MISS SPITFIRE AND MR DISASTER
Megha woke up early as usual, but with more excitement: her family was coming that day to stay with her during the vacation. As Megha got ready for her usual morning walk, she thought of how the grounds would be more silent this morning than usual. All students had left for their homes the previous day. She put on her favourite soft cotton pista coloured kurti and loose white salwar.
She wondered whether the two little buds on her favourite rose bush, which was the pride of her small garden, had bloomed that day. Eager to start the day with a sniff of their sweet fragrance, Megha slung her pouch with water bottle, mobile etc. across her torso and opened the door.
The dull drone of a lawn mower greeted her. The gardener, a new one, wearing the uniform of forest green slacks, shirt and cap, who was mowing the lawn, looked up startled at the sound of her door opening and suddenly, the machine jerked from his hands.
"Hey, stop!" he shouted at it stupidly and ran after it.
Megha could only watch horrorstruck, as the machine ran pell-mell through her garden and within a few seconds, shredded her dear rose plant into pieces.
The gardener finally caught hold of the thing and managed to switch if off before it wrecked more havoc.
"What have you done!" Megha shouted, as she came running to inspect the damage.
"I didn't do anything intentionally, Ma'am. The machine lost control while I was doing gardening." The gardener answered irritated.
"Look at my garden! You call this -"
She indicated the strip of land which now looked thoroughly plowed.
" - gardening? And the machine didn't lose control, you lost control of the machine." Megha raised her finger in accusation.
"Well, okay! Maybe I had lost control of the machine." He admitted.
Megha looked smug at this and began talking. "Well-"
But she was cut short by him.
"but we were just getting acquainted. You can't expect us to be in good terms on the first meeting itself!"
"What?!" exclaimed a confused Megha, not catching the sarcasm at first.
The frustrated gardener closed his eyes and took a deep breath. On opening them, he said in a cordial, business-like tone with an apologetic smile fixed on his face-
"I'm deeply sorry for your loss Ma'am. The thing is that I'm rather new to this job and this was my first time handling a lawn mower. I promise no further damage will be caused to your garden and all the destruction that have occurred will be rectified as soon as possible. Now please accept my apology and continue with your morning walk. Good day to you!"
He ended his apology with a nod, turned away from her and began analyzing the damage.
Megha was dumbstruck by the gardener's strange apology.
"You'll better make it right soon" she muttered when she finally recovered and walked off angrily.
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After his rather flowery apology, Mohan turned around and surveyed the mess he - no, the lawn mower - had created.
"It seems I need to learn this job first. I've started at a completely wrong note." He advised himself in mind.
"You'll better make it right soon." his accuser muttered.
Mohan was startled again.
Before he could turn around to look at her, she sighed and walked off angrily. Mohan stood there, staring at her.
"Who does she think she is - the principal? And how is all this my fault? It's entirely this stupid land mower's fault." The angry side of his mind thought.
"How can you blame a machine, Mohan? It can't think for itself, can it? And as she said, you should've controlled it better." The rational part of his mind chided.
"As I told her, this is my first day of work. You can't expect me – or yourself - to become best friends with a lawn mower in minutes. And how dare she shout at me like that! " his angry side retorted.
"Well, she didn't know you are a respected journalist in disguise, did she? So, stop blaming her and the lawn mower and try learning 'the art of gardening' and rectify the damage you have caused." his rational part ordered calmly.
"Well, you are right I suppose." his angry part accepted defeat reluctantly. Deciding not to cry over spilt milk, he thought of the rational part's suggestion.
"The 'art of gardening' is a bit far-fetched. Still, I should know the basics, or else, people like that Miss Spitfire will ensure I'm thrown out of this job before we even begin our investigation. I can't let that happen. I desperately need Guru's help." He thought.
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THE CLOUD'S CHARM
FanfictionMegha, as her name suggests, is a dynamic girl - one who floats in life's flow just like clouds. And Mohan, despite his name, is not much of a charmer in his social circle: he was yet to find someone special and currently, he was concentrating on...
