The story in between...

It was bedtime. Our elder one being blessed with the ability of instant sleep was already half way through his slumber. The younger one had developed an insatiable appetite for bed time stories. This time she wanted to hear a story involving an animal.

I tucked her under the blanket and started telling her an adventure her appa was involved in, many years back. I told her about a visit to an uncle’s place at Koottikal, a beautiful hilly region in Kerala. There was a large rubber plantation there. At one of the corners of the estate there stood a cave which very few had explored till date.

It was a considerably big cave and I was all excited at the prospect of getting to explore a natural cave right in the middle of wilderness! As I was about to step into the cave, my cousin who was with us stopped me. There were certain sharp looking objects lying around the mouth of the cave. He carefully picked up one and showed us. It was a quill of a porcupine!

My four year old didn’t quite understand what a porcupine was and so she stopped me promptly there. It took a few minutes before I could make her understand what a porcupine is and how it uses its quills to attack its enemies.

I told her that the porcupine had gone away and we collected a few quills. By the time the narration reached this point, amma, her mom came back finishing her bath. It was time for me to go and shower. So amma took appa’s place with the offer that she will complete the story.

As I moved out of the room, I could hear my daughter tell her mom. “Amma, the porcupine just left. You continue with the story"!