The Lost Keys

The Lost Keys

2 mins
385


Manyata was scared stiff. She rummaged in her handbag for the umpteenth time, hoping against hope that she would find her house keys. ‘But no!’ There was no trace of them.


‘Where could she have misplaced them? Had they fallen in the market, when she had opened her bag to pay for the vegetables?’


That could have been the only possibility as she had not opened her bag anywhere else. She retraced her steps to the market looking carefully on the ground in every direction to spot the keys.


Seeing her panic-stricken face, the vegetable seller could not contain his curiosity.

Tai, Kya hua? Kuch doondh rahe hain kya?” he asked.

Manyata nodded. But she did not tell him what she was searching for.


Her mind was full of chaotic thoughts. ‘What if the keys had fallen into unscrupulous hands?’ And secondly ‘How would she open the door and get inside the house? She had to prepare something for her little son, Kavit when he returned from school.’ At the thought of Kavit, she realized that there were just a few minutes for his school bus to drop him. She ran back to her doorstep just in time to receive him.


She took her 4-year-old to a nearby restaurant and bought him his favorite food. While sitting there waiting for him to finish, she mustered the courage to speak to her husband and asked him for the next course of action to be followed. 


Vinay laughed. “Manya, go to the nearby key maker and get the door opened first. And don’t worry so much. Nothing will happen. I will be back in an hour’s time and then we will see what to do.”


“But what if some unwelcome element finds the keys?” she asked in concern.

“He or she will not know to whom the key belongs. So don’t worry so much.”

“But---,” she started again. Her husband had disconnected.


Manyata went to the key-maker who was seated opposite the post office and got him to open the door for her.

She then sat on the sofa, waiting for Vinay to come back.


Vinay returned soon. He knew his wife well. She would have panicked.

Manyata’s relief at seeing him was obvious. She asked him “What do we do now?”

 Vinay smiled as the bell rang.

“See for yourself,” said Vinay.


It was their regular carpenter. He replaced the old lock with a new one.


Manyata looked at Vinay sheepishly. It was such a simple solution and in her panic-stricken state, she had not even thought about it.

 



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