Gum Power
By ayanmisra
- 789 reads
Arin is twelve years old. He loves chewing gum. So fond is he that he
always carries two or three boxes of gum in his packet. After he has
chewed gum for a few minutes he tries to blow bubbles. But he is never
successful. No matter how hard he tries Arin can never create even a
small bubble. His friends make fun of him for being a compulsive
gum-chewer who cannot blow bubbles. They call him 'The Chewer',
'Bubble-eater' and other such names. Indeed the secret of blowing
bubbles is in the chewing. You shouldn't chew cud. Instead you should
make the gum softer and more supple till you can blow air into it and
create the bubble of your choice. It makes Arin sad that he is so good
at everything-studies, sports, dramatics, debating and he still cannot
blow bubbles from gum. A most extraordinary thing happened yesterday.
While returning from the local soccer ground it began to drizzle. This
is the season for nor'westers which means there will be rain with
thunder and lightning. As he ran through the speeding rain Arin
suddenly felt like the sky had fallen on his head. It was a strong blow
and Arin lost consciousness for a minute. When he came to and looked
around he realized that he had been struck by lightning. Arin felt weak
but was strong enough to go home on his own. Arin was playing soccer
with his friends today. As usual, he was the goalkeeper. As he was wont
to do he took out some gum from his hip pocket and tucked it into his
mouth. His mouth felt warm and soft. Even as he waited for Joey who was
attacking his goal Arin began to blow a bubble. It was the first one of
his life. But, something was wrong. Or right, perhaps. The more he
blew, the bigger the bubble became till it was as big as Arin himself.
And he was about four and a half feet tall. More surprises were in
store. As Joey moved towards the goal with the ball he crashed into the
bubble that Arin had blown. To the shock of everyone present Joey fell
to the ground after hitting the bubble. It was obvious that he had been
rendered senseless. The rest of Arin's fellow players hit the bubble
with their bodies one by one. And each of them lost consciousness. In
the end, a doctor had to be called to treat the boys who had struck a
gum bubble and lost sense. One of the boys was carrying some chocolate
sauce bought for his mother's kitchen. On an impulse the doctor poured
the chocolate sauce on the huge, air-filled bubble. Immediately, all
the air was eased out of the bubble and what remained of it returned to
Arin's mouth. The news of the magnificent bubble soon spread all over
town. The town in which Arin lived was situated inside a huge fort.
This fort was often attacked by enemies of all kinds. The most
important person in the fort was Major General Sen. He was in charge of
the army camp within the fort and was expected to protect it from
various enemies. When General Sen heard about Arin, he began to get
ideas. He asked Arin to meet him with sufficient amount of bubble gum.
Arin visited the General the next Sunday. He was taken to the army
ground and asked to blow bubbles from gum. Arin blew a six feet bubble.
Soldiers took position with their guns and began to fire at the bubble.
Not a dent was made. Arin had an idea. He tore off the bubble from the
gum and tied its open end like you do with a balloon. The bubble was
taken to the top of the army camp. Five soldiers held on to the surface
of the bubble as it was dropped from the roof. As the soldiers
descended to the ground they reported that the downward journey with
the bubble was pleasant and smooth. The Major General had an idea. In
ten days' time the fort was attacked. Arin was asked to produce a
hundred bubbles and he did so without flinching. The bubbles were
dropped on the enemy from the ramparts. Most of them were killed and
those that escaped were shocked. They did know what had struck them.
The enemy tried to deflate the bubbles with sharp pins but were quite
unsuccessful After the war was won Arin became a hero. However the
secret was unearthed by the enemy. With the help of some traitors Arin
was kidnapped by the enemy. The enemy left him in a room with many
boxes of bubble gum. It was thought, inexplicably, that if Arin was
left near bubble gum he would consume it. The room was hot and the fan
was switched off. Arin began looking for the appropriate switch. He saw
an open wire and pulled it. Immediately a strong electric current ran
through Arin's body. He was thrown to the floor. He recovered soon
enough and on an impulse he began looking for bubble gum. He found
some. He chewed for a while and then tried to blow a bubble. Well, what
happened or did not happen was in keeping with Arin's expectation. Arin
was back to his old ways. Which meant, no matter how much gum he
chewed, he could blow no bubbles at all. He was back to normal.
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