*Rikki tikki tavi after tale*
From Rudyard Kipling's story, Rikki tikki tavi the mongoose defeated two cobras and finally restored peace in the bungalow and garden. All the animals, big and small, clapped for him. Teddy and his family thus lived in...
Rikki ran into a dim corridor of the bungalow, and stayed there for a couple of hours. He could not, and was not able to understand how those misfortunes should befall such a lovely family like Teddy's. He was a bit angry at Darzee's and the others' reactions.
"They're a pack of cowards!" He thought gloomily, "scared by some kind of nonsense!"
He felt more concerned for himself and Teddy than ever. If it was true that Teddy's father went missing and Teddy's mother went ill, who would look after the two of them? Who would take care of Teddy? Rikki wanted to be Teddy's guardian. He had grown bigger than before and he was more mature. He felt confident that he could take on the parental role and look after Teddy. Unfortunately, nobody except Teddy in the family would agree. Teddy's grand aunty came into the bungalow and took over the hostess role. Even nanny had to listen to her orders. What was worse, Aunty disliked Rikki, who was afraid that her resentment towards him would grow even worse afterwards. She might send him to a corner of the bungalow. And, after some days, (who knows?) he would not even be permitted to stay close to Teddy.
"This is so bad!" Rikki said to himself in frustration, "how can things get so bad?"
Unaware to him, things could get worse than that.
At this moment, Chua the rat ran towards him and reported to him what he had discovered.
"Rikki!" shouted Chua, gasping for air, "oh, you won't believe what I am about to say!"
"I've heard similar words for so many times in just one day!" Rikki thought.
"I managed to get into Teddy mother's room," Chua boasted, "you never know what a rat can do! No other creature are like the rats, who are so good at finding gaps, cracks and building their own homes inside it. Listen, there's this small hole on a wall that leads me to..."
"Okay, that's enough, Chua, I only want to hear about Teddy's mother!"
"Why is Rikki so sulky today?" Chua thought. He was too happy to care about it anyway, as he jumped quickly into the main point.
"Yeah, yeah! That's what I'm gonna talk about. Teddy's mother's indeed seriously ill. I mean, not her body. She doesn't seem weak and fragile. Instead, she acts rather strangely and insanely. Teddy's aunty and nanny both believe that she's very sick in the head."
"She went mad?!" Rikki blurted out in shock.
"You could well say so, Rikki," Chua nodded. There was an odd expression on Chua's face that puzzled Rikki, for he had not seen it before.
"Rikki, say..." Chua turned his face away and said with hesitation, "there's one thing I must ask you for help. But before that, I need to make sure that...I..."
"Alright, Chua, don't waste time. What is it that you want to say?" Rikki was an impatient mongoose and he did not like to hear other creatures dawdle.
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