Modesty

​It was the beginning of another hot and humid day in the middle of summer. Appu was woken up by the clack of granny's hand hammer.He lay naked on the bed recalling what had happened last night.

After so many days of crying and begging, father had finally agreed to take appu to his shop.But on a condition. He demanded that appu should wake up early in order to go out with him. Appu felt sad as he couldn't makeit even today. He blamed granny for not making the sound early. So that he would have woken up with his parents.

In a sleep stupor he walked slowly into the dark, unventilated kitchen. Mother was busy preparing breakfast. While granny sat beside the door and continued powdering areca nut. It was a part of her daily routine ever since she became teeth less. "It looks like our little boy has woken up early today." Granny babbled, as Appu crossed her stretched legs. By then he was really in a hurry to pee. He straightly walked to the edge of the backyard without saying a word. This was the point he liked the most to be naked, because he didn't had to take off his pants. Peeing was really easy the way he was. "How many times I have to tell you not to pee there." Shouted granny. "Why not?" Asked clueless Appu, drawing patterns on the ground.

"Because I have told you to pee on the coconut tree. Your urine acts as a fertilizer. The more you pee the more coconuts we get."

Tender coconut was his favorate. He wished he had peed on the coconut tree. But it was too late.

"Granny if I pee today when will coconuts grow?" Appu asked innocently wiping away the anger in granny's face.

"Soon, my child. May be in a couple of months." " It's too long to wait. I will not pee in the school today. I will come back and pee only on the coconut tree."

"No Appu. You should not do that. If you're at home pee here. Otherwise forget about the tree. We can wait." Granny tried to convince Appu. Appu felt it reasonable. He spends five to six hours daily at the play school. Holding oneself out of toilet that long was merely impossible.

"Alright granny. But promise, you will buy me a tender coconut today." Granny nodded with a pleasing smile and moved back to her routine. Appu sat on the steps watching the cat rub its face.

A moment later the cat ran into the house as it heard the repeated horns. The sound was not strange to Appu. He knew exactly where it came from and who was making it. He ran immediately towards the gate, shouting.

"Raju uncle, Raju uncle." Raju lived next door . Appu was the naughtiest child in his neighbourhood. Everybody loved Appu. But Appu liked Raju more than anyone. There was an obvious reason for this. Raju owned a motorcycle. He used to take Appu to a ride every morning. They would visit the dairy, where raju bought the milk. Later Raju would drop Appu to his home. Raju greeted Appu with a smile. He lifted Appu and placed him on the byke. The motorcycle started as he kicked the liver. Mother rushed outside with some clothes, when she heard the sound. She shouted at them to stop. Appu heard her shouting. But he had no patience to run back and put some clothes on. They reached the dairy in a couple of minute. Raju parked the vehicle in front of the entrance. He asked Appu to stay on the byke as he went to greet one of his friends. Appu got bored within no time and jumped off the byke. He landed on the ground sliding, but safely. Making enough sound to grab the attention of people around him. Raju ran towards him to make sure he was fine. Appu said that he was alright and walked into the dairy. People around him talked about how careless his parents to leave him alone on the byke. But most of them commented on his dress. They called him a shameless boy, who walked nude in the village. Raju heard the comments as he walked behind Appu. He didn't care much about them. He believed that there is no need for a three year old boy to worry about his cloths. He also knew that none of these people worried about the cloths on appu. They just needed something to pass time. Meanwhile, Appu watched the dairy boy measuring the milk brought by formers. The boy tasted the milk from every former to check whether they added sugar to increase the fat reading. He ruthlessly sent back the sugar mixed milk without any mercy. Appu didn't like the job, because it involved drinking milk. He hated the taste of milk. Everyday mother would force him to drink milk. He would drink it if some sugar was added. But without sugar, it would taste like hell. It must be very tough to be a dairy boy, he thought, because he rarely got to taste the milk with sugar. Appu looked away as he felt sad for the dairy boy.

He caught an unexpected sight there. It was a girl standing in the queue behind Raju.

She was a classmate of Appu in the play school. She moved into the village along with her parents last week. She was beautiful, smart and brought tasty food to school everyday. Appu joined the school couple of months before her. He was a son of local politician and the teacher had special concern for him. But now, she had developed a tendency to take away everything he had. Even his friendshad started liking her. Appu always kept an eye on her. But this time he was very scared at the sight. The obvious reason was that he was naked. At any cost he had to hide from her. She catching Appu naked would be an uttermost shame to him. He quickly walked behind the cashier's table and hid there. He carefully peeked at her to make sure he was away from her sight. He stayed there until Raju collected the milk. When Raju got back to the motorcycle, he fastly ran to him. He was not sure whether she saw him while running. He assumed she didnt, because he had no courage to have one more look at her. He stood behind the byke to avoid anyone looking at him. Raju observed that Appu was acting strange. He patted his back and asked,

"What happened Appu? Why are you standing here?"

"Nothing. Shall we go?" Appu asked (reluctantly.) Raju nodded in aggregation and started the byke. The sound was loud as always. Appu was very nervous. He pulled Raju's hand to make it quick. Raju grabbed him across the shoulder and lifted up. Appu was in air. The position was perfect to get a clear look on him. Meanwhile, the girl collected the milk from dairy boy. It was her first time in the dairy. The dairy was stubbed with people. Making a way through them was tough for her. She decided to wait for some time. But, she did not see anyone waiting. The people were leaving through a small room at the back. The exit led to a cross road. She caught the road to her home, without having a clue about Appu. Raju placed appu on the byke. Appu searched the whole surrounding for her. She was not around. He was releaved at last. He thanked the god in one breath. "Raju uncle, lets go back home" Said Appu pleasingly, looking above at Raju. "What about the shop? Don't you need chocolates?" " No. I dont want to go any further. Please drop me to home now." Cried Appu. This was a strange act by Appu. He knew she was gone. But the fear of being caught naked was alive. Raju had never seen Appu like this before. He sensed something different. He didnt know what was bothering him. But it had changed him. Raju thought he would be alright by tomorrow and dropped him back to home. Appu was never the same after the incident. The fear of loosing his esteem in the class did not let him ride naked anymore.He surprised everyone by wearing cloths next morning. Everybody thought that Appu had grown up. But only Appu knew the actual reason.