One Summer Night

Abha twisted and turned in her bed and yawned. 

Aditi whispered, ”let’s go now.”

“No, Mom might be up.”, Abha mumbled.

“Mom slept an hour ago.”, Aditi said in a mocking tone.

“I could hear the ringing of her anklet”.

“Abha, shut up and move your ass.”, Aditi ordered.

They slowly walked towards the drawing room, which was adjacent to their room. The door was latched, as always. Their father locked ground floor doors and latched the doors on the first floor, where they lived, if the rooms were empty. Aditi unlatched it while making the least noise she could manage. Abha kept turning while entering and Aditi slapped her back.

“Stop worrying. Just be quiet and it will be all right.”, Aditi said.

“Don’t hit me.”, Abha pleaded.

“Let us look for remote control.”, Aditi said while switching on her phone torch.

“Papa would have kept it in the television cabinet.”, Abha used her wisdom.

“Switch on the fan also.”, Aditi said while wiping sweat off her face.

“See”, Abha smiled while taking out the remote from the Television cabinet and swung it in front of Aditi. 

“Which movie might be on today?” Abha asked with excitement.

“I don’t know. I hope the new Shahrukh Khan one.”, Aditi said cheerfully.

“I hope the new Amitabh Bachchan one.”, Abha gleamed.

“Yeah that old man is good for nothing”, Aditi laughed.

“Shut up. It is Shahrukh Khan who is good for nothing”, Abha glowered.

Aditi switched on the Television and instantly muted it. The pirated movie channel from the local cable came up.

“Did you hear that sound?” Abha asked while looking in the direction of the window.

“Will you stop worrying. They are sleeping.” Aditi scolded her while increasing the volume.

“It is coming from outside”, Abha rolled her eyes.

“Shut up. I didn't hear anything. You make all of this less fun.”, Aditi said in a frustrated tone.

“Please listen carefully. It is coming from downstairs.”, Abha stood stiff.

Aditi muted the Television again and walked to the window and stood behind the blue curtains. 

“There is some sound. I don’t know what it is though.”, Aditi agreed.

“Someone is downstairs.”, Abha replied.

“Maybe. It might be coming from some other house.”

“Can’t we check?”

“We can peek down from the balcony but it is dark outside.”

“See the moon is so big today that things would not be that dark.” 

“You might be one scared little girl but you know many things.”, Aditi smiled and said, “Okay, let us go out.”

“We will have to unlatch one more door.”

“I am an expert.”, Aditi winked.

She slowly unlatched the other door of the drawing room which opened up in the balcony. 

“Kneel down and crawl to the side. No-one will be able to see us that way.”, Aditi said.

They both kneeled down and crawled towards the balcony railing. They peaked down.

It was a full moon night and the garden was well lit by the moon light. The sound of the many hidden crickets, the croaking of the frogs, and the rustling of the tree leaves was clearly audible. The guava tree and the neem tree swayed in the strong wind. 

Two men were trying to work their way inside the ground floor godown by cutting the locks with a bolt cutter. 

“What do we do now?” Abha asked.

“We should wake up Papa”, Aditi said.

“Can’t we do something on our own? Maybe we can shout and they will run away.”

“We don’t want them to run. We should do something so that we can catch them. “

“We can't go downstairs. What if they harm us?”

“Let us wake up Papa. He will call the police and neighbours.”, Aditi suggested.

“Good idea. They are still trying to get inside so we have enough time.”

The sisters crawled back inside.  They crossed the drawing room and the hall to reach their parents room. It was never latched from inside and a light knock was easy enough to wake up their parents. Both sister exchanged glances and Aditi knocked. 

“Papa, papa”, Aditi said in a low voice.

“Why are you both up?” her father said drowsily while moving the door curtain to the side and slightly opening the door.

“Papa, there are two man downstairs. They are trying to break into the godown.”, Abha blurted out.

“What? How do you know?”, Their father got up from the bed and stood upright.

“We heard voices so we went and checked.”, Aditi said while walking inside their parent’s room.

What is happening?” Their mother also woke up with their conversation.

“Rajni there are some people downstairs trying to break in the godown.”

“Hey Ram! What do we do now?” She asked while sitting upright.

“We should call the police and the neighbours. The neighbours would block them from outside. But let me check first.”

He put on his slipper and walked towards the balcony. 

“They are two of them and are trying to cut the godown lock.”, he said while walking back into the room a few minutes later. “We can’t hear in this room as it is inside but if you go out, it is quite audible. These thieves do not look very experienced to me.” he said while picking up his phone.

After a quick phone call to police he called Mr Sharma, their neighbour. He didn't pick up. He called again. After quite a long ring, Mr Sharma picked up.

“Mr Sharma, sorry to call you so late. There are two people downstairs who are trying to get into our godowns. I have called the police but until they come someone would have to guard the gate from outside so that they don’t run. I am not going down, they might have knifes or some other weapons. “ Their father finished in one breath. 

After a few seconds, He thanked him and hung up the phone.

“He will guard the door with few other neighbours until the police comes.”

“Lets go in the balcony and see what they are upto now”, Aditi said

“No beta, stay inside. I will go and see”, their father commanded.

“We are not so young papa, please let us go and check. After all, it was us who informed you else you would have been still sleeping”, Abha chuckled.

“Come along.”

They walked towards the balcony and kneeled down. The thieves had been successful in cutting the locks and were inside the godown now. 

Their neighbours were keeping a watch on the thieves from outside. Some of them were on their roof, hidden, and Mr Sharma along with Mr Nawab were outside their gate with sticks. They were hiding behind the Banyan tree outside the gate. 

A few minutes later, there were many police man outside their gate with torches, and lathis. Police Inspector had a pistol in his hand. They climbed up the main gate as it was still locked and were all inside one after another. They went inside the godown and walked out with the two thieves in handcuffs.

“Thank you sir for coming on time.”, their father thanked the police inspector who was holding one of the handcuffed thieves.

“Good you called us on time. How did you come to know there were thieves?”, the inspector asked.

“Sir, my daughters told me. They heard noises.” He looked up to the balcony where Abha and Aditi stood gleaming.

“Haha. All right. You should be very proud. I am taking them now. You will have to come tomorrow morning to the station to file a FIR”, police inspector said and walked out dragging the handcuffed thief with him. Rest of the police men followed.

“Did you look at the thieves?” he asked the girls later.

“We did Papa. They had big beards and looked very shabby. But I was not scared”, Abha smiled.

“I am very proud of you today. Now, go and sleep. Do not watch television.”, he smiled, “I am your father, I know what you do. Anyway, you already have a thriller movie for today”, he said and kissed them on the forehead.

Both the girls walked towards their room.