Histoires Courtes

The Buried Mystery

A/N: I'm making up the short story as I write, something which I have to do in my examinations.

"Sweetheart, what did you bury in the garden?"

The little girl looked up at her father, her blue eyes wide with astonishment. She hurriedly shuffled her mud-caked hands behind her. The father caught the movement, smiled and played along.

"Nothing!"

"Are you sure, baby?"

"Uh huh. I am completely sure I didn't do it."

"Oh, alright then. I was just wondering where you had been off to. I must go now."

The little girl nodded her head vigorously and smiled mischievously. Nobody should get to know what was there in the garden, buried away and safe from predators and family members. After all, the four year old had been digging the earth since an hour now, and had been able to get her nails filled with mud and sand. She was an old girl now, as her mother had said, and she now knew that there were some things she had to do on her own.

She also considered herself to be observant for her age, too. She knew when her parents were feeling happy or sad. She knew when her grandma was feeling fit or sick. She knew when her tutor was feeling satisfied or annoyed. She knew how her best friend felt when she had an ice-cream.

Her mother was the one who taught her things. She taught her to hold the spoon correctly, to dress, to write, to read, to hold a pencil, how to finish her vegetables (even though she despised broccoli and carrots.)

She liked to copy her mother, as she always wanted to be like her. One thing she had definitely learnt from her was to throw away, or hide away the things that made one sad or frustrated, and that was exactly what she had been doing now.

She had been noticing her father since a few days. Her father was what one called a 'policeman.' Her father, for the lack of a better word, was a superhero. He fought and caught bad people, and kept the city in check, just like her mother kept the house in check. Her father had been staring at his mobile phone for quite a few days, worriedly massaging his forehead. Yesterday, he had returned home late (as her mother had told her), and she had missed the chance to observe him.

So, being the mastermind she was (like her father), she had crept up in his bedroom in the morning, and had stolen his mobile phone. Her mother was not pleased, of course, as she almost woke up her tired father. When her mother was busy preparing breakfast, she stealthily tip-toed in the garden.

She had taken a shovel lying nearby, and had tried to dig the soft earth beneath her. When the pit was deep enough, she placed the mobile phone in the pit and filled it with mud again.

Her father had not noticed that the mobile phone had been missing, and was also happy. She was proud of what she had done, as her father was not sad and angry anymore. He was humming and reading the newspaper, until he had noticed his daughter.

A sudden, loud, Ring! began echoing- from the ground?!

Erm, oops?

Her parents seemed to have noticed it and came walking towards the garden.

"Now, now, dear, might you have seen a mobile anywhere around?" her father asked her.

"No, daddy."

"Then why can we hear the mobile ringing from the ground?"

"Uhm, the earth has got a new mobile for himself and his phone is ringing!" the little girl said.

The eyebrows of her parents were risen high up. They glanced at each other and smirked. They looked around, to find a mysterious stump of mud on the ground.

They went and started digging the earth, unearthing* a ringing mobile from there. Her father's mobile.

"Why on earth did you hide this here!" her mother exclaimed.

"It's all because of daddy!"

"Me? How?"

"You were coming home and you were very sad when looked in your mobile and you were rubbing your head, I thought that the mobile is making you sad. Mommy says that you should hide or throw away things which make you sad. So I took your mobile and hid it here! See! You're all happy and humming this morning! See! I wanted daddy to be happy, so I hid the phone!"

Her father was laughing by now. She frowned. What was there to laugh? 

Seeing her frown, the father laughed heartily once again, and scooped her up in his arms with a swing. She giggled.

"Yes, sweetheart. Daddy is all happy now. Thank you."

A/N: Yup, so this is what popped up in my mind. I'm dedicating this to my Dad, but he doesn't have Wattpad. He has a Diary only.

* Notice the pun on the word 'unearthing'? 

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