That Stormy Evening and Other Stories

By Swapna Dutta

"Life can be quite unexpected sometimes and one can confront unusual situations in the quietest of places. Sometimes incidents crop up that cannot be explained by logic and the past can loom up in a haunting sequence. Sometimes good intentions can go awry and speaking the truth can have dire consequences. And one can make a hash of things w

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing
• Release date: Jan 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9789360499921

Book preview

That Stormy Evening And Other Stories

Stories for Teenagers &Young adults

Swapna Dutta

Ukiyoto Publishing

All global publishing rights are held by

Ukiyoto Publishing

Published in 20223

Content Copyright © Swapna Dutta

ISBN

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

www.ukiyoto.com

Acknowledgement

This book is dedicated with love to all my readers, past and present.

Playing George Washington, Bide-a-wee and The Many Splendoured Thing were first published in Eve’s Weekly. The House with the Long Terrace, A Place for Dadi and That Stormy Evening were published in Chandamama.

Foreword

Life can be quite unexpected sometimes and one can confront unusual situations in the quietest of places. Sometimes incidents crop up that cannot be explained by logic and the past can loom up in a haunting sequence. Sometimes good intentions can go awry and speaking the truth can have dire consequences. And one can make a hash of things with the best of intentions. At other times even a single mistake can change one’s life. At a crunch one may need to play a trick to fight stupid superstition. And what eyes see may not always be the whole truth.

What happens when a couple of strangers suddenly land up for shelter at Anita’s place one stormy evening? Can Deepak and Seema stop their grandmother from going away to live all alone in their ancestral house? What happens when all the servants suddenly vanish in the house with the long terrace? Can Tina play the role of George Washington successfully because she is keen to stand out as a heroine in real life? What happens when Ruby steps inside the old house where the dust is as thick as a carpet and there are cobwebs in every corner? Can one really judge a person by merely looking at the obvious? These are some of the situations the reader will come across and realize that life can be really amazing and often incredible. Six stories for teenagers/young adults.

CONTENTS

The House With The Long Terrace

Playing George Washington

A Place For Dadi

Bide-A-Wee

That Stormy Evening

The Many Splendoured Thing

About the Author

The House With The Long Terrace .

T

he house might have had a name of its own long ago, something like Sunset Villa or Lake View. But the letters on the grimy and broken nameplate on the gate were no longer legible and looked like scratches. Local people called it the house with the long terrace because it had an unusually wide terrace with trees surrounding most of it. Some of the branches touched the walls and made a place on the terrace itself. A few were mango trees. When the house had young children living in it they loved the terrace and spent most of their free time there. It was such fun to pick raw mangoes from the terrace itself and devour them with salt and chillies! Such fun to play Catch or hopscotch or just read a storybook with the sun on your back.

Nina’s father turned nostalgic as he thought of his childhood when he often visited that house during his summer holidays. It belonged to his uncle, his mother’s brother, who always made them welcome. But all that was a very long time ago! He had not been there for more than forty years because his parents moved to Delhi and that’s where he lived and grew up and worked since then. But by some strange chance the house with the long terrace now belonged to him. His uncle who was no more had left it to him in his will, totally and exclusively. Uncle had a son who died very young and there was no one else. So he had left it to his nephew. But this gift had come at a critical time in his life and he was seriously considering shifting there after discussing it with his wife.

When she broke the news to the children they were incredulous.

Go and live somewhere else? You can’t mean it! cried Nina.

We’ve lived in Delhi all our life, said Bablu looking up from his book.

I don’t believe it, said Munna complacently. It’s just one of dad’s jokes. Isn’t it, mum?