Author: Vivek Chakravarty

Jumbo the elephant was on his way home. 

“Once I am done crossing this deserted road, I will be home,” Jumbo said.

Just when he had gone a little ahead, a strange looking object appeared in front of him.

“Ha ha ha! I am the ‘night ghost’! Give me whatever luxurious things you possess,” the object said.

“I am not scared of you, you tiny little ‘night ghost’,” Jumbo said while moving his trunk.

“Tiny? You are calling me tiny?!” the ‘night ghost’exclaimed and slowly turned taller.

“Do I look tiny now?” the object said.

The moment Jumbo saw the strange object turn taller, he collapsed on the ground.

After some time, when Jumbo got up, he noticed that he didn’t have any of his belongings with him. He was scared and quickly left for his home.

After he reached home, he fell sick. His friends had come to meet him.

“What’s wrong, Jumbo? Are you feeling unwell?” asked one of his friends.

Jumbo told his friends about the entire incident.

“How is it possible, Jumbo? There is nothing as such called a ‘night ghost’,” his friends said.

“I thought the same thing but since I had my own encounter with the night ghost, I believe that there are ghosts,” Jumbo said.

“I have a feeling that you were dreaming, how is it possible for something to just grow taller?!” Meeku the mouse said.

“Yes! That’s why I am referring to that strange object as a ghost. I saw him slowly become taller than me,” Jumbo said.

“I don’t believe you,” Jumpy the monkey said. 

In utter disbelief, one by one, everyone left from Jumbo’s house.

Nobody believed Jumbo but when similar incidents started happening with the other inhabitants of the village, everyone was in shock.

Now everybody from the village was scared to take the deserted road at night.

After a few days.

One day, Cheeku the fox was very unwell. He told everybody to take him to the hospital in the city. But everyone in the village was scared of the ‘night ghost’and weren’t willing to take the deserted road at night.

The whole night, Cheeku was in utter pain.

Next morning, the villagers took Cheeku to the city hospital.

Pintu the giraffe was operating Cheeku. He said, “I am glad that all of you got him here on time, if you would have been slightly late, it would have been difficult for me to save him.”

Everyone was relieved.

Cheeku was in the hospital for a week. He had made up his mind that he was going to work towards getting rid of this ‘night ghost’ so that if there’s an emergency in the future, everyone can use that deserted road.

After he was released from the hospital, he was prepared to witness the ‘night ghost’ and was on his way.

It was a moonlit night and Cheeku was walking by the deserted road. Just then, an object appeared in front of him. 

“Ha ha ha! I am the ‘night ghost’!”

“During the nights, it’s usually the owl that travels, so are you the ghost of an owl?” Cheeku asked.

“Don’t try to act funny or else I will soon teach you a lesson,” said the object and started changing its shape.

Cheeku immediately took out a bottle of water from his bag. He sprinkled the water at the object.

 “This magical water of yours will not do anything to me,” said the object.

 “I have powder too,” Cheeku said and took out a pouch of powder and sprinkled it on the object. 

“Oh! You ignorant fool, no matter how much you try, you can’t do anything,” said the object.

“I have already done the damage,” Cheeku said.

“What do you mean?” asked the object.

“As I said, most of the damage is done, I would suggest that you come out of your costume, else due to the sugar water and sugar powder, ants will you destroy your face and you will start looking like a ghost for real,” Cheeku said.

“Was that sugar water and sugar powder you sprinkled on me?” the strange object asked, and immediately removed his costume.

When the costume was gone, Baddy the fox came out of it and tried to escape but Cheeku caught hold of him and took him to the village.

When Cheeku reached the village, he told everybody the entire story but nobody believed him. 

Later, Baddy confessed that it indeed was his trick.

“But how did Baddy become even taller than me?” Jumbo asked.

“Baddy was hiding inside a big black costume and he would have a gas balloon attached to his hand, when he wanted to be taller, he would loosen the thread of the balloon due to which the balloon would fly up and along with it the black costume too,” Cheeku explained.

“And we kept thinking that the night ghost was becoming taller,” Jumbo said.

“Yes, if any of you weren’t superstitious, you would have understood that even if the costume was becoming taller, it was also becoming thinner,” Cheeku said.

“It was because whenever the balloon was loosened the costume would fly up, but its bottom would simultaneously become thinner,” Cheeku further added.

“You are right, Cheeku. We will try not to be superstitious again, and I will play with these ‘night ghosts’ with my trunk the next time,” Jumbo said. 

Everyone burst out laughing.