Bala Devi, Girl-Child Avatar - Book Two - Holiday in Kodaikanal

Chapter Four - An Old Adversary

Chapter Four

An Old Adversary

After lunch, Uma, carrying her basket of red roses, marched up to the front desk in the lobby of the Walton Hotel. She plunked the basket down in front of the surprised room clerk.

“I will not accept these flowers,” she said, with her jaw firmly set, “they are from a man who kills horses!”

Everyone in the lobby and the travel desk stopped and stared as she turned on her heels and marched away.

For the rest of the day, Bala and her friends spent their time washing their hair and playing Scrabble. After dinner, they rested and felt like an adventure.

“Let’s go down and visit the filly,” suggested Bala. Everyone liked her idea, except for Granny.

“Bala, you listen to me,” said Granny. “Promise me that you will not leave the hotel grounds tonight. Your parents are not here and I have full responsibility, not only for you, but for your friends, Mary and Premala, whose parents entrusted me with their care. I frankly don’t know how I got roped into this, but you’d better cooperate, or else.”

“I heard you, grumpy old Granny, I really do, and we appreciate all that you’ve put up with us so far,” said the intrepid girl-child. “You and Adiamma could go and watch TV or something and not worry! We’ll be fine.”

“Oh, God! Was that a promise or not, Bala?” Granny moaned.

But the girls were already out of the lobby, across the lawn, down the steps and off to the lower road, where the horses were tethered, before she could receive any kind of answer. The hotel was built on five levels on the hillside, and two of the levels had grassy lawns for outdoor dining and golf.

“Hallo, Gopal,” said Uma, when she saw the nice young man.

Gopal blushed and turned away.

“What’s wrong?”

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“Nothing, nothing at all. How could anything be wrong? It’s good to see all of you girls.” Gopal swallowed hard. “Did you come to see me or…you came to see your filly, didn’t you?”

“Yes, we did. Do you think we could all go riding now? The woods must be beautiful in the moonlight.”

Gopal looked alarmed, “Good Lord, no!” he cried. “I mean, I’m sorry, but father has a rule against the horses at night. Oh, please don’t get angry.”

‘I’m not angry Gopal.”

“I’m glad. Come, I’d like for you to see little Amber. Come Bala, all of you come and visit her, she gets a little lonely being the only girl around here.”

“Who is Amber?” asked Premala.

“We named her Amber. You can change it if you like, but…well, she’s kind of the colour of dark amber. Oh, and another good thing, one of the mares who had a foal in a nearby village is going to have enough milk for Amber, too.”

“The mare accepted her?” asked Uma in surprise.

“Yes, well, she’s an old friend and trusts me a great deal. I guess it wasn’t much of a problem.”

“You must be very good with horses, Gopal,” said Uma in admiration.

“Don’t know about that,” the boy said, his face turning a shade darker. “I love training horses. Actually, I got my master’s degree in electrical engineering, but I’d much rather work with horses.”