“The ball? Yes, of course,” he replied groping on the opposite side. For a moment Rahul wondered if he was batty.
“Hey, can’t you see it? It’s right at your feet!” the boy started groping once again. This time he picked it up. “Will you take it, please? It might go another way if I threw it.”
Rahul was there in a trice and took the ball from him. Something was clearly wrong. “Can’t you see?” he asked staring at his blank eyes.
“Not.. not very well,” he stammered.
Rahul sat down next to him. “Are you alone?” he asked curiously.
“Yes,” said the boy. “My sister has gone for tuition in a house nearby. I’m waiting for her here. Were you playing football?”
“Wanted to,” said Rahul, “But the others haven’t turned up. The rotters!” Rahul got up. “See you, then.”
“Must you go right now?” asked the boy. “I’m Rohit, by the way. What’s your name?”
“Rahul,” said Rahul sitting down once again. “What school do you go to?”
“None, right now,” said Rohit. “But I’ll be joining a special school – hopefully next term. There’s such a long queue, you see.”
“I say, I’m sorry,” stammered Rahul, “But you must be about my age. Why didn’t you try sooner?”
“I was quite OK and went to St. Patrick’s until I had that accident last year,” said Rohit. “We were to go trekking and were going to Chennai by train. There was trouble and people threw stones. The glass shattered and got into both my eyes. .. and … let’s talk of something else.”
The Hudhud help
“What do you want to talk about?” asked Rahul.
“I’ve been thinking of the places destroyed by Hudhud and people struggling for help,” said Rohit, “I heard it on TV though I couldn’t see the pictures. Wish I could do something to help.”
“We’ve been organising a relief bundle for them with clothes and things,” said Rahul, “and a special one for the kids with books and toys and things like that. They may have lost all theirs in the flood and would be happy to have them.”
WordSearch : There are ten words from the story hidden in this grid. Find them.
“I’ve quite a lot of old toys and books and clothes put away,” said Rohit eagerly, “will you take them too and include them in your bag?”
“Sure,” said Rahul.
“I’ll ask my sister to pack them and I’ll bring it tomorrow,” said Rohit. “You’ll come, won’t you?”
“Of course,” said Rahul.
“And will you tell me about your school, your projects and the things you do?” asked Rohit eagerly, “We’re new here and I don’t have any friends.”
“I come here quite often,” said Rohit. “Some of my friends also come. I’ll bring them along.” “That would be nice.” said Rohit eagerly. “It’s nice to hear about things.”
“We’d want to hear about your trekking and other things too,” said Rahul. “I’ve often wanted to go myself. Perhaps you could tell us something about it.”
“Very well, we’ll exchange yarns, then,” said Rohit, cheering up visibly.
“Well, isn’t that what friends are for?” said Rahul smiling.
