RILLY AND THE TOTS

Rilly and the tots

Little Pinky was awaiting the arrival of her sibling anytime then. Three-year-old Pinky was spending the daytime with mamma, often talking with her sibling through mamma’s big-belly at the nursing home. By evening she would go home with grandma, leaving behind papa with mamma at the nursing home.

A lonely Pinky craved for a playmate to run along the long corridor of the ward, paying no heed to an occasional sister who insisted on keeping silence, pulling a long face. The curtained window beside mamma’s bed opened into a small garden. At the center of the garden stood a walnut tree overgrowing mamma’s first-floor window. Below the tree was a fine topiary fencing in some ornamental plants with colourful flowers and an array of stone benches.

One morning, to break the monotony, grandma took Pinky to the small garden. Sitting on a bench, grandma was narrating her an old epic. Lying on grandma’s lap, Pinky was lost into the canopy of the walnut tree. Amidst the chirruping sound of tiny sparrows balancing themselves on the wide leaves, invisible cuckoos cooed from the top of the tree. A couple of squirrels dashed down the tree one above the other and crawled in different directions upon the withered leaves, making a cracking noise.

In a little while Pinky heard a chirruping utterance from a branch just above her head. It was charming Rilly sitting on her hind legs on a twig with her spongy tail dangling down in the air. Something on Rilly was attractive than the other squirrels. A restless Rilly tried to chat with her friends who were busily feeding on biscuit crumbs left over below the benches. Paying no heed to poor Rilly’s utterance, the other squirrels vanished into the treetop, bypassing the lowest branch on which Rilly was perched.

A little later Rilly descended down the tree. But what a pity! The crumbs were already eaten away by her friends. Rilly, the podgy squirrel, sat helpless on a bench opposite Pinky. Pinky, whose ears were closed by then to grandma’s narration, walked near the bench and placed a few crumbs of biscuit on the edge. Initially Rilly withdrew, only to turn up a little later to relish the crumbs. Squatting on her hind legs and holding a crumb with forelegs, she chipped the crumb with her tiny teeth. After eating away some more generous fragments of milk biscuit offered by Pinky, Rilly crawled upon the dried walnut leaves on the ground before disappearing into the treetop. Pinky enjoyed feeding the lonesome Rilly and their friendship in the small garden lasted for four days.
The third day after the birth of her sibling, a cute boy child, had something in store for Pinky. They were to go home that evening and her long wait under the walnut tree to see Rilly proved futile.

Poor Pinky was sitting sadly, supporting her chin between the palms, under the tree overlooking mamma’s ward when papa’s car pulled in to drive them home. She was staring desperately at the untouched biscuit crumbs when a happy grandma called her through the window, promising to show her a surprise.

Grandma showed her through the window something wonderful. It was a squirrel’s drey made of fine coir pith. Inside the drey was a proud Rilly with her newborns. The baby squirrels were wet and pink and were as beautiful as her sibling itself.

Rilly! Rilly! She cried joyfully through the window. Mamma, with her baby brother nestled comfortably between her hands and bosom, and papa, ready to take them home, hugged her with affection as she bade a tearful farewell to Rilly.