Operation Mango
488 Words
The entire neighborhood had fallen unusually quiet.
It was one of those lazy Mussoorie afternoons when every house seemed to be asleep after lunch.
Perfect.
"Hani... slowly!" Shanya whispered dramatically.
The two eleven-year-old girls tiptoed through the narrow lane, trying their hardest to look invisible.
Hania looked left.
Then right.
"No one is watching."
Shanya pointed toward a huge mango tree standing inside an old neighborhood garden.
"There!"
Hania's jaw dropped.
"So many mangoes..."
The branches were overflowing with ripe, golden-green mangoes swaying gently in the mountain breeze.
Her eyes sparkled like she'd discovered hidden treasure.
"We're taking all of them," she declared confidently.
Shanya's eyes widened.
"All? Are you mad?"
Hania folded her arms proudly.
"My Abbu says if you're going to do something, do it properly."
Shanya burst into laughter.
"Your Abbu definitely didn't mean stealing mangoes!"
Both girls struggled to stop laughing.
After making sure the gardener was nowhere in sight, they slipped through the slightly open gate.
Shanya nervously looked around.
"Hani... I think we should take only two."
"Two?"
Hania looked offended.
"I climbed all the way here for two mangoes?"
Before Shanya could stop her, Hania grabbed the lowest branch and effortlessly climbed the tree like she'd done it a hundred times before.
Within seconds she was sitting comfortably on a thick branch.
Shanya looked up in amazement.
"You really are a monkey."
Hania proudly puffed out her chest.
"Correction."
She plucked a mango.
"I'm the queen of monkeys."
Another mango.
Another one.
Soon Shanya's dupatta had turned into a makeshift bag filled with mangoes.
"Hani, bas! Enough!"
"Just one more..."
Another mango landed.
"Hani!"
"Last one!"
"Hania Khan!"
"I promise this one is the last!"
Five minutes later...
"Hania!"
"Okay, okay... now this is really the last one."
Shanya placed both hands on her waist.
"You've said 'last one' seven times!"
Hania simply flashed her biggest innocent smile.
"What can I do? They all look delicious."
Just then...
A distant sound of footsteps echoed along the stone pathway outside the garden.
Shanya froze.
Someone was coming.
"Hani!" she whispered urgently.
"Hurry!"
Hania carefully started climbing down the tree.
"Coming..."
She was almost on the ground when—
Rrrrip!
Her cotton frock caught on a broken branch.
She tried to move.
Nothing.
"Oh no..."
She tugged again.
The cloth remained stuck.
"Hani!" Shanya whispered louder, panic creeping into her voice. "Jaldi niche aa! Koi dekh lega! Hum dono ki toh pakki daant padegi!"
"I know! It's stuck!"
She pulled harder.
Nothing.
Neither girl noticed...
A tall young man in olive-green Army trousers had just entered through the garden gate after returning home on leave.
He stopped in his tracks.
One frightened little girl stood beneath the tree.
Another was hanging helplessly from a branch...
And a pile of stolen mangoes lay scattered on the grass.
The corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly.
"What exactly..."
he murmured,
"...is going on here?"
- Writer
