FINDERS, KEEPERS

Raji came out of her cool, thatched roof hut. The rough, sun-baked ground scorched her little feet. She looked up at the sun - it was still not very high in the sky. Judging by its position, Raji guessed it was around ten o'clock...

- Sarvamitra

Amma and Appa must have already left for work in the fields. She fumbled around in the kitchen and found her breakfast: a bowl of leftover rice mixed with curd and small onions. Mmm, she loved it.

On school days, Amma sent Raji off quite early so she could eat the breakfast provided there, even though Raji didn't like it much. But she never complained.

After cooling her stomach with the yummy breakfast, she looked around. In a corner, a long piece of rope lay coiled up. Skipping rope, she thought. She picked it up and began skipping her way to the village center, where, on Saturdays and Sundays, all the village kids gathered to play together all day long.

Raji stopped in her tracks. What was that glittering on the ground? Was she really seeing the sky reflected on the muddy road?

She moved closer, eyes widening. Oh! It was a mirror. A decorative-looking one, though it seemed quite old. Raji picked it up, seeing her beaming face looking back at her.

"Hello! Does this belong to anyone?" Raji called out to no one in particular, but there wasn't a soul in sight. She shrugged happily.

"Finders, keepers!" she remembered her mother saying once when they had found a twenty-rupee note on the road.