The Strange Street to the Wrinkled Memories

Old is gold

They walked into the library. Sandhya opened the door and got in. Navya brought in a box and Shravya opened it. There were all the cleaning materials, floor wiper, broom and dustpan, brushes, mop, buckets, cup, liquids and more. Shravya and Navya filled water in the buckets and began cleaning. Sandhya sat down on the floor, infront of a book rack and began arranging that shelf.

Sandhya spoke out loud, so that Shravya could hear as she was cleaning with Navya on the other side, "You knocked at our door on a fine morning, six days back. We opened the door and saw you, standing to ask something."
"Very well," Shravya smiled.
"You told us you were Shravya Arushi, coming from Aahan Mitrapura and that you got down in our railway station, from there you saw the school much closer. After that came the library, and my house was the very first house you had seen; so you walked to our house. We called you in and gave you a drink. From then you called me 'aunt', maybe with respect, but until then no one had called me so," Sandhya blushed.
Navya exclaimed, "Emotional!"
Sandhya rose up to the other side of the shelf and continued, "We had lunch together. So I guess you would have left the Aahan Mitrapura station by morning, cause you reached here by noon."
Navya estimated, "Close to 11:50, you were at our door step."
Shravya and Navya were brushing the furniture, at the same time Sandhya just looked all the bookshelves to make sure the books were arranged well and dusted off the unused books.

Suddenly they heard a knock on the library door that was slightly closed, leaving a little gap. Sandhya called out, "Come in!"
There came in a girl with a slip-on sneakers in a flannery cyprus belted, green and yellow raglan sleeved jumpsuit. She wore a matching news-boy hat above her sleek ponytail. Her voice was as warm as her cute face, "I am Bella, appointed for the librarian's help. I am coming from the Natya street, the village side near the hospital."
Sandhya welcomed her in, "Hey Bella! Come in. What do you do? Your parents?"
Bella informed, "Preparing to go to Vidyalaya - ravikiran, for higher education in literature, though my high-school classes were at Aahan Mitrapura."
Navya expressed, "Wow!"
Shravya was listening to Bella's introduction, however she was mopping the floor half-sitting behind a long table.
Bella continued looking at the librarian, "My father and mother together works in the farm and also sells dress materials."
Librarian taught, "We have almost two weeks before the day of the full moon night, or maybe less than that. So we have to broom the whole library, mop it with cleaning liquids, then wipe the water out. Within another day, the floor will be dry. Arrange the furnitures cleanly. Books are already in its place, so just verify the books and it's conditions by cross-checking it with the list on the desk. Spread the carpets and curtains clean and dust the ceiling. That's it! I and my two girls will help you with your works."
Bella agreed smiling. She began brushing off the spider web, she began with cleaning the glass and ceiling while Shravya and Navya were arranging the furnitures and cleaning the floor.

Sandhya called out, "Aru! So you were at our home for a day, introducing ourselves to each other, cooking, cleaning, walking in the streets, reading in the library together."
Bella looked at Sandhya and she informed, "I was talking to Aru. Dear, you can continue your work."
"You bonded with us within that day," Shravya blushed as she heard Sandhya compliment.
"You told us," Sandhya marked, "that you wanted to meet the queen of Natya Rajya. But that day, she wasn't in the palace. She had gone to the seventh blossom cliff."
Shravya as usual raised up with eagerness, "Why did the queen go to the seventh blossom cliff?"
Sandhya answered, "Ow! Quiz master! She goes there annually at the beginning of this month. She sits there for an hour alone, because she had a lot of family memories in there. In the royal cottage there, where the queen used to spend a few days with the king."
Shravya rose up and nodded at Sandhya, as she and Navya was done with the furniture. Navya was cleaning up the rest of the floor. Shravya walked up to clean the staircase, while Sandhya got through, "You told us you wanted to meet the queen, but she wasn't at the palace. And you know, an outsider cannot meet a queen so easily. We informed all this, when you asked about meeting Yadhu Amir, the mad prince. We told you that you couldn't meet him because he would do anything to you, cause that day he decided to take the throne but somehow it was stopped... and of course we do believe the reason was our prince, and for that cause he was highly tempered that he do even fire the village. He is tyrant!"
Navya doubted, "Was that a compliment for the mad prince?"
Sandhya rose her eyebrows, then blinked her eyes and concluded, "You even asked us if we knew where our real prince was. You are still the same, filled with curiousness. We didn't know why you wanted to meet the royal members, still I don't know why, I felt so much goodness in you, as I always say. So I insisted you to meet a scientist of Natya Rajya. He wasn't just a scientist; he learnt about the universe, the villages, the culture and history, also about the people and their emotions. He lives in the forbidden Medusa street, so he has no disturbance to research and work. I asked you and Navya to go carefully, but Navya had to get a book from the farm house and so she instructed you to wait at the junction to Medusa steet. But you were in such a hurry to go, so Navya told you the ways to reach his house and the risks that were in your way. Then Navya went again to forbidden Medusa street after buying the book to search for you, but you left no traces, hence she came back to me. Later, we heard that a girl was brought to the hospital by Vinesh, a truck driver. We know him, he is the one who sometimes bring books to the library from other villages while coming back to here. Ya! Ahruthi doctor announced it to the whole village, that you were unrecognisable. That's when Navya said, why don't we go check, because she was worried it was you and it turned true. You were in the hospital bed, laying unconscious when we came. We took up your responsibility, Navya filled the patient form when I came to know Vinesh brought you to the hospital. So I went to ask him about you and he told me what had happened," she paused, "You were such a brave heart, you went out all alone but unfortunately Vinesh's truck going with the load of farm items to export it from this village to other villages, accidentally hit you from behind. That time you just fell on the road and you rolled as it was a sloppy area, hence the Medusa street's grass poison entered in you as it's horn pierced into you skin. It's very poisonous that can take you to death, but you recovered. Thank God!"
Navya ended, "That's all what we know. That was our part with you in your olden tale. The olden tale that you had forgot."
Shravya sighed standing up straight, "That olden tale is my golden tale and," she bolded, "It's yet to show me the secret behind the golden door," by then she cleaned the staircase and walked down, and partnering with Navya — they had cleaned up the floor. Bella was done with the ceiling, she got down the ladder and then completed, "Old is gold", as she got down on to the floor she saw Shravya, she paused in astonishment. Shravya looked at Bella. Looked very serene, but Bella was still thinking something.
Sandhya asked, "What's it Bella?"
Navya wanted to know, she pointed at Shravya and asked with a confusion in her mind, "Do you know her, Bella?
Shravya but smiled in midst while Bella was recollecting something, "Hello! Yes Bella! Old is gold," she stopped, "But why are you staring at my face, like that?"

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Surya_SK