“Khach! Khich!”
Sara sat up. What was that sound? Sara was six years old. Very often, her parents left her alone at home in the evenings and went for parties.
Tonight too, she was alone.
“Khich! Khach!”
There was that noise again. It seemed to be coming from behind the curtains.
“Who…who is it?” This time even Sara was a bit scared.
The curtains parted and a strange looking man jumped in front of her.
He was short, fat and bald with a round face and round eyes. He was wearing a T-shirt and Bermuda shorts.
“Wh…who are you?”
“I am a ghost.”
“Ghost!” Sara started laughing. “I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“But I am a ghost,” he shouted and plucking his head with his right hand placed it on his left palm. His round eyes grew bigger and rounder. He then threw his head high in the air. The head floated in mid-air for a few seconds and then came down and landed on his right palm.
Sara clapped her hands and shouted in glee. “That was a wonderful trick. I loved it.”
“Stupid girl, you are supposed to find me scary, not love my antics!”
“But I find you funny, not scary!”
“But at least now you do believe I am a ghost.”
“Yes, I do. But a funny, jolly ghost, not a scary one. Will you be my friend?” Sara said and held out her hand.
“Do I have a choice?” the Ghost shook hands with her.
“I am Sara, what is your name?”
“Fachaak.”
“Now tell me, why did you come here?”
“Your mum makes the best food in the entire city. Her chocolate cakes, pineapple ice-creams, panipuris , chhole bhature , pizzas, burgers and momos are so yummy.”
“How do you know?”
“I came here to taste your mother’s cooking. I thought I’ll scare you so much that you will share your food with me every day.”
“Your are so silly, Fachaak. We are friends, aren’t we? And friends share everything.”
A little incident
A month or so later, one night Sara and Fachaak were watching TV —
‘Tom and Jerry’ cartoon.
Suddenly there was a sound.
“I’ll go out and check,” Fachaak said and disappeared.
He appeared a few minutes later.
“A thief is trying to come through the back door. When he enters I’ll be ready to welcome him. As soon as I shout HARRRRUMPHHH switch on the light and leave the rest to me.”
When Sara heard Fachaak shout she switched on the light.
The thief, whose name was Ragda, heard a shout and the next moment the light came on. He saw a scene which he would never, ever forget. A huge monster was coming at him, rushing through the air. The creature was large and round. Except for his face his entire body was covered with fur from which hung spiders. His teeth were crooked and he had three eyes which were hovering above his head and looking in different directions.
Ragda was a huge fellow and he had never been scared of anything in his life. But today was different. He tried to scream but no words came out. Within seconds the creature was sitting on Ragda’s shoulders, plucking out hair from his nearly bald head.
“So you want to steal from this house is it?” the creature said. Surprisingly the voice was like that of a little girl. Coming from that monster it sounded even more scary.
“N…no….n..no.”
“Then why did you come? To sing lullabies?”
“Y….yes….I…m…mean no...no…”
“Will you ever come again?”
“N….no, never, I won’t come to this house, this l…lane, this a…area…..even this town. B…but p…p….please s..ss..spare me……”
“Okay, go now,” Fachaak said and Ragda ran straight out and kept running as fast as he could and for as long as he could.
Fachaak returned to his normal self.
“My hero,” Sara said and hugged him. And for the next one month she gladly allowed Fachaak to watch all his favourite serials on TV.
