The Villa Adventure

By Prathiba Kalyan

When Vikram moved into the big city, he expected to hate it and be miserable. He desperately wanted to go back to his home town. But what he didnt expect, was to make new friends, meet interesting people, get into trouble, fall headlong into an unexpected adventure and love every minute of it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Apr 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781482887945

Prathiba Kalyan

Prathiba Kalyan Over the years, she has written many short stories for children. She gets her inspiration, from the interesting people around her and most of the characters in her book are based on them. Friendship and loyalty, values and choices, fear and courage, adventure and triumph, are all part of her stories.

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THE VILLA

ADVENTURE

PRATHIBA KALYAN

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Copyright © 2017 by Prathiba Kalyan.

Illustrations by Vaishnavi Senthil Kumar

ISBN:           Softcover           978-1-4828-8793-8

                    eBook               978-1-4828-8794-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

THE VILLA ADVENTURE

Chapter 1 The Move

Chapter 2 The First Week

Chapter 3 The New Friends

Chapter 4 The New Life

Chapter 5 The Fight

Chapter 6 The Incident

Chapter 7 The New Boy

Chapter 8 The Trip

Chapter 9 The Villa

Chapter 10 The Big Find

Chapter 11 The Passage

Chapter 12 The Boat Ride

Chapter 13 The Visit

Chapter 14 The Storm

Chapter 15 The Prisoners

Chapter 16 The Plan

Chapter 17 The Rescue

Chapter 18 The Dogs

Chapter 19 The Grand Finale

Chapter 20 The Big Surprise

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my Mom, Charles, Pravin and Viji - for their unflinching support in everything I do.

To Sahana – Our Inspiration.

CHAPTER 1

The Move

Vikram looked up at the massive apartment complex. Hundreds of apartments stood against a serene blue sky. Vikram’s eyes widened in wonder. He had never seen such big buildings like these, in his entire life. Rows of trees, looking green and plush, bordered the compound wall. He could hear the faint sounds of children playing somewhere inside.

Vikram’s mother was trying to pull out a big suitcase from the taxi and his father was counting the money to pay the driver.

‘Appa!’ is this where we are going to live?’ asked Vikram, sounding subdued. Vikram will be turning ten in two months. He was a little short for his age and slightly plump. His hair was cropped close to his scalp. He had small twinkling eyes and a sharp nose. When he smiled, it stretched across his face reaching his eyes, though right then, he had a big scowl.

‘Yes, hold Fluffy, Vikram’. His father, while adjusting his spectacles, was trying to hold a wriggling Fluffy in his hand. Vikram looked at his father who had a big scowl on his face and took Fluffy from him.

Father and son had similar scowls on their faces. Vikram’s mother looked at them, shook her head and sighed.

Vikram and his parents were from a small town in Tiruchirappalli in South India. His father got a promotion and a transfer to Chennai. He will be working at the headquarters of a manufacturing company that made parts for cars and exported them. For Vikram, this was his first visit to a big city and he was awe struck by the crowd, the big buildings, the buzzing noisy traffic and the people who moved so fast.

He had been very happy in his home town. He didn’t want to come to the city. Once his father had decided to accept the promotion and move to Chennai, everything happened so fast. He was hoping his parents would allow him to stay back, but that idea was squashed quickly. He had argued, pled, cried but nothing worked. He had finally given up. He had said good byes to his friends, cousins, his favorite cow Lakshmi, the big banyan tree on the river bed, the postman and the burfi man who sold sweets outside his school. He didn’t leave out anyone.

‘Amma, I want to go back to Thatha’s house’, Vikram whispered to his mother, hugging Fluffy for comfort. Fluffy seemed to agree. He licked Vikram’s nose and looked at him with his soft brown eyes. Fluffy was a cross between a Pomeranian and a Dachshund. He was lengthier than a Pomeranian and had a white coat, long droopy ears, a bushy tail and brown paws. He had brown hair around his neck that looked like a natural collar. To Vikram, Fluffy was the best dog in the whole world; his best friend and confidante. After a long journey in the car, Fluffy was restless and didn’t like to be on leash. It seemed to annoy him and he was squirming to get down.

‘Come Vikram, let’s go inside’. His father frowned at him, wheeled two large suitcases and walked towards the security booth. The rest of their furniture and luggage were coming by road, in a truck. Vikram sucked in his cheeks and glared at his mother who smiled at him understandingly.

Seeing the family, the guard in the security booth, a large man in Khaki uniform, came out.

‘We are moving into apartment 2C’, Vikram’ s father informed him.

‘Yes sir, the association secretary told me’. The man’s bushy moustache moved up and down when he spoke. Vikram choked back a giggle as he thought how Venu, his best friend would have imitated him. He sighed ‘I am going to miss all of them so much!

‘I will call someone to help you with the suitcases’, the security guard said, handing over the keys to the apartment. He sounded respectful and professional.

‘No problem, we will carry it ourselves’, Vikram’s father said and walked towards the huge complex to find the elevator. The complex looked beautiful and big inside. Well-kept and polished. Big pots of plants adorned the corridor. Large paintings on the wall gleamed. Vikram spotted a gym where people were having their work out. Vikram held fluffy tightly and stepped inside the elevator.

‘Please close the door’ a mechanized voice ordered and Vikram looked around in surprise. Fluffy was restless and was wriggling to get down.

The lift carried them noiselessly to the third floor and stopped with a gentle thud. Vikram’s father unlocked the front door. ‘Oh this place is so small!’ was the first thought that came to Vikram’s mind. He went around checking the apartment. Fluffy was happily sniffing at every corner and running about excitedly since the leash was off.

The apartment had a big hall, three bedrooms with attached bathrooms and balconies. A large open kitchen was adjacent to the dining hall. The house was well lit with the sunlight pouring in through the windows and balconies. Their voices echoed in the empty rooms and there was a musty smell.

Vikram thought wistfully of the home he had left behind. They had lived in a big house with a huge garden. The garden was filled with fruit trees - mangoes, guavas, gooseberries, and more. The house had a big terrace - a great place for playing or just lying down in the night, under the stars, talking endlessly with his cousins.

Vikram felt homesick. ‘I can’t even play hide and seek in this house’, he thought, as he stood alone in the balcony trying to hold back the tears. He didn’t want to cry.

‘Vikram, what is wrong?’ his father who came to the balcony asked gently.

‘I don’t like this place; I want to go back Appa’, Vikram said in a small voice. ‘It’s noisy, this house is small and I don’t know anyone here’, he kept mumbling. Tears were threatening to roll down his cheeks.

His father knelt in front of him and lifted his chin and said, ‘Vikram you will slowly begin to like this place. You will learn so many new things, make new friends and if all these don’t happen, I promise, we will go back’.

Really!! ‘Promise?’ Vikram put out his palm and looked at his father. He knew his father kept his promise and his heart leapt with renewed hope. ‘There is a chance to go back after all’, he thought.

‘I promise’, said his father, held his hand, patted his head, and walked inside.

Fluffy came and stood next to Vikram and wagged his bushy tail. Vikram hugged him tightly. ‘Fluffy, I am going to hate this place, I won’t make any new friends, I will be miserable and then dad won’t have a choice; he will take us back’, he whispered. Fluffy’s tail went, ‘swish, swish, swish, he gazed adoringly at Vikram as if saying, ‘Sure we will go back’. ‘I will be happy wherever you are’

Both the boy and the dog sat in the balcony and looked out at the traffic below.

CHAPTER 2

The First Week

Vikram continued sulking. A week had gone by since they had moved in. The furniture was delivered. The house was all set up, but Vikram refused to take part in any of it. His room overlooked a lake and a boat club. It was a very famous boat club in the city. It always