Afternoon Adventures with Ato

It's the summer and the monsoon has arrived early. Pitter, patter, drip, drop...the rain fell on the ground, making it slushy. On this particular afternoon, Ato sat by the window looking out at the rain, a twinkle in his eyes, and his mouth curved into a mischievous smile. Ah! He knew exactly what he’s going to do when the rain stops, but sadly, the rain refused to work in his favor. Whatever his ingenious bulb of a plan was, it was starting to fuse out in the never-ending pitter-patter of raindrops. All he could do was wait for the Wind to blow away the rain clouds and hope that the Sun would show his face again.

Somehow, he always felt that the Wind is female and the Sun is male...he wondered where he ever got that idea, though that's not important here. It is possible that when the Wind and the Sun have a fight, all she has to do is let the dark clouds glide in the manifestation of her power, and make the rain fall...while the Sun hid behind the dark clouds, just like Dad would when Mom is in a bad mood! “Hee, hee, poor Dad! Oh well, no time now to think of my parents’ petty affairs, I’ve got better things to take care of!" Like this morning, he woke up with a purpose. He always knew he had a talent, a gift from the Almighty as Dad would say it, although he wasn't sure if his father would qualify this particular talent in the 'gift' category—the art to roll mud into a perfect round ball, just the right size and shape to fit snugly in the leather of his slingshot, finding it's target at all times. The only objective of this mud ball was to make sure that it hits the bunch of ripe hazelnuts hanging high up in the tree, and felling it right into the bag below which Alomi would be holding. Of course, the slingshot provides the leverage to the mud ball, while Alomi makes sure that she catches the falling 'treasure from the sky.' Oh yes, and Alomi also happens to be Ato's best friend and respected fellow adventurer. Sadly, she's got the measles, so, her mother has snuggled her in bed for the rest of the day.

However, for now, we come back to the rain who was making it impossible for our dear Ato to live his mission for the day. Finally, bored of working out all the details in his head while being stuck indoors, Ato decides that it's best for him to..."hmm...make paper boats!" There! He knew he is 'gifted', all right!

Thus, fixed with a smug smile, Ato went about around the house looking for old paper, as if he just found a purpose in life. Mom was knitting in the parlor. If he remembered correctly, she mentioned something about a sweater for Dad, or maybe it was a muffler, though that's not important here. “Ato, don’t tear the pages from the magazines, I haven’t finished reading most of it, and I need the recipe pages. You can use the old newspapers if you want to make paper boats.” “OK, Mom!” How did she even know of his plan, mothers are strange creatures, they seem to know everything and they’re mostly always right. “Nagaland Post—State Law & Order in T-u-r-m-o-i-l...gee, how do you pronounce that...this should work!” Riiip, teeeaaar, and so began Ato’s engineering mission to create, (mind you, with his own ten-year old hands), the perfect paper boat. He sat down on the carpet floor, next to his mother, folding the paper with the full intention to bring it to life. When the boat was ready, Ato held up the masterpiece against the light from the window. He could have sworn he saw the heavens open up, a spotlight shine down on it, and a chorus of haloed Angels sing in exultation of his creation...something like "Ooooh, aaaaah! Glooooooryyyy!"—actually, maybe that's a tune from the church choir, though that's not important here.

Elika Sumi