Children’s fiction: Three children investigate why geometry boxes are going missing from schools

“Just be yourself,” Karthik had muttered, as they approached the school corner around which Sidey was usually parked. “Speak to him in Tamil or Kannada…”

Aarav nodded, his lips pressed tightly together. He hadn’t felt this nervous since the day he had to read the news during the school prayer last year. He used to stutter a lot then.

Shouldering his backpack higher, Aarav strolled around the corner, half hoping Sidey Cycle wasn’t there, until he saw the familiar rusted katta vandi up on its stand, with large bags hanging from the handle bars and a huge wooden box perched on the back carrier, strapped on with thin strips of rubber from old cycle air tubes. Sidey himself looked like he had stepped out of a really bad movie. He was wearing a full-sleeved button-down shirt, which was once red, but had faded through repeated washing to a truly horrendous magenta. His sleeves were rolled up high, and his buttons were all open to reveal a yellow in-shirt. Sidey’s hair was long, well-oiled, and combed over. His hair tips were dyed blonde. As he approached, Aarav could see Sidey wore a chunky gold watch, and earrings too. He was talking loudly on the phone, and waved Aarav impatiently away.

Surprised, Aarav came to a halt, as Sidey’s conversation continued.

“They are always looking for money from me. Even if I tell them my mother passed away last month, they say their mother, father, and elder brother all died in an accident yesterday.”

Sidey guffawed loudly, before noticing Aarav still standing there.

“Irru ma kanne.”

“Enna?” eyes cold, Sidey lowered his head and raised his shoulders at Aarav.

“Anna…” Aarav began.

“I don’t have anything here for boys like you.” Sidey’s eyes scraped Aarav rudely up and down, taking in everything from his backpack to his watch and dusty-yet-untorn shoes.

“Anna, geometry box?” blurted Aarav before Sidey could resume his conversation.

“Geometry box ah? Do I look like a school supply shop? GET LOST!” Sidey made a violent gesture with his phone.

“No anna…I lost two of mine…can’t ask for another…” Even as he was talking, Aarav vaguely appreciated that his nervousness sounded just like a kid who was too afraid to ask his mother for money to buy a third geometry box.

“I haven’t stolen any boxes!” shouted Sidey. Realising people were beginning to stare, Aarav took a step back and tried one last time.

“No anna, I just wanted to know if you have a few extra…?”

“GET LOST!”

Aarav turned and fled.

“Aarav for the last time, if your folks come to hear, tell them it was for our case!”

It had taken a good hour, a cola and two packets of chips for Aarav to relax after his disastrous conversation with Sidey Cycle. He silently vowed he would never even walk down that corner of the school (which luckily wasn’t on his way home) again.

Karthik who had been watching the interaction from the other end of the street, had assured him, that no adults had paid any attention, and that Sidey was always shouting at some kid or the other. That way he could protest that he always chased kids away, when an angry parent accosted him.

“You might have warned me about that,” muttered Aarav.

“Sorry,” said Karthik, who didn’t look sorry at all.

“What do we do now?” interrupted Asha. “I don’t think we’ve effectively interviewed Sidey.”

“Hey! It’s not like I can pretend to be cute and two –” shouted Aarav.

“That’s not the only thing I do!” said Asha, eyes cold behind her spectacles.

“OK, OK…let’s all just chill. Sidey didn’t pan out. But –” he held up a hand quickly over Aarav’s dark expression, “I don’t think he knows any more than we do.”

Karthik held up another hand to halt Asha’s protest.

“If you remember, he immediately said he didn’t know anything about the stolen boxes.” Karthik looked meaningfully at the siblings before adding, “As though he’s been asked before.”

“He was probably the first suspect,” said Asha shrewdly.

“I agree.” Karthik nodded.

“Fine,” huffed Aarav. “It’s not him and we still don’t know where the geometry boxes are going, much less who’s stealing them. What now?”

“Let’s bait the thief!” said Asha.

Karthik and Aarav looked at her blankly. She rolled her eyes and held up the Yuga geometry box she had bought in the school shop. “Let’s leave this out, and see who takes it.”

“How do we do that?” Aarav looked blank.

“How is easy. But, where?” Karthik pondered.

“We will have to try school first, as that’s where most of them…apparently…” she added purposefully, “go missing.”

“We could have a stake-out,” Aarav enthused. “Some place where we could watch even with our classes.”

“We could use RFID technology!”

Aarav looked puzzled. But before he could even ask what’s that, Asha, the walking-talking dictionary, blurted “Radio Frequency Identification”.

Karthik nodded. “It’s what they use in shops,” he explained to Aarav. “Those plastic tags, to keep clothes from being stolen? You place a tag on the object and with a tag reader you can know where it is, and even where it is being moved to.” Karthik’s eyes gleamed with tech enthusiasm.

“And do you have a reader?” Aarav asked pointedly.

“No.” Karthik slumped.

“So stake-out?”

Asha and Karthik exchanged glances. “Stake-out!” they agreed.

Excerpted with permission from The Mystery Of The Missing Geometry Boxes, Vidya Varadarajan, Scholastic Books.