Memories under the Cherry Blossom Tree

Ch 50 The Orphanage..

Three kids sat under a tree, playing marbles. To anyone who observed them from a distance they seemed to be quarreling and laughing among themselves as innocent kids do..but if u went nearer their conversation was  more intense than marbles or games...

" Did they take you to the hospital last week?" Kao asked Ayi..

"No, I wasn't called..maybe I am alright, but the shrink was not happy with my reports last time..so I wonder why I got left out?" Ayi replied thoughtfully..

"Wat about you Inta?" Kao then enquired the girl...

"Yeah, I went and I got a shot again..I even got slapped by the caretaker for crying out loud..was it my fault tat the needle they poked was painful?"she asked innocently..

"You know guys, I think there's something fishy going on with these hospital trips.." Kao voiced his doubts...

Kao was a 12yr old boy. He had been left at the orphanage after his parents had found out tat he had advanced heart disease..they couldn't afford his treatment as they were poor. Here, Kao was clothed, fed and educated better than he would have been at home..when his health got worse he was even taken for treatment..So on the whole he loved the orphanage though he missed his parents and the freedom he had when he was with them...

He was a really smart fellow, always questioning his teachers, supervisors and frens...if he didn't get a satisfying answer then he would bug u till he got it..He loved reading books on mystery and he often tried deductions like Sherlock Holmes..

So when he noticed tat healthy kids were being taken for check ups instead of the really sick ones, he got suspicious..he was a super sneaky boy and a great observer. He had learnt to spy as a quiet as a mouse. He was honing his skills, as he dreamt of becoming a cop someday..so right now his mind was stuck on this mystery..every clue he found he made drawings of them, as he had no camera to take photographs. He had a photographic memory and great drawing skills..all these drawings, or clues as Kao liked to call them, were then hidden away im a box at a hole in a tree behind the orphanage where no one could find them..he knew he couldn't trust the people at the orphanage, kids or elders...but Ayi and Inta were his closest mates..he loved them..their bond was unique..

Ayi was 10 yrs old..he was a tiny, shy kid who was at the orphanage since he was 2 yrs old..the other children used to bully him so badly tat he suffered from trauma.....he had speech problems and wasn't able to speak at all..when Kao came to the orphanage, he saw wat the other's did and felt pity for Ayi..he started protecting the boy from the other kids. He stood up for him and even fought the others if needed..after a while seeing his determination and ferocity in protecting the younger,the other kids left them alone..Kao was the reason Ayi started smiling and after a while speaking.

Inta was very young compared to these two..only 5 years old, as of this year..she had come into the orphanage only 2 years ago. She had been in an accident and had no memory of her past... her parents passed away in the accident and no one came to claim her..she used to follow Ayi around, captivated by his smile, clinging to his trousers. Slowly Ayi and Kao let her hang out with them..

The three of them were each other's confidants and never ever ratted out the other..tat was like an unspoken rule between them..even little Inta followed it strictly till now..

So, when Kao voiced his concerns the other 2 perked up..his love for mysteries had rubbed off on them as he kept telling them of his escapades..they had even helped him in catching a few petty thieves in the orphanage.

"Oooh oooh ! P' kao is this another mystery?? " Inta asked jumping up and down excitedly..she was a total admirer of Kao and Ayi by now..they were like the heroes of her world, who could do nothing wrong in her sight..