Asha Nehemiah - Meddling Mooli and the BlueLegged Alien

The trouble with Mooli was that his fingers seemed to have a mind of their own. So even when he was watching cartoons on TV, his fingers would be busy pulling the beads off a cushion cover. Or tearing a newspaper into a heap of tiny paper balls. Or tugging the flowers till the vase toppled on to the floor.

Just yesterday, he had stuck one of his shoes to the floor with Super-Glue. It happened by mistake when he was repairing his remote-controlled toy aeroplane with the glue. Every day, Moolis Amma would have to tell him, Stop meddling, Mooli.

One Friday morning, Moolis family was very excited. His Amma, who was a very good cook, was to appear on a television cooking show. Amma sold home-made cakes and cookies and her company was called Yummy Scrummy Home-made Treats.

Amma had already packed all the things she would take to the TV studio in a large cardboard box. She had packed the butter, the sugar and even the little bottles of food colouring. Then she had taped the lid shut with sticky tape. She wanted to make sure that Mooli didnt meddle with the things kept in the box.

Mooli was excited toobut for a different reason. He was busy collecting things for a project of his own. He was the first to eat his breakfast that morning. Then, checking that his parents were nowhere in sight, he quickly put a packet of balloons into his backpack. In went a pair of scissors next. Then in went this, and that, and the otherall things that he was not supposed to meddle with. Soon his backpack was quite heavy. But it didnt matter. This time, Mooli was doing everything he could to make sure that he and his friend Soups would win a prize on WAYOUTS.

Supriya George (Soups) and Murali Krishnan (Mooli) had been friends since they were babies. Their mothers were the best of friends. Though Soups and Mooli went to different schools, they met on most days after school.

It was Supriyas Dad, Uncle George, who had shown the children a very cool new website called WAYOUTS. It stood for Worlds As Yet Original Untried Tricks and Stunts. It was something like a book of world records but different in some important ways. WAYOUTS was a website. It had to be read on the computer and not on paper. The winners didnt have to do something faster or better than others. They simply had to do things that had never been tried before. Something that was, yes, Original and Untried.

This is what a page from WAYOUTS looks like:

Winners In July

First prize: Chingo Grogovitch for painting a picture with his toes while standing on his head.

Second prize: Lalchand Chopra for frying seventy-three jalebis with his left hand while making forty-two samosas with his right hand.

Im off to school. Bye! Mooli called out as he left home to catch his school bus.

Oops, he added as his backpack knocked down a pile of books and papers from the table.

When he reached the bus stop, he looked puzzled. He found he was holding a pineapple-shaped magnet.

Now how on earth had that happened? I dont even remember picking up this magnet! he thought as he got on to his bus.

2.

Missing Whiskers

I wonder why Mooli was in such a hurry, said Amma.

She was ready to leave for the TV studio where she would be filmed making her special Coconut-Frosted Almond Cookies.

Where is my list? I had fixed it to the refrigerator with a pineapple-shaped magnet. Amma looked around.

Then she picked up the box. The top was still taped firmly shut. Wasnt it clever of me to tape up erk Amma stopped suddenly. She looked puzzled.

The box was in her hands but all the things that she had packed in it were lying on the floor. The butter was lying in a pool of broken eggs. The flour was mixed with pink food colouring.

The flaps at the bottom of the box were open. All that she had packed had fallen out of the bottom. Could it have been Mooli?

Heres your list, Gita, said Appa holding out a piece of paper. But wait, whats this written behind the list?

Amma turned the list around to read what Mooli had scribbled on the back.

I have taken your whiskers.
I will return them after
we finish our stunt for
WAYOUTS.

What does Mooli mean? I dont have whiskers. You dont have whiskers either, Ravi, she told Moolis Appa. I wish Supriyas Dad hadnt got the children interested in WAYOUTS. Its been nothing but trouble all around since they decided they must win a prize on the website.

True. Nothing but tricks and stunts by them. Leading to trouble and more trouble for us. Theyve tried seven times during the summer holidays. And failed each time. I do hope they give up this crazy idea soon, said Appa.

Amma started putting all the things back into the box. She put in fresh eggs and more flour. Where is my electric beater? I need it to beat the eggs and sugar and butter.