The Mystery of The Yellow Mattress - II

A Mud Bath.

Sonya was undecided for a split second. There was no fence at the spot they stood, but a huge puddle of muddy  water stared at them unpleasantly. On the other hand, the turning was too far to run to, and there was no time! The blue car was almost upon them, and Mishka was simply staring at it while Momo was tugging at her leash.

With grim determination - grim enough for all of her ten years - she caught Mishka and jumped into the mini lake of mud. She was very annoyed and she wished her mom had not put a blanket ban on swearing. Not that it would have mattered, for the driver was already beyond hearing. She looked down - in spite of their galoshes and having landed on her feet, there were big muddy splotches all over her clothes. And her hands. And possibly her hair. Mama would be so mad.

Wait! Where was Mishka. She had let go her hand trying to balance herself. She looked around to find a perfectly happy Mishka, as she sat in the mud, playing with her new playmate - a slimy frog that seemed to enjoy their intrusion into her homeland. Ew. Trust Mishka to make friends with the weirdest of creatures. Momo sat looking at the frog in a half puzzled half jealous way.

Amusing as it was, she felt responsible. Just as they made their way out of the puddle, Mishka having said her goodbye to the ugly frog, she heard a screeching noise and something blue flickered past her. It took her few seconds to realise it was the same blue car. She wondered why he was in such a hurry first to go one way and dashing away the opposite direction the very next second. She was glad they didn't have to repeat their maneuver all over again. Now for the short walk home, before the mud begins to cake.

*

At home. 

She heard a familiar sound behind her - the siren of Uncle Bob's black and white. Ever since Papa passed away last year, Uncle Bob kept a watchful eye on them when he was in the neighborhood. There he was, looking curiously at their mud smeared countenance. Sonya quickly explained to Uncle Bob lest he think they had done it on purpose. He laughed heartily and offered them a lift home. She was glad for one, but did not wish to spoil his car. Uncle Bob said the car had been through worse, it wouldn't mind.

Off they went, uphill. It was a short drive for their house was only a couple of blocks away. Uncle Bob told them to be careful today, for there were extra patrol cars in their neighborhood and something was up. She nodded on behalf of Mishka and Momo too.

They drove up to their home, only to find the blue car driving off in the opposite direction. Sonya quickly pointed the car, but before Uncle Bob could look at it or the driver, it took a turn and was gone. She had had enough of the car for one day. But she wondered what it was doing in her lane, and also where was that mattress?

She was surprised to find her mom at home. Mama was early, and that was such a treat in itself!

"Sonya! What have you been doing", Mama exclaimed sure enough. Sonya was embarrassed. She tried so hard not to cause Mama trouble and to take care of Mishka and Momo. It was the least she could do. Mama worked so hard at the library all day.

She explained to Mama and turned to go to the washroom and tidy up. Oh! What did she find barring her way, but that yellow mattress. Of course it was familiar, it was HER yellow mattress!

"Mama, why is this mattress outside? I saw something just like this on the blue car that caused us so much trouble.", she asked.

"Oh Sonya. Don't you remember? I promised to get you a new one, as it is too small for you and Mishka.". Sonya nodded. Mishka loved to cuddle up to her and sleep, one hand on her favorite blankie. It was getting tight in there, with Momo jumping in once in a while.

"So I put it up for sale on a poster in the library. A young man offered to buy it. He came with me. Now I remember, his car was blue. He paid after carefully inspecting the mattress for ten minutes. He was gone, and then he was back in a few minutes saying something's come up and he needed to keep the mattress here till tomorrow. I agreed. You can use it till he comes back. I will get you a bigger mattress this week."

Sonya loved how Mama told her everything. They had a mutual understanding to treat each other as adults. Mama knew she could depend on Sonya. Sonya was proud of that.

She freshened up, had her dinner. Mishka was playing in her room. Sonya moved the mattress to a more 'out of the way' position. They had decided it was too much of a hassle to carry it into the room. As she made her bed, and got on it, something crinkled. She thought it was another bug of Mishka's. But no, the sound was like paper.

Sonya took off the sheets and looked carefully. The sound seemed to be coming from inside the mattress!

*