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The Petroleum Fire-contd...

by Annapurna Sharma
(Nellore, India)

The children got terrible scolding and grandma blamed grandpa for prompting them.

Grandpa argued, “I told them about my childhood, I didn’t ask them to start a fire.”

“By the way Prateek, why did you throw sand on the fire?” questioned grandpa.

“There were oil stains in the place I sat. When I plucked guavas and threw them into the towel, I did not see any such stains. When we played on the bike, it tilted to one side, but we put it back slowly. Then I remember smelling petrol,” murmured Prateek.

“You should have waited for the elders to act,” scolded grandma.

“You did a good thing. Why sand?” probed grandpa.

“What good thing?” started grandma angrily.

Grandpa motioned her to keep quiet and looked at Prateek.

“I thought the fire spread because of the petrol. I saw sand in the garden in the afternoon. Our teacher told us petrol, diesel and oil are lighter than water and float on water which spreads the fire even more. Sand blocks air and extinguishes the fire, so I ran for the sand,” explained Prateek.

“Good!” praised Mama.

“You should remember what you read in books and learn to use it in daily life. That doesn’t mean that you play with fire, knives or dangerous things,” advised grandpa.

The children apologized and promised to be careful in future.

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