Page 66 - Lavender-B-6

Let’s read and find out what was mysterious about the boy from the Std. III.

Father Rebello sat in his study, his vast bulk filling the roomy revolving chair. ‘Swish,
swish’, went his pen as he wrote. Tick-tock went the clock on top of the bookshelf.
Otherwise, the room was very quiet. The windows were shut against the chill mountain

air. The curtains were drawn.

On the carpet below lay Father’s dog, Raja. In the daytime, Raja acted bone-lazy. Even
his meals had to be pushed right under his nose or he wouldn’t eat. But at night a change
came over him. If the wind so much as stirred Father’s latch, Raja let out a deep growl.

The clock had just struck ten when Father signed the last of the papers. As he put down
his pen, he heard a low rumble. ‘Grrr, grr.’

‘Quiet,’ said Father and Raja put his head between his paws. Silence.

And then Father heard a soft footfall. Some more. . . Slowly they came up the staircase and

on to the landing where they stopped. Raja was barking furiously as Father walked to the
door and threw it open.

‘Who is there?’ he called. In the dark, he could just make out a small form.

‘Come in,’ he said aloud and presently the light shone on the face of Norbu, the new
Tibetan boy from Standard III.

Norbu shivered slightly as Father Rebello led him into the study. He sat huddled in one
corner of a chair, his frightened eyes darting about the room.

Father Rebello waited so that the thudding of the boy’s
heart had time to ease. At last, he spoke, ‘What is
it, Norbu? Tell me.’

Norbu tried, but the words wouldn’t come. He
passed his tongue over his lips once, twice,
three times, before he found his small voice.

‘Father,’ he said, ‘I can light some
joss sticks in chapel every evening?

Yes? You not mind?’

bulk: size
roomy: spacious
bone-lazy: extremely lazy
huddled: gathered close together in order to stay
warm, feel safe
darting: moving or running somewhere suddenly or
rapidly
joss stick: a thin stick of incense
chapel: a room in a church for meditation and prayer
or small religious services

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