Here is another version of "A close shave" - something about a tree incident ...
I was
dreadfully hungry.
Golden rays
of sunshine sprinkled the ground. Despite the cheery sunshine, I trudged back
home, my face as glum as an oyster. It was a tranquil Saturday
afternoon and I was taking a stroll along the pavement round my
neighbourhood. I was in an extremely bad mood as I was currently suffering from
gastric pains. Why did I not eat anything for breakfast and lunch? Such a silly
person I had been.
Then,
something happened.
For some
inexplicable reason, I shot a furtive glance at Miss Shah's garden. She was my
neighbour and a close friend of my mother. Miss Shah had false eyelashes that
stuck out a foot in front of her lovely Madonna face. She always enjoyed
growing mangoes. Seeing the juicy ripe mangoes weighing down the branches of
her mango tree, I drooled and rubbed my hands gleefully. "Hmm ... how
about getting some of those juicy mangoes for myself?" I muttered to
myself ecstatically as I clambered over the fence and crept into Miss Shah's
garden as quiet as a mouse.
Before
scaling up the mango tree, I scanned my surroundings like a robber looking out
for men in blue. With cat-like dexterity, I then climbed up the tree, reached
out and plucked the largest and juiciest mangoes my eyes laid fancy on. Ten
minutes later and as I was just about to make my descent down the mango tree,
when the branch I was clinging onto snapped loudly.
Everything
happened at once.
My arms
flailing wildly and helplessly as I hurtled towards the ground like a rocket
towards Earth, I tried in great despair to grab onto another branch for support
but my efforts were futile. The next moment, I landed onto the ground with a
thunderous thud. I howled in pain. Agony coursed like an angry snake through my
veins as pain coalesced into random streams of tears that burst forth,
streaming down my cheeks like a faulty faucet. Any movement I made gave rise to
extreme pangs of pain. I could do nothing except to lie still on the hard
ground, enduring the extreme pain in my body, praying fervently for someone to
come help me soon.
It seemed
like an eternity before Miss Shah discovered me lying on the ground in her
garden. Listening to my painful narrative sympathetically, Miss Shah helped me
up gingerly and carefully supported me back home.
Back in my
bedroom, Mother was furious like a bull in the arena, as she listened to Miss
Shah's narration on the incident that had passed. After Miss Shah departed,
Mother's anger was like that of Medusa in an attack. Her gaze, full of rage,
bored deep into my soul. Hell soon broke loose. I had to endure a severe
tongue-lashing from Mother. "See, now look at the mess you have got
yourself into. Sean, you should have eaten when you had the opportunity to do
so!" Mother berated on furiously. I could only hang my head low and listen
on, feeling as hapless as a baby. " Sorry, Mother ... " I muttered my
sincere apology ruefully.
All of a
sudden, there was pin drop silence - just like the calm after a raging storm.
Mother's furious face softened and she sighed. With the lightest of touch,
Mother cupped my left cheek with her right hand and muttered softly, "What
a close shave, Sean, I could have lost you ... " Without another word, I
embraced Mother tearfully.
"What
a close shave," I thought to myself as I vowed never again to perform such
foolhardy actions and endanger my life ever again.
What a really painful incident. Have you ever climbed trees?
Till the next time,
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