Kaushik looked at her through his magnifying glass.
He asked in a brave voice, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The tiny girl got frightened by his loud voice and eyes, which looked enormous behind the magnifying glass. She let go of her umbrella and leaned back in fear.
Through the magnifying glass, Kaushik could see her expressions clearly. She looked worried.
So he told her kindly, “don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I want to be your friend.”
She stared at him for a few minutes and asked softly, “is it still raining?”
“No, the rain stopped long ago. There is no need for an umbrella now, you can also ask your friends to close their umbrellas,” Kaushik says.
The girl climbed on top of Kaushik’s hat and gave him a warm smile.
“My name is Lalitha. I live in the forest along with my family. We don’t know how to build a house. So when it, we use our umbrellas to protect ourselves from your shower.”
“I can teach you and your family how to build a house. My father says that I could be a great architect someday,” said Kaushik.
With that, Kaushik’s detective dream came to an end, and the next dream began.
*****
