Asha Nehemiah - Meddling Mooli and the Bully on Wheels

I think Mooli is being much less meddlesome these days, said Amma.

Moolis parents were in the kitchen. Appa was making breakfast. Amma was icing the cake she had just baked.

What makes you say that, Gita? asked Appa in surprise. Have you already forgotten how Mooli meddled with the buttons on our bedroom clock yesterday? I almost fell out of the bed in fright when the alarm on that clock rang at midnight.

I didnt say Mooli had stopped meddling. Its just that he doesnt seem to be breaking and spoiling things as much as he used to, Amma pointed out.

Well, he dented the top of my car by dropping eggs from our terrace, said Appa. And before that, he turned my library book orange by leaving an ice lolly on it!

Mooli walked into the dining room. His face was scrubbed and shiny. His spiky hair was wet and combed flat. He didnt at all look like the kind of boy who dented cars and made library books go orange.

He was carrying a large cardboard box. On the lid, was a picture of the two books that were in the box: Mammoth Book of Fast Facts A to M and Mammoth Book of Fast Facts N to Z.

How wonderful that youre reading those books at last! Amma gave Mooli a hug, getting some white icing on to his cheeks.

I suppose those books have something to do with WAYOUTS, said Appa. That crazy website that you and Soups have been trying to win a prize on.

No. The books dont have anything to do with Wayouts, Mooli replied truthfully. Fast facts are of no use when it comes to winning a prize on Wayouts.

This too was absolutely true. Wayouts was a very unusual website. It stood for Worlds As Yet Original, Untried Tricks and Stunts. It was something like a collection of world records which could be read only on the Internet, using a computer. To win a prize on Wayouts, you didnt have to do something faster or better than someone. Your trick or stunt just had to be something that no one, anywhere in the world, had ever tried before. Something that was, yes, Original and Untried.

This is what a page from Wayouts looked like:

First Prize: Kemo Simpano the barber for cutting the hair of two clients at the same time.

Second Prize: Dimple Singh for embroidering a 100-page cartoon story on a handkerchief.

Mooli and Soups had known each other since they were babies as their mothers were best friends. It was Mooli who had shortened Supriyas name to Soups. And Murali had become Mooli because that was the only way Soups could say his name when she started talking.

Some months ago, Soups father, Uncle George, had shown the children the Wayouts website. After this, Mooli and Soups had spent their entire summer vacation trying various tricks and stunts. They had sent entry after entry to Wayouts hoping to win a prize. So far, they hadnt won anything.

But thats going to change soon, thought Mooli, eyeing the cardboard box of books as he ate his breakfast. When no one was looking, he quickly slipped something into his pencil box before he left for school.

Ooops, said Mooli when he reached the bus stop and looked at the chocolate he had taken sneakily. This chocolate is so strange! Its almost red! And yuck this awful red chocolate looks like it has a big black boil on it. Ugh!

Mooli popped one in his mouth. Might look awful, he thought, but mmmm Amma really does make the best chocolate in town.

2.

Sugar Dove

Moolis Amma was a very good cook. Apart from making the best chocolate in town, she also made wonderful cakes and cookies. She ran her own business from home. It was called Yummy Scrummy Home-made Treats.

Amma had just finished icing a huge cake. It had been ordered for the World Peace Conference being held in the city. The icing on the cake was totally white. Butterflies made of white icing sat on white sugar flowers. It looked beautiful.

Now, I just need to put together the dove that Ive made from white chocolate and spun sugar. Amma looked pleased. The dove is a symbol of peace you know.

She picked up the dove carefully. She went to the tray where she had put its chocolate eyes and marzipan beak.

There on the tray were chocolates of every shape and size. But she couldnt find the tiny, reddish chocolate balls she had kept there. The ones with a dark dot in the middle so that they looked like eyes. She had made many chocolate eyes planning to use the best two.

Oh no! Amma wailed. The chocolate eyes of my dove are missing. And the cake has to be delivered in half an hour!