THE LADDU STORE
"What funnnnnnnn!" squealed Maria as she ran into the dim room that smelt of sweet laddus.
Seema, Bunty, Anaina, and Rimi were scooping the sweet mixture from the baskets and rolling them into little balls, which they placed neatly and deftly onto a large plate. They smiled brightly as Maria joined them.
"Sweet heaven," she sighed, rolling her first round laddu. "And to think you do this every day..."
The other kids lived in that village and helped the old man and the old lady at the laddu store. The old lady made the sweet mixture in the kitchen at the back. The children rolled them into laddus in the small room adjoining the kitchen. The kid closest to the door carried the loaded plate to the front, where the old man sat to sell the laddus. Everybody in the village came to this store to buy laddus every day. On festival days, there was a great demand for laddus, which meant the six of them had to work very, very hard.
It was a festival day today. There was a line of people with baskets or bags waiting to buy laddus. Maria had come with her mother to the store to buy laddus too. It was the second time that Maria had come to the village. She had met the laddu store kids on her last visit, and became such good friends by the end of it. They promised her that she could roll laddus with them the next time she came. So when Maria stood in the queue, she remembered the promise. The smell of the fresh laddus got the better of her and she ran to the room where the kids were rolling the laddus. Her mother didn't have a chance to hold her back. The old man smiled at her and asked her not to worry.
"Do you ever eat them?" Maria whispered to Rimi, who was standing next to her.
"Oh no! Not when we are working! We can't afford to run short, especially on a festival day."
"I see," said Maria disappointed. They were such good, fresh laddus.
"But the old lady and the old man are very generous. They let us take home the leftovers. You know we always begin the day making fresh laddus. Nothing from the previous day is sold."
"You don't go to school?" asked Maria.
"We do. In the afternoons after work."
Bunty ran with the loaded plate to the front and placed it on the table in front of the old man. Then he pulled an empty plate from the rack and ran back in.
While the other kids got ready to position the large plate properly, Maria quickly took some of the mixture and put it into her mouth. It was delicious!
The kids went back to work. Scooping and rolling and placing. Maria moved to the far end of the room, where it was darker.
"I like to lean against the wall while I work," she explained when the other kids glanced at her. She continued to work, all the time waiting for a chance to put a whole ball into her mouth.
"We've run out!" the old man shouted. "Hurry up, children!"
"Oh quickly. Take this plate to the front, Bunty. There's enough on it. Get another!" said Rimi. The kids shuffled around to fill in some last-minute balls.
This was her chance, thought Maria. Her eyes still on the kids, she quickly tossed a laddu into her mouth. And just at once...
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Maria got stung on the upper lip by a big red ant. The ant was one of a line of ants on the wall against which Maria was leaning.
Moral: Watch what you eat.
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