"What is this?" Chutki's small brother, Golu asked, moving his matar like eyes.

"Didi! What dinosaur you brought in the home! Mummy-" Before Golu could scream, astonished Chutki covered his mouth with her hand. The tortoise was still floating lazily.

"Keep quiet Golu! This ain't a dinosaur! It's a tortoise and you're not allowed to tell anyone about this! Got it?" Chutki whisper scolded Golu and let go of his mouth. He moved his matar eyes to the tortoise who was enjoying the floating.

"Didi, from where you got this dinosaur?"

"Ugh! This is a tortoise, Golu. I just caught it instead of fish." Chutki facepalmed. On this, Golu giggled.

"Hehe, didi cannot even a fish!"

"Who's there?" Dadi's voice came fro the hall and Chutki again put her hand on Golu's mouth and shushed him.
After a moment, Dadi went to her temple room to read Sundarkand.

"Now promise me Golu, you won't tell mummy about this tortoise. Then I will let you play with him. Okay?"

"No! This tortoise is acting like a zombie! I am going to stay away from it. Take him away soon because someone will surely get scared if they come here." Golu said hiding behind Chutki and staring at the listless tortoise. Chutki facepalmed.

"Fine if you don't want to come to him. Just don't tell anyone about it."

"Okay didi. I promise I won't tell anyone." Golu sweared and left the place. Soon Chutki closed the door and locked it from outside so no one thinks anybody entered in the room.

Morning rose and Chutki's mother called,
"Chutki, oh Chutki! Get up it's 6:15 am in the morning! Do you want to get late? Golu, check on your didi and ask her to wake up."
Golu was sitting at the dining table, sipping his milk. He was still three years old and yet had time before he went to school.

"Okay mummy." Golu finished his milk and ran to the parent's room. Chutki used to sleep with Mummy and Papa. Golu was more adored by Dadaji and Dadi so he slept with them. He saw Chutki silently snoring, not aware about the time and world.

"Didi, get up! You're getting late for school!"

"Are you not going?" Chutki mumbled.

"You know I don't go to school. You are really funny didi." Golu giggled.

"Who was frightened on seeing the tortoise?" Chutki rubbed her eyes, smiling.

"Didi, don't make fun of me or else-"

"Okay, okay! Today I will be taking the tortoise with me because I cannot trust you. You will tell Mummy now or later. Besides that, he will have an outing." Chutki said and hopped from her bed. She had milk and packed her bag. As she came after a bath, she sneaked into the spare room. She sighed at the lazy tortoise and saw the piece of roti he rejected to eat.

"Oh no! He didn't eat roti. But he's still hungry. Let me ask Rita about him, she knows a lot about tortoises." She picked up the tortoise from the tub and wrapped him in her towel. Slowly she went out with the tub and drained its water. She kept it at place like it never had been touched and rushed to keep him in her bag.

"Chutki, take your tiffin and bottle." Mummy exclaimed as Chutki went to the kitchen and took her tiffin.

"Now eat this." Mummy said while feeding Chutki a big pakoda.

"Not now mummy!" As Chutki opened her mouth, the warm big pakoda was already in her mouth. She furrowed her eyebrows and got out of home to school.

Back in school, she was excited to go with her new secret friend, the tortoise. She was so happy that she kept peeping at him from her bag during classes. When break started, everyone rushed out of the class to play and eat. While Chutki stayed in the class and quickly ate the pakode that her mother packed. She tried feeding a small one to the tortoise, but it refused.

"Let's go to Rita then." She finished her lunch and picked the small Tortoise, cupping it in her hands and hiding it. She walked cautiously to her friend's group where Rita was also there. They were eating on the green warm grass, laughing and chatting away.

"Rita, come here. I want to ask you something." Chutki called.

"Chutki, why did you eat alone? What happened?" Rita said while coming upto Chutki. She led Rita to a quiet place with no one around.

"Rita, look here." Chutki opened her palms.

"Oh wow Chutki, this is such a beautiful tortoise! Where did you get it?"

"Yesterday, when I went fishing but caught this instead."

"Wow, did you think of a name for him? Did your family allow to keep him?" Rita had sparkles in her eyes.

"Not for now and no one knows about this cute tortoise." Chutki giggled.

"I wanted to ask you about him. I tried to feed him roti yesterday and my lunch recently. But he refused, also he laid listless. What happened to him?" Chutki asked in worry. Rita giggled.

"Oh Chutki! Tortoises don't eat roti. My grandfather kept a tortoise in his childhood. He is still alive, though old and very big. My grandfather told, they eat leaves like lettuce or spinach or just some soft grass. They also have a liking for carrots and cucumbers." Rita grinned, while Chutki beamed her eyes and looked at the tortoise.

"Thank you so much Rita for telling me about him! Should I bathe him?"

"You may brush his little cute shell once a week." Rita smiled and ran away. She came back with a small piece of cucumber and brought it to the tortoise. It moved in excitement and nibbled on the piece.

"Now you see Chutki, how quickly he's eating the cucumber! He likes to eat crunchy vegetables!" Rita exclaimed and they both laughed.

When Chutki returned home, she placed the tortoise back in the same tub with some water. That day she helped her mother to peel peas for making aloo matar. That day the tortoise happily ate away the raw peas that Chutki left for him.

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T/n~

Padoka(plural- pakode): Indian dish where you fry vegetables/bread/roti dipped in besan(chickpea flour) paste

Aloo matar: Indian dish of potatoes and peas

~To be continued...

Your grateful author,
かな恵一