“Meeku, can you please ask Ginny the Squirrel if we can borrow her ladder?” asked Meeku’s mom.

“Sure mom,” said Meeku and stepped out of the house.

On the way, Meeku bumped into Cheeku the Rabbit, Jumpy the Monkey, Jumbo the Elephant and Blacky the Bear.

“Hey Meeku, where are you off to? We were just on our way to your house,” said Cheeku.

“Yeah, we’re going to play your favourite game, hide and seek,” said Blacky. “Why don’t you guys go to my house and wait. I’m going to Ginny aunty’s house to borrow her ladder. I’ll be back in some time,” 

said Meeku.

“Sure, we’ll be playing antakshari till you come back,” said Jumbo and they parted ways. 

When Meeku reached Ginny’s house he called out to her from the doorstep and asked if she was busy.

“Hi Meeku, come in,” said Ginny receiving him at the door.

“Aunty, mom sent me to ask if we could borrow your ladder for some time,” said Meeku.

“Sure, go right ahead. It’s in the verandah, would you mind picking it up yourself?” asked Ginny.

Meeku said it was no problem at all and walked back home with the ladder. “I better get home soon. My friends are waiting for me,” said Meeku to himself and walked briskly.

Meeku was in such a rush that he didn’t notice that Sam the Snake was taking a nap. Meeku stepped on his tail and woke Sam up. Sam was in a bad mood and Meeku decided to make a run for it. Seeing Meeku run, Sam chased after.

“How dare he wake me up?” said Sam. “If he thinks he can run from me, he’s wrong.”

Sam was catching up with Meeku and was about to catch him when Meeku got an idea. He placed the ladder against a tree and climbed up. Sam stopped under the tree and said, “Ha! You think you can escape from me by climbing up a tree? 

I can climb better than you.” As Sam climbed up the tree, Meeku jumped off and ran away, ladder in hand. This angered Sam even more. Sam jumped off the tree and rushed after Meeku.

On the way, Meeku saw a deep ditch between two huge rocks. He placed the ladder across the ditch and scurried across and retracted the ladder. He thought that he would lose Sam this time. But Meeku had to run for his life yet again. There was a tiny patch of land around the ditch and Sam slithered across it to the other side.

Meeku ran as fast as he could but he was getting tired. 

Sam was catching up fast when he came to the banks of a canal. Meeku placed the ladder across the canal and pulled it away just as Sam reached.

Sam looked left and right, but couldn’t find a way across. He cursed Meeku and went back home. Meeku heaved a huge sigh of relief and walked back home, his heart pounding in his chest. When he reached, his friends were playing outside.

“Hey Meeku, what took you so long? And why are you sweating so much?” asked Cheeku.

“Oh it’s nothing, I just came back from a round of snakes and ladders,” said Meeku and went inside. Cheeku, Jumpy, Jumbo and Blacky exchanged puzzled looks wondering how an indoor game could be so stressful.