All was well in the town of Aracott. The narrow streets were dingy and the buildings needed re-paint . Everyone was busy in doing their work when a deafening sound was heard and black smoke started was liberated from a window of a brick-red building at the end of the road.
The brick-red building was known as “Argles’s School for Younglings”. It had a dormitory at the back. The smoke ceased now but the Principal of Argle’s School for Younglings, Mrs. Argle Young entered the room and without even bothering to look for the culprit yelled, “Maura Isles what are you up to now?”Maura’s class teacher encouraged her to punish her severely. Mrs. Young yelled, “Why is it Maura, that whenever there is trouble it is caused by you?”
She went through the rest of the day. While returning back to her dormitory she wondered why her parents had died in a car crash andwhy had they left her a big fortune to be inherited when she would be eighteen,and not sooner? The fortune turned out to be more trouble than anyone had expected it to be. Mr. Patrick,a classic bankrupt villain, had often tried to seize the fortune. His failures had resulted in a three-year jail for him. That night she was very upset and in her desperation she prayed to God, “Oh! Why should I endure this miserable life? I wish my parents were alive. .The other kids get along so easily, why cannot I get to live an easy life like theirs? God! Please help me.”
Maura Isles, a twelve-year-old girl with fair complexion and blonde hair and enduring her miserable life day after day. The next day she woke up with sore eyes from all the crying the previous night. After dressing for school she looked in the mirror. Her eyeballs were nearly out of their
sockets and she only managed to utter three words, “Oh my God!” She did not see her reflection in the mirror; she saw Hope Martin’s reflection. After accepting that it was real she thought, “It’s amazing, but why Hope? I don’t want to be the ugliest, evil and annoying girl in the world.” With these thoughts she went to the class room and sat down at her place, but Mrs Candice laughed and said, “Hope, why are you sitting in Maura’s place? Have you forgotten your seat?” With embarrassment she passed the day and went to sleep in Hope’s bed that night.
The following day she woke up to find herself as Mrs Argle Young. The emotions were puzzled. She felt happy being the principal but she also worried about being the principal! She enjoyed the first half of the day- scolding the teachers and letting the students have fun. She als
o took a nap for a couple of hours in her air-conditioned office. When she woke up there was perfect silence. She was surprised and hurried outside to investigate and there he was standing, her worst nightmare. She screamed, “How can you be here? You are supposed to be in jail.” The man was surprised but replied, “How do you, Mrs Argle Young know about me? Whatever… I am looking for Maura Isles, have you seen her?” After she came back to her senses she saw that Mr Patrick has held the staff and students as hostages and was threatening them, “Do not try to act smart. I’m out for Maura and won’t leave until I have caught her. ” During his dramatic monologue, Maura had already started planning an escape. She said to him, “I know where Maura Isles is hiding and I would be glad to show you the place. She’s a nasty trouble-maker and we would love to get rid of the useless
orphan.” Everyone was astonished at this remark, nonetheless Mr Patrick grinned. Maura as Mrs Argle took him upstairs to the Principal’s office and said, “She is hiding in the washroom. You may go and deal with her. I’ll wait outside.” As soon as Mr Patrick entered the washroom, Maura bolted the door. Mr Patrick screamed, “What have you done? You lying old hag!”She did not have time to listen to the man bawl. She called the emergency number and lodged a complaint against him. The police soon arrived at the spot. When the policeman inquired about Mrs Argle, Maura came to him. But the policeman, Mr Andrew laughed and said, “It is true that he came to catch you, little Maura but I want to talk to Mrs Argle as I want a detailed statement so that I can put this prankster behind
bars for once and for all. At once Maura became conscious of her appearance. She rushed to her dormitory and stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection with a wide smile. She sighed with relief. Her appearance had changed back to Maura’s.
It took a couple of hours for the school to be back in order. The mess was cleaned, the desk was arranged, the bad guy was back in the lock up and Maura Isles was Maura Isles again.
Maura thanked God most dearly and remembered her parents. And now life could continue with its monotonous track. Though she had to keep an eye out for her mind-numbingly cunning enemy!
The clock struck five and the alarm blared out. Reluctantly I got up from my bed and covered the two feet between my comfortable bed and my unattractive study table, which I had freed from clutter, the same morning. I was pretty determined to make the best use of the evening and memorize every incident and date printed in my history book so that I could at least pass in tomorrow’s examination. I sat down on the uncomfortable chair and sniffed the scent of the stale pages of my course book. This was the evening to study for the examination as I had spent the weekend catching up my missed television shows. I picked up the three-hundred paged book, looked through the contents, and found the chapter on ‘Mauryan Empire’.