The Adventures of Ron and Rhea

Ron was sleeping with an easy innocence of a boy child. A boy child he was, but with lots of courage. It was his twin sister Rhea who woke him up that morning – the morning where it all began. 

‘Wake up, wake up, I saw the windows rattling in the haunted house,’ said Rhea.

Ron woke up with a start. ‘What?’

‘Yes, yes. Just now, when I was playing outside,’ said Rhea, jumping up and down.

Together Ron and Rhea went outside to take a look at the haunted house.

‘Did you really see?’ asked Ron.

Rhea touched her throat with her tiny forefinger and thumb, and said, ‘I swear.’

Standing with his hands on his hips, Ron said, ‘All right. Let’s go in the evening and investigate.’

‘Evening?’ asked Rhea, widening her eyes. ‘It will be dark in the evening.’

‘Are you scared?’ teased Ron.         

‘No, no, I am not scared,’ said Rhea.

***

In the evening they went. The sun was down. The lamps in the street were on. The haunted house looked scary with a frown.

Ron walked towards the gate, holding Rhea’s hand. Standing in front of the house they raised their heads. The house was bigger than they had thought. Ron slowly pushed the gate open. They heard a ‘Creeeeekkk.’ Rhea jumped, ‘They will hear us,’ she said in a whisper.

‘Who will hear us?’ whispered Ron.

‘The ghosts,’ said Rhea, putting her hand over her mouth.

‘Come, let’s go inside,’ ordered Ron, holding his sister’s hand tightly.

They walked inside the gate. Ron tried the front door. It was locked from the inside. Ron and Rhea stepped back, looking at either of their sides. A gust of wind came sweeping by and rattled the windows that were just around the corner. Rhea whispered again, ‘Ron, these are the windows I saw rattling.’

‘It must be the wind, silly,’ said Ron.

Rhea kept mum. Ron took a few steps and stood in front of the windows. ‘Let’s see what’s inside,’ said Ron, and climbed up a tiny ledge.

The windows were not fastened. Ron peeked inside. ‘What do you see?’ Rhea asked.

‘I can’t see anything. It’s too dark inside,’ said Ron, climbing down. ‘I told you there were no ghosts.’

The windows started rattling again. Ron and Rhea looked up. A white face with white hair around its head stared down at them. The twins screamed and screamed and screamed. Ron held his sister’s hand, and they both ran outside. They didn’t stop screaming until they reached their home.

***

Ron and Rhea’s mother was worried. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘We saw a ghost, mamma,’ said Rhea. ‘Ron, tell her what we saw.’

‘Yes, mom. There is a ghost living in that haunted house.’

‘Nonsense,’ said their mother. ‘Now go and wash your hands and legs. I will give you chocolate milk and cake.’

‘Really, mamma,’ Rhea tried to explain, ‘The ghost has lived in that house for a long time and grown old.’

‘Ghosts don’t exist, sweetheart. You must have seen something else. Aren’t you a brave girl?’ said the mother.

‘I am a brave girl. Ask Ron,’ said Rhea. Nudging Ron with her elbow, she said again, ‘Ron, tell her what a brave girl I have been.’

‘Yes, yes, you are a brave girl, all right.’

‘See, I told you,’ said Rhea, giggling.

‘OK,’ said their mother, ‘Now off you go and get cleaned up.’

***

It was only when they had retired to their bedroom at night did Ron talk about the incident. ‘Rhea, let’s go again tomorrow.’

‘Go where?’

‘To the haunted house,’ said Ron.

‘No!’ Rhea gave a quiet cry.

‘Are you scared?’ asked Ron.

‘I’m not scared. You saw the ghost, didn’t you?’ said Rhea, sitting up on her bed.

‘Yes. Let’s fight it and save the people. Else, the ghost will kill everyone in the neighborhood,’ said Ron.

Rhea hung her head and said, meekly, ‘All right.’

***

The next morning Ron woke up early, took his bicycle, and rode in front of the haunted house. Two minutes later he was back home. Rhea was waiting for him. ‘Where had you been?’ she asked eagerly.

‘To see the haunted house once again.’

Rhea approached Ron, and holding the handle-bar of the bicycle, she asked, widening her eyes, ‘Did you see the white ghost?’

‘No, but we will in the evening.’

They waited for the sun to go down. Ron was ready with his weapons: a torch and a toy gun that shot darts.

At precisely six o’clock they left their home. They reached the haunted house five minutes later. Ron pushed open the gate slowly, as he had done the previous day. The same “Crrreeeeek” was heard. Ron and Rhea walked inside as silently as possible. The house looked more menacing than ever.

Ron walked towards the door, and knocked on it. He pulled himself back as he took out his toy gun from his pocket. Rhea stood next to him, wide-eyed and covering her mouth with her hands.

Ten seconds passed, which seemed like ten hours to Ron and Rhea. Holding his gun tightly in his hand, he walked round the house and stood below the windows through which a white ghost had scared him and Rhea the previous day.

One of the windows was open. He aimed his gun at it and pulled the trigger. The dart went flying into the window. The twins kept silent for a minute. Ron turned to his sister and said, ‘I think we have killed it.’

‘I think so, too,’ said Rhea, smiling.

Then, someone grabbed and lifted them from behind and took them inside the house. Ron and Rhea screamed at the top of their voice.

Both of them started crying as the ghost sat in front of them on the sofa.

‘Shut up!’ said the white ghost.

Ron and Rhea only cried harder.

‘I said, stop crying,’ said the ghost again.

Ron and Rhea looked at each other as they continued crying, tears rolling down their cheeks. The ghost that sat in front of them was an old woman. Her hair and her skin were as white as cotton.

‘I am not a ghost, children,’ said the old woman.

Ron and Rhea looked at each other again, exchanging surprised looks.

‘I am just a poor old woman who lives in this old house.’

Ron stopped crying first. Rhea then wiped her tears and sat silently, blinking her eyes.

Ron said, ‘You are not a ghost?’

‘Of course not, my dear. You can touch and see me if you want to,’ said the old woman, extending her hand.

Ron felt the old woman’s hand. ‘If you are not a ghost, then why did you keep scaring us all the time?’

‘I never tried to scare you. You imagined everything,’ the old woman explained.

‘Why did you grab us from behind like that? You did scare us, you know,’ said Ron.

‘You would have run away again if I had come in front of you,’ said the old woman.

‘Why do you live in the dark?’ asked Rhea.

The old woman made a sad face as she said. ‘Hmmm. That’s because I don’t have money to pay for the electricity, my darling.’

It was already dark and quite difficult to see inside the house.

Ron slowly took out his torch from his pocket and switched it on.

Rhea clapped in delight. The old woman ruffled Rhea’s hair and smiled. Ron said, ‘You can have my torch.’

‘Yes, yes,’ said Rhea. ‘You take the torch. We don’t need it.’

The old woman hugged the little children and kissed them on their foreheads.

Since that day Ron and Rhea often spent their time with the old woman. The old woman entertained them with her stories. Sometimes, she told ghost stories, too.

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Do you wonder how Ron and Rhea's day begins? How difficult it is to their mother to get them ready to school? Read In the Morning to get a glimpse of the kids' matutinal activites. In the Morning is not only a feast to your eyes, but it also makes sure your heart is tickled.
Download from iTunes!
            Download from Windows Marketplace!

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Wawa the Crab

Now that you all know what iStoryTree is and how fascinating it is, it’s high time we talked something about the first story: Crab and Crane.

Jennie will of course narrate the whole story to you; and Read to Me option will do the same, too. But then something troubled our minds: how did the lead characters of the story – the crab and the crane – arrive at the pond? Where did they live before that? What made them choose the pond? We put these questions to our research team and asked them find out. They took their time, but they came up with the answers in the end. The facts they dug up startled us to the core. Read on. Let’s start with the crab.

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Contrary to popular belief among other creatures, Wawa wasn’t born in the pond. He was, however, born and brought up in a sea. He was only three months old when the tragedy struck: on a fateful full moon day the high tides threw him out of the sea. For the unfortunate event made him an orphan, Wawa cried continually for three days, not knowing what to do and where to go.

Wawa went back into the sea and tried to find his family. But he couldn’t. It was only then he realized the vastness of the sea. The more he stayed in the sea, the more depressed he became. The thought of his parents made him sad. Not wanting to suffer anymore, he decided to come out of the sea.

For over a week he walked on the beach, without any reason, without any purpose. He tried to make friends with other crabs, but to no avail. The other crabs didn’t welcome him. Instead, they picked on him whenever they needed some entertainment. ‘Hey there, little one, come here,’ they used to call him. When Wawa approached them, they sent him back again: ‘All right, now go back,’ they said and laughed. Wawa was disappointed. He cried for a while. And then he wiped his tears and made up his mind: ‘I won’t ever cry again. I will find my friends one day,’ he said to himself.

As time passed by, Wawa became brave and courageous. He decided to abandon the sea and its surrounding completely, and started walking away from what was once his home. He neither had a plan nor a destination. He had no one to guide. He was left with nothing. He, however, had only one companion: his instincts.  

Three weeks later he happened to see a pond. For the little pond was full of interesting species, he took a liking to the surrounding the moment he arrived. Looking at Wawa’s walking style – he walked sideways and backwards (as most crabs do) – other creatures laughed at him. Among all the creatures, it was the frog that laughed more. In spite of this, Wawa didn’t mind. He found warmth and happiness in their laughter.

He stood silently for a minute, and then, he began to imitate the frog by hopping. With a tiny body and tiny claws, he looked funny. And this time, the other creatures laughed with him. The frog hung his head, and hopped and sat on a nearby rock. ‘All right, all right, stop laughing,’ he said.

‘Hi, I am Wawa,’ said the crab.

‘I’m Rafe,’ said the frog.

Thus began their friendship. Although the fish were scared of Wawa in the beginning, they warmed up to him later when they realized he was harmless. Soon Wawa made friends with every creature in and around the pond.

Together they played and swam and made fun of each other and had a happy time. It was during this time of their merriment that Carlos the Crane arrived.

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Download from iTunes and find out what happened next.
It's also available on Windows Marketplace!

When Jessica met Jennie...

The yellow school bus came to a halt in front of the big, white house at four-fifteen in the afternoon. 5-year-old Jessica stepped out of the bus, with an orange school bag on her back and a tiny white water bottle in her hand. Her friends waved at her through the windows. ‘Bye-bye, Jessica.’ She turned round and waved back, smiling. The bus driver smiled at her, shifted the gear, and drove on.

Boo boo the Labrador was already waiting for her at the gate, sticking his tongue out and wagging his tail. The moment Jessica opened the gate Boo boo put his limbs on her tiny shoulders and started licking her face. Jessica giggled and patted his head. Both of them went inside, with Boo boo in the front, leading the way to the little princess.

‘Grandma!’

‘Hello, darling. How was school?’ said Jessica’s grandma, pinching her cheeks.

‘It was nice. You know our teacher made me the class monitor today,’ she said, placing her bag on a nearby table.

‘Really? How wonderful!’

‘And there is an elocution competition on Monday. I have to tell a story to the whole class.’

‘You’ll win of course. You know so many stories, don’t you?’

‘I do. But I have to say it with proper hand-gestures and voice modulation. I don’t know what voice modulation is,’ Jessica said everything in one breath.

‘Your mother will teach you that, don’t worry. She used to win a lot of prizes in school. So have you decided on any story?’

‘David and Goliath,’ said Jessica.

‘Fantastic,’ said her grandma.

***

Jessica was having her evening snack – cake and milk – when Jessica’s mother, Mrs Howard, returned from work. Jessica left the table and ran toward her mother.

‘Mom!’

‘Hello, sweetheart, how was school?’ Jessica’s mother asked.

‘I’m participating in elocution competition on Monday,’ said Jessica, looking up.

‘Wow! Which story do you want to tell your friends?’

‘David and Goliath. Will you teach me?’

‘Of course, my dear. It’s still Friday. We have plenty of time to learn.’

‘And I am the class monitor,’ said Jessica, jumping on the couch with a “blup.”

‘That’s fantastic,’ said her mother, sitting next to her and kissing her on the cheek.

***

‘Once upon a time the Philistine army had waged a war against the Israelites…’ began Jessica’s mother. ‘Standing for the Philistines, Goliath threatened the Israelites…’

Jessica listened to the story once again as if she was listening to it for the first time: she widened her eyes, covered her mouth with her tiny hands, ‘Wow!’ she cried from time to time. When the story was over Mrs Howard asked Jessica to tell the story – with hand-gestures and proper expressions and voice modulation. ‘Give proper pauses, lower your voice and stress the words whenever needed,’ her mother said. ‘Give a pause after “once upon a time,” stress the phrase “waged a war…”’

Jessica tried to emulate her mother, but to no avail. She frowned when she went wrong. ‘Oh, don’t worry. You’ll get it right. Now let’s try again…’ said her mother.

Jessica practiced till eight o’clock. ‘All right, my dear. Time to have supper,’ said her mother. They were just about to get up when they heard a voice: ‘What’s my darling doing?’

‘Dad!’ cried Jessica, jumping up from the floor, and ran toward her dad.

‘I am going to tell a story to the whole class on Monday. And I am the class monitor now,’ said Jessica.

‘Oooh, that’s marvelous!’ said her father and picked her up.

‘Mom is teaching me elocution. I am going to tell the story of David and Goliath.’

‘Excellent, excellent. May I hear it once?’

‘We are going to have supper first,’ said Jessica’s mother. ‘Story time is afterwards.’

Together the four of them sat for supper. ‘By the way, I have got something for you,’ said Jessica’s father.

‘Oh, come on now. Couldn’t you have said it after supper?’ said Jessica’s mother.

‘Really?’ said Jessica. ‘What is it?’

‘After supper, my dear. I promise,’ said her father.

It was always a challenge for Mrs Howard to make her daughter eat her food. Mr Howard, upon telling Jessica about the present, only made it worse. ‘That’s enough. I’m done with supper,’ said Jessica, every once in a while. Mrs Howard shot a glance at her husband. Mr Howard threw up his hands in the air as if saying he was sorry.

Finally when they had finished eating their supper, Jessica followed her dad everywhere. The good humored Mr Howard teased her by walking up and down the house without any reason. Mrs Howard couldn’t help smiling. ‘Oh, that’s enough. Show it to her already. It’s not funny to tease her like that.’

‘All right. Here it is,’ said Mr Howard, opening his bag.

Jessica stood in front of him as he took out an iPad.

‘But that’s yours,’ said Jessica, her eyes sad.

‘Yes. But what’s inside it is yours,’ he said as he ran an application: iStoryTree.

Jessica sat next to him and leaned towards the screen. ‘What is it?’

‘You shall see.’

And as the story of Crab and Crane started Jessica got transported into a different world altogether. She sat still, becoming numb to her surroundings. Her grandmother once asked her: ‘What is it, darling?’ Jessica neither heard it nor responded. Her expressions changed from time to time, depending upon the rhythm of the narration and the animations and the sounds.

It was only when the narration was over did Jessica take her eyes off the screen. She turned to look at her dad. ‘How is it?’ he asked.

Jessica could only laugh. Nicknamed as “Chatter Box” by everyone, Jessica didn’t have any words to say this time. Her dad taught her to explore other options in the application. She did; and she clapped and danced and laughed in delight.

Finally when Jessica came across the feature, “Avatar,” it was a different game entirely. Standing in the middle of her colorful bedroom, Avatar Jennie narrated the whole story, with apt expressions, hand-gestures and proper voice modulation. Jessica listened to 8-year-old Jennie a couple of times without uttering a word. ‘It’s time to bed, Jessica,’ said her mother thrice. Jessica didn’t hear it at all. Jessica’s father, who seemed to have been engrossed in Avatar Jennie’s narration, got a nudge from his wife.

 

‘Oh, right. Jessica, darling, it’s time to go to bed. You can listen to it tomorrow.’

Jessica gave the iPad back to her father unwillingly, and said, ‘Mom, is this how elocution is done?’

‘Exactly. That’s how it is done,’ said her mom.

‘Wow!’ said Jessica.

Mrs Howard understood the implication. She said to her husband when Jessica went to bed, ‘Did you have to bring it now? I was teaching her elocution skills myself. You bought that thing and spoiled my impression. You stole my thunder, you know.’

Mr Howard broke into a peal of laughter. Mrs Howard joined him a moment later.

***

The following day, as guessed by everyone, Jessica didn’t ask her mom to teach her storytelling at all. She got busy with iStoryTree’s Avatar Jennie. It was during lunch time, after having listened to Jennie over twenty times, that Jessica announced she was going to narrate the story of Crab and Crane instead of David and Goliath. Her parents were not surprised.  

For the next one and a half days Jessica listened to Jennie and practiced the art of storytelling. Her mom once suggested her to practice by standing in front of the mirror. Jessica did and found it very useful. Jennie, although a fictional character, seemed to be real to Jessica; such was the impact the Avatar had created on the little girl. As Jennie narrated the story, Jessica imitated the expressions and learned the story by heart.

***

On Monday morning the yellow school bus arrived at eight on the dot. With her orange school bag on the back, Jessica was ready. Her parents and her grandmother wished her luck for the elocution competition. They could see confidence in her smile. Boo boo nuzzled against Jessica, wagging his tail. She patted his head, hugged him once, and trotted off toward the school bus.

The competition began at ten in the morning. Little boys and girls had come prepared with colorful stories. Jessica eagerly waited for her turn. And when her turn came, she went up the stage with conviction and gave a performance that her teachers defined as “fine and delicious.”

After having witnessed a lot of good performances, Jessica was surprised when she won the first place. Her parents, however, were not. After all, they had seen how Jennie had trained her to perfection.

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