The Coconut Thief

“Why are Appappan and Ammamma leaving?”
“If they stay here who will take care of our house at Pudukad? Besides Ammamma likes to attend early morning mass in Malayalam everyday, which is not possible here,” Appan answered.
“Can I go with them?” I ask
“What about school?”
“Maybe I won’t go to school for some days.” I suggest.
“No, you have to go to schools everyday”
Soon Ammamma and Appappan are gone and we are back to being the four of us.
“Some one has been stealing the coconuts from the tree” Appan announced one day.
“Non sense, how can anyone do that, the tree is in front of the house and we would hear it if any coconut fell on the ground.”
“Well come and see for your self, the entire bunch of ripe ones are gone.”
Amma and Appan go of to check and Vena and I follow. Amma is livid, “Now we will have to buy coconut for our daily use. I really cannot imagine who could have done it.”
“Well thieves are every where, anyway ask Kousu if they heard any sound at night.” Appan says and leaves for his office.
In the evening, appan brings a guest, the gardener at the railway depot. They go to the coconut tree and look up at the remaining coconuts.
“Well, whoever stole it will be back for more” the gardener says.
“You do whatever has to be done, I don’t want anyone robbing me like this anymore” Appan tells him.
Then as appan and I watch he climbs the coconut tree and starts putting broken pieces of blade into the tree. This he does for quite a length of the tree and comes down.
Appan looks worried, “Even if he is a thief, the man mind hurt himself with all those blades.”
“Well, serves him right for stealing. This is what do at the depot and always the thief is someone we know.”
Appan still looks uneasy. But the gardener is sure this will work. “Aiyyah, this is how we do things in Tamil Nadu, you malayalis are too soft, feeling sorry for the thief when he is robbing you.”
Early next morning I rub off to check the result of the previous days handiwork but everything is normal. I run back and shout, “Appa, Appa the thief did not come yesterday, the coconuts are still there.”
Amma smiles and tells Appa, “Just like you to inform the biggest chatterbox in the world about your thief trapping plans. She has probably told everyone about the blades, the thief included.”
Appan picks me up and whispers, “This is a secret between us, don’t tell anyone about the blades. Okay. If you do the thief won’t come and we won’t be able to catch him.
The door bell rings and we go off to open the door.
“Chachan, Chachan Amma Chachan has come, Amma, Amma, See Chachan is here,” I shout happily.
Chachan picks me up and kisses me, “Where is Vena?” he asks.
“With Amma. You know Ammamma and Appappan were here with us, but then they went back to Pudukad.”
“Lucky you” Appan says, “One set of grand parents leave and the next grand parent comes to see. She always has someone or the other to fuss over her.”
“Chacha do you know we have stuck blades into the coconut trees here to trap the thief who has been stealing coconuts from us.”
Amma laughs at this, “She really cannot keep anything to herself.”
“What blades?” Chachan wants to know.
Appan explains and we all sit down for breakfast.
“Do I have to go to school today? Chachan is home and he will be alone if I leave,” I tell them.
“No, go to school now and in the evening we will go out with chachan.”
A few days later, Kousu comes running, crying.
“Aiyyah Aiyyah, My Appa has hurt himself, he says he fell and bruised himself, his body is covered with cuts.”
We all run to her house and sees him cut badly, “Come I will take you to the hospital” Appan tells him.
“No No Aiyyah, I will apply some medicine and it will go away.”
“But what happened, how did you cut yourself like this.” Appan wants to know.
He looks down and mumbles something.
“Did you fall somewhere? Were you drunk? Appan is shocked; he has never seen anything like that. It is as if someone had cut him up with a blade. Then it strikes Appan, “Oh my God! You climbed the coconut tree, you were the thief.”
Everyone looks shocked. Kousu and her mother start wailing and beating their chests, “Aiyyah please don’t report this to the police. This good for nothing man steals things to keep drinking.”
“No, No don’t cry, I am not reporting this to the police, but this should not happen again.”
We leave the wailing women to their misery and get on with our routines.