Summer Vacation Stories - The Secret Hiding Place

One fine summer morning, as Meera and I sat on the steps, we heard someone approaching. We were scared, for we were eating a chocolate and if someone noticed us we were surely 'gone'.

“We must conceal ourselves somewhere” Meera whispered. Ammamma will surely kill us if she found out. There was no time to waste. We had to hide ourselves somewhere. The first place we thought of was behind the door. No, we would be found out too easily.

Suddenly, I saw the idol of lord Krishna. In front of it were two chairs. I pulled Meera, hauled her to the chair and we crouched there as quiet as a mouse.

We were probably a second early. As soon as we crouched down, Ammamma came in. Meera stifled a giggle and Ammamma turned around. She smiled to herself and looked behind the door, our usual hiding place. We took a breath of relief, thankful that we had not hidden there!

Upon not finding us there, Ammamma shrugged her shoulders and continued with her work. 

Meera couldn’t stop laughing now. She was shaking with laughter. I clasped my hand over her mouth and she smothered another giggle. I looked at her crossly, she was sure to give away our newly found hiding place.

Ammamma was surprised. She had heard Meera’s restrained giggle but she didn’t know where it was coming from. Keeping her bucket full of clothes down, she started looking for us. She started with our room. Behind the cupboard, under the bed, we were not to be found. She went to every single room upstairs. Finally, she took up the bucket and started putting the clothes on the stand.

After that she came to the idol of lord Krishna next to where we were hiding. The situation was very tense. I could have sworn that her sari had touched my leg. Then to our relief, she carried the bucket and went downstairs.

We slowly got out of our hiding place, thankful that we had not hidden in any of our usual hiding places. After finishing the rest of our chocolate, we went downstairs.

Ammamma saw us and enquired, “Where were you people?”

Giving me a meaningful look, Meera replied, “Oh us? We were in the verandah with Muthaccha.”

Fortunately, this explanation seemed to satisfy Ammamma.

She said, “I thought that both of you were upstairs”. 

And later that day we heard her asking Muthaccha to look for rats upstairs. 😊😇