Chapter Two - Off to Kodaikanal

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Chapter Two - Off to Kodaikanal

You’re going much too fast, Adithya, please, slow down, and…stay on the right side of the road, Adithya! Click! Click! Adithya, you’re going too close to the edge, that’s too close, Adithya, but you know, if you go too slow, we’ll never get there!”

“Granny is clicking her teeth, Adithya,” laughed Bala, “your driving is making her very nervous.”

“Am I going too fast or too slow?”

“I think you are just doing fine,” Bala said smiling, “don’t you, Granny?”

“I just won’t look, that’s all. Click, click, Adithya watch out for the edge!! Good heavens that gang of motorcyclists is going to push us off the road. They’re called ‘Hell’s Angels’ in the US. I swear that those guys had black wings. Adithya, please watch out! Click, click!”

“You’d better drive carefully, Adithya, before Granny loses her teeth altogether. Poor Granny, these new teeth aren’t so good either, huh?”

“I know, the dentist says that I have the longest jawbones he’s ever seen. HEY, WATCH OUT!! That jeep’s coming right for us. AAAAAHH!! We are going over the edge!!”

Uma and Premala screamed and Bala raised her hand.

Just after the motorcyclists sped past, a jeep, traveling extremely fast downhill, side-swiped the rear of the Ambassador, causing it to spin all the way around. The car stopped and than began rocking. When Bala carefully opened the rear door and looked down, there was only space! One by one tey carefully climbed out of the seat and made their exit from the rocking car. When the walked around the Amby, they found that the back wheel was hung up between two thick roots which protruded from a large neem tree. The tree was the only thing which prevented them from dropping one thousand feet straight down!

With her inner eye, Bala could see the twisting tendrils of the long-necked monsters who live in the vast ravines below, reaching up towards the rocking car. The poor monsters had lost their lives in prehistoric times, and could never go towards the light because they were convicted when they were still alive. She had thwarted their attempts so far to pull the car over the edge, by manifesting the neem roots around the wheel. Bala sighed, hoping that someday she would have a chance to help them. Then she glanced at the road above. The four motorcyclists were standing at the side of the road, laughing, and tossing pebbles down on the car.

“They were driving those motorcycles very carelessly and they could have a very bad accident. Oh well, serve all, love all, even demons!” she said as she kicked a pine cone off the mountain road with slight irritation.

There was a rumble as the pine cone rolled along, picking up momentum and causing rocks and boulders to uproot a small tree.

“Woops!” she murmured, wiggling her finger, “I’m sorry, I’ll just put the tree back……..”

The deep role of thunder across the mountain cautioned the small girl-child avatar to be aware that her Divine Mother was never far away! 9

Adithya was very upset, “I’m so..sorry! So, sorry,” he stammered, “but the jeep almost hit us head-on, and those motorcycles. It was as if they were doing it on purpose!”

Granny had regained her senses, “Did anyone get the license number of that jeep driven by that idiot driver? We should definitely report this to the police.”

“He didn’t have a license plate, Madam,” Adithya moaned. “I’m so very sorry.”

“Don’t be silly, you had nothing to do with the accident.”

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