Short Stories No 1---The Escape

There was a girl, Ani, who lived with her parents in a small village.
When she was 16, she decided to run away from home to escape an arranged marriage as the 16th concubine to the village chief, who was then 61 years old.

So she started her escape, bringing along only the pittance(10 Lia dollars) she has saved by running errands for the village folks.

So she ran, and she ran, and she ran.

Unfortunately, in her haste, she tripped over a tree branch and dropped 2 dollars. Just as she writhed towards her money, 2 big fat black crows swoop down and snatched the 2 shiny coins away.

Ani was dismayed but she went on running and running and running.

Unfortunately, in her haste, she tripped over a stone and fell, into the arms of a charming woodcutter. The woodcutter looked deeply into her eyes and Ani was mesmerized. It was love at first sight. Ani invited him to join her on her escape and they decided to elope together after a good night's rest.

The next morning, the woodcutter was gone, and so did 6 dollars, with a note attached," Honey, I left you 2 dollars to grab a bite, love cute woodcutter."

Ani was disgusted( because he only left her wif 2 dollars and not 3 dollars). She continued running and running and running.

Now and Ani was just a few km away from the main entrance of the town, a scrawny man bumped into her and mumbled something before sprinting away. The man turned around to give Ani a thumbs-up when he was some distance away. Ani smiled and returned the thumbs-up sign, thinking to herself, " What a friendly guy."

When Ani reached the entrance of the town, she was ambushed by 2 burly muggers. She was most willing to hand her purse over( for 2 dollars in exchange for her life is a very good deal) , when she realised her purse was gone!!! Remembering the scrawny man, realisation dawned upon her that she has been pickpocketed. She sat down and wailed and howled like a wolf on a full moon night.

Now the burly muggers were really freaked out. ( They were new on the job and so far their victims only tried to put up a futile struggle. None had acted like this girl before.)

" Are...are you alright?" One of the braver muggers stepped forward. Ani managed to tell her story of escaping, while wheezing and choking on her sobs. Soon, all 3 of them were hugging together and crying for poor Ani.

Touched by Ani's tale, they recruited her as a fellow mugger and they all lived happily ever after in the town. Their rule of thumb, was to take the money only of those who resembled Ani's parents, the 61 year old village chief, the cute woodcutter and the scrawny pickpocket.

Moral of the story---a messed up situation cannot get anymore messed up. So if you feel like you're at the bottom of the deepest pit ever, rejoice that the only way to go now is up, not deeper.