An expression of thanks

Running towards the mango that has fallen from the tree, her only wish was to get that fruit before all her friends and cousins who were waiting to get it. Owing to the intensity of her desire, she hurried to reach the mango first and took it in her hand and she could become a success. Once she made sure that the mango is completely in her hand and no one else has claim on the fruit, she looked around to see the reaction of her friends. While most of them were giving an envious look, a very few of them expected her to be sympathetic and share the mango of which she is the sole owner. Without revealing her exact intention about the mango, she walked towards the pond to wash the mango. On her way to the pond, she could not abstain herself from looking at the nook of the coconut tree near the mango tree. The squirrel was not there, she stared at it once again to check whether any of the infant squirrels could be seen. For her disappointment, none was there. They must have been sleeping she thought, they also could have been afraid to come out as she and her peers were making noise around.  

Though she wanted to swallow the mango as such, she decided to share the mango with her little brother and a few of her friends who gave her the submissive look. With this in mind, she walked to the kitchen to get the knife to cut the fruit. All of a sudden everything happened; the mango she kept within her hand was robbed by her cousin. Being a girl, four years younger to the robber, what she could do was to cry. She screamed to call attention of her mother, grandmother and aunt. While they arriving the scene, the robber finished swallowing the mango completely and looked at her as if she is a fool. Her grandmother tried to console her and warned the little robber not to repeat it again. After some times, she returned to join her friends who were waiting for the mango tree to bless them with another mango. She joined them and prayed with her full strength and heart for the next mango to fall. Though the mango tree was magnanimous enough to answer her prayers, her friends didn't show that courtesy to share the sweetness of the fruit with her.

After awaiting a lot, she finally decided to return with empty hands as her mother was calling her for lunch. Even during the lunch, her mind was roaming around the mango tree. It’s more than a month since the school is closed for vacation and till today she couldn't have even a single mango. “Today, I will surely will get a mango and will share it with my cute little brother” she decided. She skipped her religious class to fulfill her wish and stayed at home when all others left for attending the vacation classes in the church. She made her way to the mango tree just after she could switch the attention of her mother and grandmother. Sitting alone under the mango tree in one of the hottest noon times of the day was not easy, yet she waited there dreaming of the mango that will have no one else even to look at. She looked up to find ripe mango on the tree. After searching a lot, she could find one mango that was fully ripe. It had a slight yellow color.

As she was the only person around, she was relaxed and so visited the coconut tree to see whether the squirrel and her infants are there or not. Adding her curiosity, none of them were seen anywhere near the coconut tree. As she was waiting for the beautiful yellow mango to come down, she couldn't afford to search around to find the squirrel family and she waited patiently under the mango tree. Spending a monotonous hour under the mango tree, she prayed to the mango tree to give her that ripe mango as a gift. After the prayer, when she looked up to see the mango once again, she saw the mother squirrel approaching her mango. With the excitement offered by the reappearance of the squirrel, she even forgot the mango for which she waited more than an hour. But the magnanimous mango tree, who was watching the girl waiting since the sun reached upon its head didn't forget and it slowly untied the yellow color fruit to make it reach the ground.

Shifting her look from the squirrel to the ground where the mango was set down, she ran towards the mango and bent herself to get the mango in her hand. With an unexplained joy, she took the mango in her hand. While returning to her normal position, she saw the squirrel who reached down through the trunk of the tree, was looking at her. She couldn't understand the feeling carried by that look. After a few moments of silence, the squirrel returned to the tree…. She looked at the mango in her hand and shifted her look to the mango tree where there were no more ripe fruits. While looking at it, she now saw the faces of those squirrel infants than the face of her cute little brother. This thought made her hands leave that mango and she withdrew from the scene. The squirrel was very quick to reach the mango and took hold of it. On her way back to the coconut tree, the mother squirrel stopped her way in the middle for a while and looked at her once again. The girl now could understand the meaning of the expression in the face of the squirrel. Surely it must have been a thanks.