The little girl raced through the narrow service lane which took her to the bank of the nearby stream. The gurgling water glistened under the bright afternoon Sun. It being the summer afternoon , it was quiet all around. The little girl was always fascinated by this stream mainly because of the stones that lay at the bottom of the stream whose clear water made them visible to the eye in all details. The stones no longer looked like the dull grey stones lying around on the bank but took a life of their own. She would sit closest to the stream, at the same time, being cautious of the moss covered slippery steps of the bank. These were the idyllic moments for her. She sat there unperturbed with curious eyes looking at the flow of water over the shimmering stones .The clear water rippled forth blunting the rough edges of the stones, turning them smooth, the rays of the Sun reflected their sheen making them gleam like precious stones. She generally came to the stream to pick some stray stones lying close by when the water ebbed a little since the stream was not quite deep but somewhat shallow. She felt like a king lording over the entire scene as no body was there to claim her space.
She also had a treasure trove of her own which she augmented with her new findings, but the major part consisted of these stones which she collected near the stream and which she loved the most. The assortment had other trinkets too which she hoarded from time to time, the stray beads she found lying in the courtyard, multi-coloured broken glass bangles which fascinated her , So were the bird feathers and the beautiful petals of the delicate flowers and leaves of grape vine which she pressed in her note book and which she sometimes relished eating, especially the grape leaves which tasted sour. The whole exercise consumed a lot of time yet it gave her immense pleasure and made her feel rich. She guarded her treasure closely and kept it as a secret. This was her treasure and close to her heart. It was her companion in her lonely hours when the ladies in the house had their afternoon nap and when one could hear the wind whooshing through the trees, and she could't find the trace of her siblings, who perhaps had their own haunts which they revealed to none. But she too never needed them, she was busy in her own world where no body mattered but she alone under the vast canopy of blue sky, the rippling stream and the treasures she foraged in the loving cradle of mother Nature.
She suddenly stopped, she was feeling suffocated . She realised she had put off the AC ,the air in the room felt heavy and dusty. She looked at her phone which looked ugly and lifeless to her.
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