Across The Rainbow

by Vanessa Rebello

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Pappu was standing on the wet sidewalk of a street junction, minding his own business like any three-year-old should, when he saw the lady with the big bags across the road. She was struggling to balance all that she carried while tick-tocking her way around puddles. She loaded the trunk of her car, one fancy bag at a time. Pappu couldn’t read as yet, not that he would ever learn the joys of literacy, but he could match the bags to the places they had come from. 

Big red bag from Metro shoe shop.

Green paper bag from Earthenware Arts. 

Plain white plastic bag from the street-shops of Linking Road.

Brown paper bag with an M–‘Oh look! McDonalds!’

As he watched her dainty arms at work, reddened by the weight of the bags, a thought popped into his head.

‘Drop it,’ he thought. ‘Drop it now. Something. Anything. Just drop it!’

It worked. What luck!

A small glass with a plastic cover tumbled out of one of the bags and rolled on to the floor.

‘Oooh... Chocolate milkshake!’ He often stood outside the fast food giant and begged for the leftovers of these delightful drinks. Only once had this venture been successful. People were more willing to part with their spare change than with their chocolate milkshakes. 

'I hope she doesn’t notice,’ he thought. She didn’t. She got into the driver’s seat and sped away. Perfect.

Pappu looked at the street between him and his destination. If he ever got the chance to see a river, this was probably what it would look like. The rain had really been coming down this monsoon and ever since his close rescue from a manhole last month he had lost his fondness for water.

He stuck one foot in and immediately pulled it back out. Too cold. It was filthy too, but he didn’t mind that. Across the road, the milkshake, which was now leaking out of the glass, had caught the attention of a street dog.

Oh no.

"Shoo!" shouted Pappu. The dog didn’t even look up. "Hurrrr!" he gave it another shot. No avail. He tried putting his foot in the water again but he just couldn't get himself to do it. What if he drowned? One frightful experience is enough to shape a man's lifetime. The dog was curiously sniffing the glass now. He only had a minute or so to get to the milkshake before it was too late.

‘If only I could fly,’ thought Pappu. Almost instantly he lifted off the ground. He watched his dangling feet in pure amazement as he began to move, upright, across the freezing water. He should have been enchanted by the fact that he was flying, but his thoughts were far too preoccupied by the approaching milkshake. It barely took a few seconds for him to reach the other side of the road and plop down right in front of the milkshake. He had reached his pot of gold, but he didn’t know how he got across the rainbow. And he didn’t care.

He grabbed the glass, took off the cover and slowly sipped on his elixir, relishing each drop. Engrossed in the feeling of the thick, sweet drink, tantalizing his tongue and soothing his throat, he never noticed the man on the bike; the one who had taken a hand off the handle while riding, lifted the boy by the back of his collar, and deposited him to the greatest joy he had experienced in a long time.