I sat down on the bench to rest my aching legs while my grandson gleefully chased the seagulls. Rajiv , my grandson, so enjoyed coming to the beach. It was a beautiful , sunny day. I looked around to see that there were many families enjoying a family picnic, though it was a weekday. The school holidays were on and that was probably part of the reason. I smiled to myself as two other boys joined Rajiv in chasing seagulls. Everybody seemed happy and the holiday spirit was evident.
My eyes fell on a little girl and her parents , sitting on a bench, some distance away. The little girl did not seem happy. Her mother offered her a muffin but she pushed her mother's hand away so roughly that the muffin fell on the ground and immediately a group of seagulls started fighting for it. The mother clenched her fist and then looked around to see if anybody was watching them. Her eyes fell on me and she slowly unclenched her fist.
"What an ill- tempered girl!" was my thought. Rajiv would never behave in a similar way with his mum. He was generally a very happy child and usually was never ill-behaved. Of course, he had a very strict mum.
"Didu,why can't I catch any of them ?"They just keep flying away",said Rajiv breaking into my thoughts.
I'd become so completely absorbed in watching the other family that I'd nearly forgotten Rajiv.
"Well, you can't catch them because they can fly."I replied.
"I want to fly too .How will I be able to fly, Didu ?" asked Rajiv
"You will need wings for that."
Rajiv sat down on the bench beside me for a couple of seconds. My eyes wandered back to the girl and her parents on the other bench.
" I know Didu,how I can get wings.First I will take some.....,"Rajiv ran off mid-sentence to chase a particularly large group of seagulls that had gathered near us.
"Don't go too far.Stay where I can see you."I shouted after him.
I quickly looked back to see if the girl and her family was still there.There was something about them that was not right, but I could not put my finger on it.As I spotted them, I saw the girl start to get up from the bench but her father put a hand on her shoulder and she immediately shrank back .
I looked around for Rajiv and panicked when for a few moments I could not spot him anywhere. As I got up to go look for him I saw him chasing a seagull that was trying to finish off whatever was left of the muffin.
I wanted to get a closer look at the girl and her parents, so I walked over to get Rajiv.
"Rajiv, what are you doing here? Did I not ask you not to wander off?"
"Sorry,Didu,I did not mean to come this far,but I just had to chase that grumpy seagull. It is scaring the others."
"Grumpy seagull? Where?" I looked to where he was pointing. I could not help but chuckle. Rajiv did come up with the quaintest of ideas. He was never lost for an answer.
"Come on,let's go get our bag and then we'll go and get some lunch" I said
"Can't we stay a little longer ? I'm not hungry."
"No,it's lunchtime and we need to eat. Maybe,we can come back here again for a little while before we head home."
"Yes!Thanks Didu !"said Rajiv giving me a big hug.
As I walked back with Rajiv we passed the girl and her parents. Some instinct made me step forward. I smiled at the girl, "Hello! What 's your name?" I asked. "This is Rajiv, my grand....."I did not get the chance to finish my sentence. They got up and hurriedly gathered up their bags and left, the father dragging the girl with him.
The girl turned back to look at us and there was something in her eyes...a plea for help, perhaps.
"Come on Rajiv,lunchtime!" I said.
We had lunch and then Rajiv wanted to go home. He had started to miss his mum. He did not like to be away from his mum for long. So we took the bus back home .
I could not seem to get the girl out of my head, especially the way she had looked back at us.
The next morning I was shocked to see the girl's picture in the paper. It seems she was missing. She had apparently wandered off at the beach the previous day and had been missing since then.The police felt that she'd been abducted when she'd wandered off.
How could she be missing when I had seen her with her parents? Or had she gone missing after we'd seen her? Then I remembered her pleading eyes ...
I dialled the number provided under her picture.