A

The Vowel Series - 'A'

The four boys had only joined the prestigious school that year. They came from different schools none of which were considered prestigious by anyone. By some quirk of fate, they found themselves seated near each other in the class. As a result, friendship formed between them quickly. They did not like the other students in the class and thus spent most of their time in the school together. In the evening, when the final bell rang, they were the first ones to get out of the school gate. They speed walked to the bus stop, which was about a kilometre away. One of them was really good at speed walking and the others had to run to keep pace with him. Each stayed in different parts of the city and so they went their separate ways at the bus stop.

That day, one of them did not come to the school. When the three of them reached near the bus stop, one of them mentioned "Did you see the poster of the movie running at Saffire?" The others said "no" in unison. "You guys should see it. Come!" said the boy. At the main road, they turned left instead of right and walked a few steps. The boy stopped and pointed at the large poster kept outside the theatre and said "Look". The three of them stood and stared at the poster. They remained transfixed at that position for some time. Soon, the boy tapped the other two and said "Guys, stop gaping like that. Everyone's looking at us. Come on! Let us go." They turned around quickly and walked towards the bus stop. The first boy asked, "So what do you think?" Words of praise flowed from the other two. At the end of the shower of praise one of them mentioned vehemently "We should watch the movie!" The first boy said "For sure! Tomorrow?" The second one agreed "Yes! Tomorrow!" The third boy warned them "But it is an 'A' movie". The other two laughed "'A' movie! Are you a 10 year old?" "Come on man! We are 15. We are grown ups now." The third boy continued with his protest "We are only 15. You should be 18 to watch 'A' movies". The other two laughed again and said "You are baby! Now don't go and ask for permission from your parents." "We are going to the movie tomorrow. Are you coming or not?" The boy thought for a few seconds. He listened intently to the debate between the devil and the angel taking place within him. Unfortunately, the devil won, and he said "No! I will not come. You guys go ahead. My bus is here. I am going. Bye". The other two laughed as they watched their friend climb into the bus and leave. The first one said, "He is still a baby." The second one agreed. They parted after promising to meet in front of the theatre at 5 pm the next day.

Next day at 5 pm, the two boys stood in front of the theatre, looking at the poster. One of them asked "Will they let us in?" "Of course, they will. Look at all the kids around us. They are all of our age." said the other confidently. The two of them looked around and smiled at each other. They walked towards the ticket counter. The taller of the two walked up to counter and said, "Two balcony tickets". The person at the ticket counter did not look at him. He tore two tickets and handed it over to him after taking the money from him. The boy took the two tickets and showed it to his friend, who looked at them happily. "We have one hour to kill. What do we do?" "Let us go outside." The two of them walked through the gates of the theatre and stood on the pavement besides the gate. They watched the flow of traffic on the road. Suddenly, the taller kid gripped his friend's hand and said "Principal". The friend looked around frantically and said "Where?" The taller boy pointed to his left and said "There!" "Oh God!" said the other boy. They stood transfixed in their positions staring at the principal. For the two of them the principal seemed like a mutant progeny of Godzilla and King Kong. Stories of him beating up students across the years had become like folklore for all the students in the school. Every child in the school had either been beaten up by the principal or had seen someone getting beaten up. If he found that the two of them were students at his school and were there to watch the movie, he would probably skin the two of them alive right there. They prayed desperately for the principal to pass by without identifying them. 

The principal saw them and said "Hey! I know the two of you. You are the new students who joined the school this year right?" The two of them nodded their heads vertically and horizontally to say yes and no simultaneously. The principal continued "What are you doing here?" The shorter boy responded promptly "Waiting for the bus sir". The taller boy agreed instantly "Yes sir. Thus bus". The principal looked around and said "Bus? Here? But this is not the bus stop". As he looked around, his eyes fell on the poster and the expression on his face changed. He asked menacingly "Are you two here to watch this movie?" The shorter one responded immediately "Movie? What movie sir?" The taller one repeated "Move! What move sir?" The principal did not believe them. The anger in his voice grew as he pointed at the large poster in front of the theater and said "Don't lie. Are you not here to watch that movie?" The boys turned around slowly and looked at the poster. The shorter one turned around quickly and said "Oh no sir! That is an 'A' movie sir. We are waiting here for the bus. We want to go to Higginbothams sir". The taller one repeated "Yes sir! Hissinbossoms sir." The principal did not believe them still. He said "I don't believe you. I want to see what you have in your pockets. Empty your pockets now." The two boys did not move. The taller boy considered fainting but the terror he felt made it difficult for him to faint. The shorter boy started emptying his pockets with trembling hands. He took out fifteen rupees and twenty five paise from his shirt pocket and a handkerchief from his pant pocket. The principal demanded "Pull out all your pant pockets". The boy pulled them all out. They were all empty. The principal looked at the taller boy and said, "Your turn now". The boy took out twelve rupees and sixty paise and a bus ticket from his shirt pocket. His pant pockets did not contain anything. The principal looked down at the boys' hands and inspected their contents. The two boys looked at each other incredulously. The same question ran through their heads "Where are the tickets?" 

The principal looked at them and smiled. He said "It is not safe for children to stand in such a place. Come on. I will take you to the bus stop." The two protested "It is okay sir. We will manage sir." The principal commanded them to follow him and started walking. The two boys ran behind him as the principal's speed walking was even better than their friend's. On reaching the stop, he said "You should get into 27A." The two boys said in unison "Ok sir. Thank you, sir." They expected the principal to leave but he continued to wait. After a few minutes, 27 A arrived. The principal pushed the two children into the bus and told the conductor "Two Higginbothams for the boys". The conductor handed them the tickets to the boys, and they paid to the conductor. They looked at the principal, who waved to them with a smile on his face. The two of them forced a smile and waved back. 

As the bus moved away from the stop, they asked to each other simultaneously "what happened to the tickets?" The taller one responded, "you had the tickets". The shorter one protested "No! You bought the tickets". 

"Yes! But then you took it from me."

"Nonsense! You never... Oh yes! I remember now. You did give me the ticket."

"Yes. So, what happened to the tickets?"

The shorter boy searched through his pockets again but did not find the tickets. "I must have dropped it when I tried to put them in my pocket".

"Hmmm! That must be the case. Let us go back to the theatre. We might find the tickets if we search for them."

"Yeah right! Stop talking nonsense man. We will not find the tickets but only princi waiting for us there with a whip in his hand. I don't think he believed us fully."

"That's true! I did not consider that."

They remained quiet for a few minutes. When the bus neared the next stop, the shorter one went towards the door. The taller one asked "Are we getting down?"

"Of course, we are."

"Are we not going to Higginbothams?"

"What's wrong with you? Why would we go to Higginbothams?"

The taller boy struck his head with his palm and said "Oh right! Why would we go to Higginbothams! Let's go home."