LAKSHMI – THE MAGICAL RICE PRODUCER

She hid in the shed. It was not unusual for her.   As far as she was concerned, she received her powers right from there; her powers to imagine anything full of rice as long as it could store something.  She did not fully understand why she was hiding from those grown-up men searching for her  outside. She was only eight.  However, she had seen enough to know that 

she should hide from those men, the profile of her  friend’s bloodied body still spooked her. She knew it  was them, two years had passed.

 She did not care as long as she was able to use  her powers to aid the poor farmers who had lost all  their produce due to the floods. She did not tell  anybody about her powers.

 At night she would go around the village and use her power of imagination to fill buckets, jute bags, utensils full of rice, these objects often kept before the  entrance of their houses. Those grown up men were  sometimes around, but she always slipped past them.

Pavaki was two years older than her but had  died two years before this night in that same shed.   Her father had died in a flood earlier and she was  forced to steal rice from that shed out of hunger. She  was caught by those men. It was almost morning.  

 Lakshmi was only six. She was on water collection duty. She passed by the shed. She looked inside. She found her friend dead. She ran home. She did not know her friend was dead. She just knew that it hurt when someone bled. And she bled from everywhere. And those men stood beside her.

 It took her almost a year to realize that her friend was dead. Lakshmi went into the shed. She saw a  familiar shadow. She fainted.

 She woke up on her bed. She was surprised. Her mother gave her a glass of water and warned her not to go near the shed again. But she was hungry. She wished her mother had given her rice instead. The glass  suddenly became heavier and it looked like it was full  of rice.

 Lakshmi came out of the shed. Those men did not come into the shed to look for her. She was lucky. She  did not want to be covered in blood like her friend.

Another flood washed everything away.

Lakshmi was only ten. Her duties increased because of her younger siblings. She still used her powers to  produce rice and help the villagers.

 Prajna was from another village nearby. She wanted rice. She had some money. She met with those  men who asked her to accompany them into the shed.

 Lakshmi had been following her. She came in front just as Prajna shrieked and ran out of the shed. The shed was recently upgraded, it had two more floors above it.

 Lakshmi knew what to do.

 She imagined. The shed came crashing down with the men inside. She was sweating. It was a lot of rice.

 She had a fever. Her mother gave her some boiled rice water. It was good for her health. She wanted some rice. She fell asleep. She saw a familiar shadow in her dreams.