17 Looks can be deceiving

Maryam caught a glimpse of huge iridescent blue and green feathers through the thick overgrown bushes in the riverbank. She was fascinated by the grace of it and waited for a moment to get another glimpse of the beautiful shimmering feathers. As she expected, she saw a stunning peacock with fans of large iridescent blue and green feathers emerging throughout the thick bushes. But it immediately disappeared in the woods, leaving her with disappointment.

She remembered finding a large colourful peacock feather in her father's notebook once and thought of looking for some peacock feathers nearby the woods where the peacock had shown up. She took cautious steps towards the bushes and searched on the ground to see if any feathers had fallen from the peacock, but none of them was there to be found.

Then suddenly the peacock emerged from the woods again and stood a few feet away from her. Maryam looked at it with great astonishment; she had never seen a real peacock so closely before. She had only seen them on TV and magazines which her father bought at the weekends. And then she noticed that it had something slithering between its feet. The peacock tilted its head downwards and gnawed at it with its beak. And the slithering thing cringed and wriggled and managed to escape from the peacock's firm hold. Then it started to move promptly towards Maryam's direction.

Maryam recognized that it was indeed a snack which was crawling towards her, and the realisation hit her hard. At the same time, the peacock started to chase the snack which was slithering over the grass and the little Maryam stood frozen with wide eyes staring at the horrific scene for a moment. And then the adrenaline started to rush through her body and she took flight without daring to look behind. She paused for a moment when she reached the river which flowed through the woods, but then she heard the rustling noises again and stepped into the water without thinking twice. She crossed the river which wasn't much deep in that part and sprinted into the woods in the opposite direction.

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"Neem!" Mu'az exclaimed with excitement from his window-side seat when he saw Thasneem getting inside the bus he was in, and she strode towards him with a smile on her face. "Why did you get in the boys' bus?" He asked her when she neared him. "Did you come to see me?"

"Yes," She said as she removed her backpack. "I forgot to give your shares of cookies and chocolates. My Mama wouldn't like it if I took it back home without giving you."

"Thank you, Neem!" He said brightly as he took the paper bag from her and kept it inside his backpack. "I forgot to give your shares of doughnuts too!" He said as he gave her a box of doughnuts in return. "My Mama made those for the three of us."

"Thanks a lot!" Thasneem said as she took it from his hands. "Do you think Mrs Kumaran would scold me if she sees me here?"

"No, she doesn't scold anyone," Mu'az said with a beam. "She's very nice to us. But she said that she and Mr Carter would travel with the girls while returning from the tour."

"Then who'll be travelling with the boys?" Thasneem asked with doubt.

"I think our class teacher and the other two teachers in your bus would join us," Mu'az replied thoughtfully.

"Hmm... Look at Umair over there!" Thasneem said, nodding her head in Umair's direction who had been observing something through his binoculars from the front of the bus. "Come let's go and see what he's watching!"

"Hey, Umair!" She called when they neared him. "What do you see through your binoculars?"

"I'm watching the monkey which is sitting on that tall tree branch." He said with amusement as he turned to look at both of them. "It's eating fruit and scratches his head. It's so funny to watch him. Do you want to see?"

"Yes!" Thasneem said as she took the binoculars from his hand. "Where's the monkey, Umair? I can't see him!"

"Tilt the binoculars upwards." He said and pointed towards a tree. "Look up at that tree branch!"

"Oh! I can see the monkey now." Thasneem said with a grin. "He's so funny! Mu'az, come and see him eating that fruit!" Mu'az took the binoculars from her and tried to observe in the direction she pointed. But he only saw knotted and twisted branches with dark green leaves which danced in the wind. So he turned around and tried to look in another direction and unexpectedly he was looking at a peacock which had fans of large iridescent blue and green feathers. His luminous brown eyes widened with surprise and his jaw dropped as he watched the peacock whirling with its wide colourful feathers which shimmered in the light.

"What are you looking at, Mu'az?" Thasneem asked suspiciously as she noticed the amazement which displayed on his face.

"A large peacock with beautiful feathers!" He exclaimed with excitement without taking the binoculars away from his eyes. "I've never seen a real peacock before!"

"Where is it?" Thasneem asked curiously as she grabbed the binoculars from his hands and fixed it in front of her eyes. "I can't see the peacock! Where is it?"

"Look this way, Neem!" Mu'az said as he adjusted the binoculars which she held in her hands.

"It's... It's not a peacock!" Thasneem said with confusion as she gazed through the equipment. "It's Maryam! What is she doing in the woods? She was standing at the bus steps when I came here."

"Let me see!" Umair said as he seized the binoculars and peeked through it and he frowned at something with bewilderment.

"Thasneem, the peacock is chasing your sister!"

"What!?" Both Thasneem and Mu'az blurted with wide eyes.

"Is that beautiful peacock chasing our Maryam?" Mu'az asked with disbelief.

"Yes!" Umair said, still gazing through the binoculars with a serious look on his small face. "What do we do now?"

"Come let's go and help her!" Thasneem urged them both as she yanked their arms. "What if something happens to her?"

"Let's go and tell the teachers first!" Umair said with a thoughtful expression.

"But they are busy, talking about something," Thasneem said, shaking her head. "It'll be late if we waited to tell them. Are you both coming with me?"

Both boys stared back at her without saying anything. The thought of leaving the safety of the bus scared them. "Okay, then I'll go and help her on my own," Thasneem said with disappointment and turned to leave the bus.

"I'm coming," Mu'az said when she reached the stairs of the bus and Umair joined them after a moment of hesitation.

"It'll be easy to find Maryam with the help of my binoculars! He told them as they hurried towards the woods near the riverbank.

They started to hear the rustling noises of the dried leaves and the burbling river when they neared the woods. And they glimpsed at the mesmerising peacock through the overgrown grasses and wild bushes. "It's so huge and incredibly shiny!" Umair said with awe. "It looks like it is eating something."

"What!?" Thasneem asked, looking startled. "Is it eating my Maryam?"

"No, Neem!" Mu'az said as he clutched her hand. "It is eating something tiny and long. It has sleek skin. Look closely!"

Thasneem gasped when she recognised what the peacock was eating. "Yuk!!" She said with disgust. "It's a snake! The peacock is eating a snake!" Both boys jumped to their feet at her statement with a terrified look on their faces.

"I'm going back!" Umair said with a shake of his head. "This place is very scary. I can't stay here any longer."

"I'm leaving too, Neem!" Mu'az said with a frightened look.

"But what about Maryam?" Thasneem said, her rosy pink face had ashen with anguish. "I can't go back home without her. And she's not here!"

"What if the peacock starts chasing us instead?" Umair asked her.

"Then I'll go alone!" Thasneem said adamantly and looked at Mu'az who gave her a defeated look.

"I'll come with you." He said in a small voice even if all he wanted to do was to get inside the boys' bus and sit comfortably on his seat, just looking out of the window and singing along with the other children and Mr Carter. Mr Carter! His inner spirit brightened up at the thought of him. "Mr Carter will be able to help us, Neem!" He told her with a promising look on his face. "Let's go and tell him what happened."

His words made sense to her and she agreed to go back to the bus with both of them. But then, they heard the engines of the buses getting started and the wheels began to move slowly. "Hurry up!" Umair yelled as he raced towards the buses. "They are going to leave without us!" Thasneem and Mu'az sprinted after him to catch the bus which went last.

But the buses gained more speed and turned around a bent and then they disappeared out of their sights, leaving them in terror and bewilderment.