Urvashi

A Ball

Once upon a time there lived a small ball of sand named Neville. Now Neville had a mission. He spent a large part of his day wondering how he was going to achieve this mission: He wondered while making his tea, he wondered while folding his clothes, he wondered while reading his book and he wondered while looking for his T.V. remote. And then, finally, it struck him. The next morning he got up early. He drank his tea, ate a hearty breakfast and got ready to begin his journey. He rolled out of the house, excited it was finally time to achieve his mission. About an hour into his journey, Neville was very thirsty. He stopped and looked around to see whether there was anywhere that he could get some water. But before he could figure that out, he found something strange. He had suddenly become bigger! Neville was very surprised. He wondered what had happened. He hadn’t eaten that much for breakfast. He decided to ignore it, forget his thirst and roll along. Soon, Neville was hungry. He reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet but found that his hand got stuck in it. His shorts had tightened around his waist. He had gotten even bigger! This shocked Neville. He hadn’t been eating at all, how could he have become bigger? Again, Neville decided to ignore it and roll along. But now Neville was expanding every second. He could feel himself become bigger as he rolled along to his destination. Neville was very scared. Small ball Neville was becoming big ball Neville. He wasn’t happy at all. But he decided to roll along until he achieved his mission. His thirst and hunger increased but he was too scared to stop. Soon, he arrived. Neville was so excited that it was time to achieve his mission that he forgot he had become bigger along his journey. He looked about for some water and food and found some. In no time at all, he had drunk all the water and gobbled up all the food. He was now ready to complete his mission. He rolled along to the empty pit in front of him and jumped straight in. He broke into a thousand pieces and filled the entire pit: Getting bigger along the way had helped! Neville was the happiest he had ever been. He had achieved his mission: Adorable, innocent children could finally play in a soft bed of sand.

(in First Steps on the sand pit)