’s team? She would have straightened him out.
“But, Tejas,” Kartik said sadly, “I couldn’t do that because my iron wouldn’t heat when I switched it on. When I tried again it burnt this patch on my shorts. Look!”
Everyone stared at the big ugly patch on Kartik’s shorts.
“Is everyone happy with the reason?” Reema Miss asked.
“No, Miss,” Niharika said.
“Yes, Miss,” the members of Team C chorused.
“Team C should lose points,” Niharika said,
“Yes, yes,” several people said.
“No, no,” others shouted.
“But what could poor Kartik do,” Tejas said, “if the machines were bothering him?”
“It’s not really Kartik”s fault,” Reema Miss agreed.
An ugly murmur ran around the classroom.
“Don’t you feel sorry for Kartik?” Varsha demanded. “Forced to wear dirty clothes because his washing machine wouldn’t work,”
Gayatri understood what Varsha was trying to do and said, “And forced to wear un-ironed clothes because his iron refused to work!”
“And…and forced to,” Tejas jumped in to help his team members but couldn’t think of anything to say. He saw Kartik’s socks and said triumphantly, “Forced to wear his old old socks!”
He looked around, hoping someone else was going to say something about poor Kartik. But all eyes were fixed on Kartik’s legs where the socks had puddled around his ankles. Kartik moved uncomfortably.
“Look!” Nidhi pointed suddenly.
“But…but, Miss,” Vedant piped up in the silence.
“Er,” Reema Miss said, “what exactly do you want us to look at, Nidhi?”
“Look at his shoes,” Nidhi said. “How did he get the time to polish his shoes if he was running away from the crazy machines in his house?”
Kartik’s shoes looked as if they had been cleaned though they weren’t shining like the shoes of the other children. But still, the shoes looked cleaner than the rest of Kartik.
“Hmm,” Reena Miss said. “How did that happen, Kartik?”
“Oh, Miss,” Kartik said, “I felt bad to be dressed so badly that I decided to at least clean my shoes.”
“See?” Tejas said, putting his arm around Kartik, “Do you see what a good boy this Kartik is? Do you?”
The children of Class 4 A — members of Team A, B and D included, had to agree that Kartik was a good boy. And, that since his life was troubled by the machines in his house, the least his friends could do was support him. And stop asking for him and Team C to lose marks.
To be continued.
