India

By: Alllison Walter

 

I, India Mae Kalera was born on May 4,1989 in the country of Zillia. My parents gave me a golden medallion at birth. Although I didn’t know it then it was very important. When I was little, it just seemed like a little token or something.  Now that my parents are gone it seems way more important. I put it on a golden chain that my grandmother gave me. I keep it under my pillow all the time. I only take it out when I feel like I need some encouragement. I had no idea where they got it though. They said they would tell me when it was time. I used to ask almost every day in my baby talk voice if it was time yet. It has a picture of a huge vicious dog engraved on the back. I keep that side face down because I don’t like dogs. It was inscribed with the words, India, heroic one. I’ve tried to live up to that ever since.

 

When I was just three years old my parents were riding a dolphin and it never came back. I was so sad I was just kind of in a trance for a while. I didn’t want to eat or do anything.  I grew up going from house to house staying with different families every month. I hardly ever went to school because I stayed at the house helping to earn my keep.

 

My best friends have always been animals. In my free time I roamed around the streets. I developed a gift for languages. Also I worked at the stables. There I learned to love horses and found I had a natural gift to ride and make friends with them. I also had a deep fear for dogs. I don’t know why or how but I feared them more than anything. Whenever I saw a dog roaming the streets, I made sure to take a detour.

 

I couldn’t lie. Not about anything. Not to anybody. I just couldn’t.  I’m also very good at making up plans. I’ve had lots of practice because I have to get myself out of bad situations often. It usually works too.

 

It seemed like all any one on Zillia talked about was that maybe someone would find our island and turn it into a tourist trap. I didn’t see the big deal until one day it almost happened.

 

I was down by the docks when a ship came sailing up. At first I thought it was a cargo ship coming from Aquaya. Aquaya is the only place that knows about our island, and we trade with them. Then I saw it wasn’t marked with the emblem. It was also much smaller. It had a figurehead of a bird on the front. I was kind of scared so I ran to tell the leaders that some foreigners had come. The leaders came to the dock immediately.

 

  “ We come in peace,” one of the foreigners said. He said it in their language, which the leaders couldn’t understand. The leaders summoned me forward and asked me to translate. By then a crowd had gathered.

 

  “ We come in peace,” I translated to the crowd. The foreigners and the leaders talked for a while as I translated. The leaders seemed to think the foreigners were friendly. I personally didn’t like them. The leaders offered them a place in the hotel.

 

I got bored so I went for a walk in the meadow. I was picking some wildflowers when I looked up and saw a wild horse. I was so awe struck by its beauty that I just sat there for a while. I could tell by looking that it was a mustang. It was chestnut colored. When it saw me it quickly ran away. It was so graceful I just stood there watching it disappear.

 

That night I couldn’t sleep so I went outside for a walk. When I was walking down the alley by the hotel I heard voices. Being a curious person, naturally I wanted to hear more so I crept closer and peered around the corner. The foreigners were talking right outside the doorway of the hotel in low whispers.

 

  “Ha, ha, ha, so the legend of Zillia really is true. Wait until the president hears about this. I can just imagine the headlines, ‘Band of Legend Followers Makes Fortune for the U.S.’ We’ll be famous!“

 

  “ Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. We still have to get the medallion from that stupid kid. Why did she have to have the key to the door? At least we have the Aquayian officials on our side. We still don’t know exactly where the cave is though.“

 

  “Shhh. I hear something.“

 

  “Must have been the wind.“

 

  “I don’t think so,“ he said as he crept over to see. I tried to flatten myself against the wall. It didn’t work. He grabbed for me and yanked me out from behind the wall.

 

  “Well, look what we have here. Maybe this little lady could tell us something since I know she can’t lie.” It scared me that he knew that.  “Well, where is the cave? You know what I mean.” Even though I didn’t want to, my mouth immediately answered.

 

  “In the tallest mountain in the Illia Mountain Range on the south side.” Oh no, I thought to myself. While they were laughing I swiftly kicked him and ran away. They started to run after me. I took a different turn than I usually do and to my surprise and horror I found myself right smack dab in front of a granite wall! Luckily I had lots of practice climbing. I scaled it as fast as I could. Although I knew they I couldn’t catch me anymore I kept running until I got back to the house.  As soon as I got there I immediately went to my bedroom and looked under my pillow for the medallion. It was gone! I couldn’t believe it. Someone must have come in and taken it while I was gone. I was panicking. What was I going to do? Well, there was only one thing to do. Stop them.

 

          I figured the first thing I should do was go to the leaders’ house. They all lived in one huge granite house. I passed by it frequently on my walks so I knew exactly where it was. When I got there I knocked on the door loudly enough to wake the dead. I knew the elderly leader that answered the door. I was almost the only one he could talk to because I could speak his language.

 

  “ How can I help you India?” he said as I mentally translated. I told him the whole story. One of the other leaders came down and heard the story.

 

  “India, you are lying ” the leader said and slammed the door. I couldn’t believe he didn’t think I was telling the truth. I was mad at him. I told myself I didn’t have time to be mad. But what was I going to do?

 

I can think of a plan myself, I thought resentfully.  I’m good at that, but I wasn’t so sure about this time. I plan best when I am alone, so I went out to the meadow. There I saw the wild horse again, and that gave me an idea.

 

          My plan was perfectly clear. I would tame the wild horse. I would take it with me to fight whoever or whatever was guarding the medallion at the entrance of the cave. Then I would simply take the medallion from its spot on the entrance which causes the door to close to trap the foreigners in. After that, I would ride to the docks and send over a message to the people of Aquaya to put in jail the leaders that were helping the foreigners. I just hoped it went as smoothly as I described it.

 

          The first problem at hand was taming the wild mustang. It wasn’t as easy as I hoped it would be. I couldn’t even catch it. “Well, I said to myself,“ “if I can’t catch it I’ll have to trick it.“ Running back to the market, I got a bunch of carrots. I ran back and quickly made a carrot trail leading right up to a rock. When the mustang got to the end of the trail by the rock, I was ready. I hopped on her back. She immediately started galloping around and bucking. The only thing I could do was hold on and pray. Finally after about ten minutes she settled down. I was so relieved that I just sat there for a while. She was sooooo wild! I decided to give her the name Lolo. We trotted around the meadow a couple of times to get her calm. Then we set off for the cave.

 

          It was a little bit bumpy riding Lolo bare back, but I could handle it. It was her who had the most adjusting to do. She hadn’t ever had any one ride her before. She was doing a good job though. As we were approaching I started getting nervous. I kept whispering the plan over and over under my breath. She could feel my nervousness and was starting to get jumpy. I could see the opening by then.  To my surprise guarding the opening a huge vicious dog.

 

          ‘Oh great,’ I thought. ‘My greatest weakness!  How did they know? Well, there’s no use worrying about it. I’ll just have to work up my courage and go out there and give it all I’ve got.’

 

          Lolo was cooperating well and went quietly around a big boulder toward the opening. I counted to three and we jumped out at the dog. As soon as Lolo landed on her feet, the dog was at us. Lolo picked up her feet and knocked the dog back. I hurled a large rock at it, but missed. It was back on its feet in less than a second. This dog was tough. It rushed at Lolo, and snapped at her leg. She staggered back, but didn’t fall. I motioned to Lolo to circle back around the rock. She understood me perfectly. Once around the rock, I picked up several big stones. I counted to three again and we burst out from behind the rock. At the exact same time we all clashed. I threw my rocks, Lolo struck the dog with her forelegs, and the dog snarled at Lolo with all her might and threw its body against me.  Lolo staggered back, I fell, and the dog smashed back against the rock face, unconscious. I picked myself up, examined my probably broken arm, and rushed over to Lolo. She was in worse condition than I was. Her right foreleg was bleeding very badly. “ Lolo!“ I cried.  At the sound of my voice she got up and hobbled over to the big rock. There she lay down again. I could tell she was in great pain. I ran over to the rock face and pulled out the medallion. The door slowly slid closed and shut the foreigners in.

 

 

 

        Once I had done that I ran as fast as could to the market. I tossed the cart owner a coin and grabbed a roll of bandages. I ran back to Lolo. Then I got some water from the stream and cleaned her wound. I wrapped it in the bandage cloth and fastened it tightly. I told her I would be back for her and quickly left. I ran as fast as I could towards the docks. When I got there I was out of breath I ran up to the closest dock attendant I could find.      

 

     “IneedtosendamessagetotheAquayianpeopletotputtheofficialsinjailthatwerehelpingtheforeigners, “ I blurted out gasping for breath.

 

  “ Say it slower, “ the dock attendant said.

 

  “I need to send a message to the Aquayian people to put the officials in jail that were helping the foreigners, “ I said more slowly

. 

  “ What are you talking about? “ he asked. So I stopped and told him the whole story down to the very last detail.

 

  “ I see,“ he said when I was finished. I finally found someone who believed me!

  “ So, will you help me?“ He thought about it for a minute and answered, “ Why not.“ I smiled and gave him a big hug. He whistled to his crew, and they came hustling over. Which one of you can row the fastest? They all pointed to a big muscular guy whose name I soon learned was Carlos.

 

  “ I need you to row this little lady over to Aquaya, and fast. She has something important to do.“ Carlos immediately untied the nearest rowboat and motioned for me to hop in. He then jumped in after me making the boat tilt so much it scared me. He rowed faster than I had seen any one row in my whole life! Before long we were there.

 

  “ Here you are little lady.“ Why did every one call me little lady? I was anything but a lady. You could ask anybody who knew me. They would all say I was tomboy. Oh well. No time to worry about that now. I had something important to do.

 

          I hurried through the streets telling people the story and getting them to follow me. It didn’t take long and I had a crowd following me. It felt good to have people believe me. We stopped for a minute and told them the plan. We would go to the leader’s house and bang on the door until they came out. We would then surround them. They would get a fair trial right there in the presence of the judge that joined the crowd, even though we already knew they were guilty. Then once they were proven guilty we would put them in jail. I sounded simple enough. We just had to put it in action.

 

          As soon as we got to the leader’s house we carried out the first part of our plan. We banged on the door and they came out without any trouble. We told them we knew what they were up to. They hung their heads and just stood there during the trial nodding at everything we said. They were proven guilty all right. We marched them over to the jail, one fourth of us on each side so they couldn’t run away. We put them each in a separate cell and gave them a loaf of bread to eat. When the last cell door was locked, everybody cheered. They carried me on their shoulders out to the street, cheering. I was so glad that this was all over. I explained to the crowd that I had to go home because my temporary guardian wouldn’t know where I was. They reluctantly let me down. I hurried back to the little rowboat where Carlos was waiting for me.

 

  “ That was good of you to do that. You didn’t have to you know. That was really heroic.“ I had done something heroic, but I still didn’t feel that I had lived up to what the medallion said. Carlos took me back to Zillia as quickly as he brought me. I rushed back to the house. I told my temporary guardian the whole story. She believed every word. I went to bed perfectly happy that night. Not a care in the world… except my parents. I wondered if I would ever see them again. Maybe, just maybe I would.

 

          I was walking around one afternoon just being bored. I decided to take a ride on a dolphin. I didn’t really know where I was going, and I didn’t really care. I was looking towards the sunset when I saw a speck of land. I got kind of excited. I would be the first kid to discover an island. When I got closer I saw a house. That got me really excited. Maybe I would discover a new species of people too. I decided to get off my dolphin and look around. I went and peeked in the house. It was empty. I went and looked in the garden. It was well kept, but empty. Suddenly I looked up and saw a speck running towards me. It wasn’t a new species. It was my mother.

 

          When I was tucked in bed that night, I asked my mom about being on the island. She said it was small, but there was plenty of food. She said they couldn’t get off the island because their only tame dolphin swam away. “We were hoping with all our might someone would find us so we could come back to our precious India, and look who found us. I told them the whole story, right from the very beginning to the very end. When I was done she said, “Our own little baby all grown up. I just can’t believe it.“

 

          The next day we left immediately. I was so happy to be with my parents again after eleven years I just couldn’t hold it in. I was crying with happiness the whole way home. When we got there I marched proudly up the dock holding my parent’s hands. When one of the dock attendants saw us he gasped.

 

  “ Look,“ he shouted. “ Mr. and Mrs. Kalera are back!“ I hadn’t heard that name for years. No one spoke of it since they turned up missing. It filled me with happiness. We marched through town and everyone parted for us. They had all heard the story of my parents, whether in the newspaper or through other people. I led them straight to Lolo. When I got there she was hobbling around the rock. She was looking much better.

 

  “ Can I keep her mom? Pleeese?

 

  “ After all you’ve been through, yes. Of course. I led Lolo home she followed me like a long lost friend. As we were walking through town back to our old house the island people started chanting, “ India, hero, India, hero.” It made me so happy. This was the best time of my life.  

 

          When I was lying in bed that night an immense feeling of happiness came over me. I had saved a horse, my parents, and the whole island of Zillia. I really was a hero.