A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed

One hot summer afternoon, Ahmad drove his car along a narrow, bumpy road. He drove quite fast, but not too fast to avoid colliding with another car that might come from the opposite direction, especially when his car was not in a good condition due to the bumpy road.

Suddenly his car jerked and stopped. Ahmad was surprised and he quickly went out of his car. He stepped on the hot, rocky road and and felt the heat of the hot summer sun burning his skin. He shaded his eyes from the sun and went to the back of his car.

Immediately, he saw what was wrong with the car, he had a punctured tyre. He squatted down in front of the punctured tyre,  thinking of how to fix it. He saw a car coming and he stood up and waved his hand at the car. The driver saw him and stopped his car.

The driver walked out of the car and walked towards Ahmad. He looked at Ahmad in disbelief, “Ahmad, I haven’t seen you for a long time!” said the driver excitedly.

“Ariff! I’m so happy to see you. It has been three years since you moved away from the city! Ariff, I need your help. I have a punctured tyre, but I’ve never fix a punctured tyre before,” said Ahmad to his old friend Ariff.

“Sure, I’m glad to help you!” said Ariff with a big smile.

Ariff walked to his car, and took out a spare tyre and some tools from his car boot . Ariff taught Ahmad how to use a car jack and they took out the punctured tyre. After that Afiff taught Ahmad how to put on the new tyre. When they were done, Ahmad thanked Ariff and invited Ariff to his holiday cottage for dinner.

“Thank you for the invitation. I really wish that I could but I had promised my cousin to have dinner at his house tonight. May be some other day, said Ariff before saying good bye .

Ahmad continued his journey to his lakeside holiday cottage. After two hours, he arrived at his destination. It was a lovely, small cottage surrounded by fruit trees, facing a beautiful lake and with a big field o its right.

He heaved a sigh of relief and walked towards his cottage. He plucked some the red, ripe apples from the tree by his drive way before walking inside his cottage. It was almost seven, so he went to the kitchen and prepared his dinner.

Before he could even started eating his meal, his phone rang. He picked up his phone, it was Ariff calling to tell him that his car crashed due to a very heavy rain about two hours drive from Ahmad’s cottage.

Ahmad quickly drove to the accident location and was relieved to see that his childhood friend was unhurt. He invited Ariff to stay at his cottage while his car was being fixed. Ariff thanked Ahmad for being a good friend. A friend in need is a friend indeed

A Story Of A Bird Named Usraft – A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

It was a very cold, dark, rainy night. A blue bird was flying home in the heavy rain. With its wings all wet and it’s talons injured, the blue bird flew very low over a hedge.

As it was struggling to fly against the cold, strong wind, a red car drove past the hedge, running over a big puddle by the roadside.

“SPLOSH!” a big splash of water hit the poor blue bird and knocked it to the ground.

The car stopped by the roadside and a man named Ahmad came out of the car. He walked over and picked up the injured bird. He carried the poor bird to his car and he quickly drove home.

As soon as Ahmad reached his house, he laid a clean towel on his dinning table and gently, he dried the poor, cold bird. Ahmad took out a roll of bandage and bandaged the bird’s two injured talons. Then, he fed the hungry bird before putting it in a small bird-cage.

Early the next morning, Ahmad went to the kitchen to have his breakfast. He was greeted by his three cats, Kalarta, Stripsla and Visla.

“Hi! Good morning,” said Ahmad cheerfully to his cats before he prepared his breakfast. He remembered the blue bird and walked over to the cage where the injured blue bird was sleeping. Suddenly he remembered the birdseed that he had bought the week before. He took out the birdseed and fed the bird before washing his hands and ate his breakfast.

After breakfast, Ahmad walked over to the bird’s cage followed by his cats.

“Hello, Usraft,” said Ahmad to the blue bird. Ahmad opened the cage door and let the bird flew around the house. The blue bird was very happy to be out of the cage but it was hard for it to perch as it’s talons were injured.

Ahmad put the bird back in its cage and went back to his dinning table. He took out his laptop to search more information about bird’s talons. Then he searched on how to heal an injured bird talon. He found what he was looking for and he started reading about it. Then he followed the instructions and treated Usraft.

After a week, Ahmad unwrapped the bandage to see if Usraft’s talons were healed. And they did! Ahmad was happy and so was Usraft. Ahmad took Usraft out to the garden and let the bird flew freely outside. The blue bird flew happily around the garden. Then it flew back to where Ahmad was standing and perched on Ahmad’s shoulder.

“Good boy,” said Ahmad to the blue bird. He took it inside and put a red tag around Usraft’s right ankle to mark that it is Usraft. Then Ahmad took Usraft back to the garden to set it free.

“So long, my friend, until we meet again. I won’t forget you!” said Ahmad sadly before setting the bird free. Ahmad was quite sad to free the blue bird, but he knew that it was the right thing to do.

A day later, as Ahmad was gardening in his garden, a car stopped in front of his house as if its tire was punctured. Ahmad walked to the car to see if  he could help the driver. But instead of a punctured tire, he saw a blue bird lying motionless on the car’s bonnet. And then he saw the red tag around its ankle.

It was Usraft! The poor blue bird might had flown to his house to visit him when he collided with the car. Ahmad took up the bird gently but there was nothing that he could do to help Usraft. Ahmad was very sad to see his very first bird friend killed in an accident but he knew that nothing can live forever.

The end

The Little Boy And The Little Brown Fox

One day, a little boy walked through a narrow pathway in a forest, collecting fallen branches for firewood. As he was walking, he saw a little brown fox walking towards him from the tall grasses.

The poor little boy quickly climbed up a tree, for he feared that the little brown fox might bite him. The little brown fox looked at the little boy and wiggled its tail before running towards him. Looking down at the little brown fox that was excitedly running towards him, the little boy climbed higher up the tree, for he was so scared of the little brown fox.

Then suddenly he stopped, for he was already at the top of the tree. The scared little boy could not climb up any further. Suddenly he got an idea. He reached for a vine and swung to the next tree! Then he climbed down the tree and ran towards his house.

The little brown fox followed the little boy all the way down the other tree and ran after him. As the little boy reached his house followed by the little brown fox, he remembered that he had left his house keys in his tent at the camp site by the river.

So he ran around his house followed by the little brown fox before running down the path to the camp site. But the journey was neither short nor easy. The little boy had to run as fast as he could while at the same time, he had to avoid the rocks and trees down the rocky,narrow and winding path way.

As he almost reached the camp side, the poor little the boy hit a tree and fell down. The little brown fox ran faster to its target. The little boy quickly got to his feet and climbed up the nearest tree. 

The little brown fox saw another tree beside the one that the little boy was climbing, so it climbed up the tree. The little boy didn’t know that the little brown fox was climbing up that tree, so he swung to the tree and quickly climbed down thinking that the fox was up on the other tree. 

Suddenly, as he almost reached the ground, he collided with the fox!  The little boy did not know what to do, so he decided to jump down to the ground for it wasn’t that high. He landed on the soft ground safely and the little brown fox jumped down after him. The little boy continued running to the camp site. As he got closer, he tripped over some roots and fell into the bushes.

The little brown fox ran faster towards the poor little boy and jumped on top of him. Then the most unexpected thing happened! The little brown fox cuddled the little boy and fell asleep on his lap. The little boy was so surprised as he looked at the little brown fox.

“Poor little brown fox, you must have been very tired,” said the little boy as he carried the little brown fox to the camp site. So after all, the little brown fox actually did not mean to hurt the little boy but it only need a friend and a warm place to sleep. Since that day, the little boy and the little brown fox became the best of friends.

>>> The End <<<

The cute little brown fox hiding in the tall grasses.

Fred, The Lonely Scarecrow – A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

A tall scarecrow named Fred, was standing in the middle of a corn field.

He felt so lonely one day, after the kind old farmer passed away.

He saw birds in the sky, and he wanted to be friends with the ones who could fly.

But the birds were all scared of Fred, as scarecrows were meant to make them scared.

He could not tell them with words, that he did not want to scare the birds.

He could not even write a note, nor send the birds a Morse Code.

And Fred was very sad, to be the one that made others scared.

Fred, the sad and lonely scarecrow by Ahmad Ali Karim.

Telremy, The Lost Kitten Part 2, By Ahmad Ali Karim

Please click here for Telremy, The Lost Kitten Part 1, By Ahmad Ali Karim

Their father brought home some beautiful Japenese Furin wind chimes in the shape of small bells from Tokyo and they hang them around the veranda. The children were very excited to hear the beautiful sounds produced by the Furin wind chimes whenever the wind blows. Hamid took a green Furin wind chime and hang it on one of the bars of their door grill so that it will make a sound each time the door grill is opened.

His elder sister, Adlin looked at the green wind chime and she got an idea. She picked Telremy up and put the kitten on the grill just below the green bell. Then carefully Adlin pushed Telremy’s head to ring the bell. The clever kitten loved the sound of the Furin and it pushed its head towards the green bell again and again.

The next morning, when the children were having their breakfast, they heard the sound of the Furin from the door grill. Hamid went to the CCTV monitor to see who rang the bell. He saw Telremy on the grill, so it was the clever kitten that rang the bell. Isma opened the door and gave the cute little kitten some cat food and closed the front door.

‘TRRING’ ‘TRRING’ ‘TRRING’ ‘TRRING’, the bell rang again.

“Huh?” said the children, puzzled. Adlin opened the door and they saw the kitten ringing the bell.

“Ooh!” said Adlin in excitement, “Hi Telremy, you are a very clever kitten!”

“Telremy again?” asked Isma.

“Yup!” said Hamid as he peeked from behind Adlin’s shoulder.

The kids fed the hungry kitten and since then, the kitten would ring the bell when ever it wanted to eat or wanted to play with the children. Over the days, Telremy made friend with an orange cat named Apricot and since then, they played together everyday.

A few months passed and one night the family went out for dinner. As usual, Telremy excitedly ran after the children and they played with the kitten for a while before getting inside the car. They left the house after feeding the kitten.

It was very late when they reached home and everyone was sleepy. They were greeted only by Apricot, so the children looked for Telremy. 

“Maybe Telremy’s out somewhere, exploring or making new friends,” said Hamid.

Early the next morning, the children opened the door hoping to see the kitten sleeping in its box but Telremy was not there. Everybody was worried about Telremy. Isma checked the CCTV to see if Telremy had gone out earlier that morning before they went out looking for the kitten.

She saw Telremy playing with Apricot under the mango tree in front of their house just after they went out for dinner. Then the cat and the kitten chased each other until both were out of sight and Apricot only came home to greet the children after they reached home from the restaurant. But Telremy did not come home and that was the last time they saw the kitten.

Until today, nobody knows what had happened to Telremy, if the kitten is already dead or still alive, whether in captivity or was lost and could not find its way home. Everybody missed Telremy, the cute and clever little kitten and they missed hearing the kitten ringing the Furin.

~~~ The End ~~~

Telremy, The Lost Kitten Part 1, By Ahmad Ali Karim

(Dedicated to a lost kitten, Telremy Found Ekor Junior)

It was seven o’clock in the evening. A scared, tiny kitten was calling for help from a dark, gloomy drain. Suddenly it saw bright lights coming from across the street.

The kitten looked out and felt that it was safe to get out from the drain. But just right after it popped its tiny head out, a car came passing by and the kitten scurried away. Again, it meowed for help.

An eighteen years old girl, named Isma heard the meow and so did her little brother Hamid. She went out, opened the gate and walked across the street towards the drain from where she heard the meow.

Isma looked inside the drain and saw a brownish tiny kitten. It was very cute with big, round eyes. The tiny kitten meowed and Isma cleverly meowed back. She tried to reach for the kitten but tiny kitten moved away. It was really scared.

Isma went back inside and Hamid came running downstairs, asking about the kitten.

“There is a cute, tiny kitten in the drain. I really hope that we could help the kitten,” answered Isma.

“What’s happening?” asked Adlin.

“Kak Isma found a lost kitten, Kak Adlin!” said Hamid to her big sister.

The next day, their father came back home from Japan. The children welcomed him and told him about the lost kitten. That evening while they were having tea, they heard a loud meow from porch. The meow got louder and louder.

“I think it’s the kitten that meowed last night!” said Adlin.

Everyone went out, searching for the kitten. But it was no where to be found. As Hamid walked pass his father’s car, he heard another meow.

“I think the kitten is under the car!” Hamid said excitedly.

Everyone looked under the car. But they could not see anything. Suddenly they heard another meow.

“Maybe it’s in the bonnet!” suggested Adlin. Their father opened the car bonnet but they could not find the kitten. But again they heard another meow.

“Isma, go inside and get some milk, may it’ll come out if it sees the milk,” suggested their father.

Isma ran inside and poured out some milk for the kitten. She placed the plate of milk under the car and they waited for the kitten to come out. Then the saw its tiny head but the next moment it scurried away.

“Oh, come on!” Hamid said in frustration.

Then suddenly the tiny kitten came out and their father quickly caught the kitten. He picked up the kitten and put it in a box. Hamid put the plate of milk inside the box and the kitten licked the milk hungrily.

After it finished the milk, the kitten jumped out of the box and ran to the house next door. The children watched the kitten running away in dismay but there was nothing that they could do to stop the kitten from running away.

“Why not we name it Telremy,” suggested Hamid.

“That is a good idea!” agreed Adlin, “Telremy is a nice name.”

The next morning as their father was going out to his office, the children saw the tiny kitten in a dustpan by the front door. It opened its eyes widely and looked at the children nervously.

Telremy was about to run away when Hamid picked it up and stroked its fur softly until the scared tiny kitten purred happily. Then Isma gave the kitten some cat food and milk and they all played with the kitten.  

Hakim’s Hot Chilli Bread – By Ahmad Ali Karim

There was a man named Hakim who lived in a small house by a lake named Apple Lake. On the night of his birthday, Hakim went to a nice restaurant for dinner. He had a delicious dinner and he really enjoyed the chilli bread that was served with the chicken soup.

The next day, when Hakim was baking a loaf of bread, he decided to add ten tea spoons of red-hot chilli flakes to his bread dough because he wanted a very hot chilli bread. When it was done, he took it out from the oven and the aroma of the freshly baked bread filled his kitchen as he put the hot bread on his kitchen table.

He cut a slice of the bread and popped it into his mouth. His face suddenly turned red and he ran around his kitchen searching for his apple juice. He poured it into a glass, spilling half of the juice on the floor. He drank the apple juice as fast as he could. Then he poured another glass and drank the juice until he felt better.

He looked at the bread, wondering what to do with it. He walked out of the kitchen and stumbled upon some button mushrooms in his backyard garden. He  looked at the mushrooms and suddenly he got an idea. He could cook some mushroom soup so that he could eat it with the hot bread and reduce the spiciness of the bread.

He searched his cookbooks for a nice mushroom soup recipe. Then he found the one that he liked. He was so excited and he went to a grocery store to buy the ingredients for his mushroom soup.

As soon as he was back home, he prepared all the ingredients and started  to cook the soup. After an hour, he put the pot full of the freshly cooked mushroom soup on the dining table and added some fresh black pepper to the soup. He poured the soup into a bowl and tasted it. It was very, very tasty with chunky pieces of tasty mushrooms floating in the soup.

Then he took out a knife and sliced the chilli bread. He dipped it into the tasty mushroom soup, but again, his face turned red. The bread was still too hot even when he ate it together with the mushroom soup. Once again, he went around searching for his apple juice.

After he felt better, he thought hard about what should he do with the bread. Then he heard the sound of cats fighting outside his house. An idea struck in his mind and he took a piece of the bread. He went out and called for the cats. He placed the small piece of bread on a white plate and the hungry cats started eating. But then they all ran away for they too could not stand the spiciness of the bread.

So Hakim went back inside, thinking of what should he do. Then his phone rang and Hakim quickly ran to answer the phone. It was his old friend from India calling. His friend was in town and Hakim asked him if he would like to come to his house for dinner. Hakim’s friend agreed and told Hakim that he would appreciate something hot and spicy for he really missed the hot and spicy Indian food.

Hakim got an idea, he would serve the hot chilli bread with some tasty soup and some tasty meat pies for dinner.

When his old Indian friend came, he could smell the delicious aroma of the chilli bread heated in the oven and the freshly cooked meat pie from the living room. Hakim served the delicious food and they started their dinner. The Indian man took a slice of the chilli bread and dipped it into his soup. He popped the bread into his mouth and Hakim looked at his friend nervously, wondering if the chilli bread was too hot for him too.

His friend loved the hot chilli bread and told Hakim that it was the tastiest bread that he had ever tasted. Hakim was so happy because his old friend really enjoyed his chilli bread and he finished the whole loaf all by himself.

Hakim told his friend about what happened to him when he ate the hot chilli bread. As the old saying goes, ‘too much of anything is bad for you’. Hakim made a conclusion that even though he loved a hotter chilli bread than the ones he ate at the restaurant, he must not add too much chili flakes to his bread because it will be too hot for him.

An Adventure Of A Magical Stick By Ahmad Ali Karim

There was a little boy whose name was Tommy Brown. He lived in a village not far from a town.

One windy day the little boy was walking down a lane, holding a stick in his small hand. He did not know that it was a magical stick, for he found it laying on the sand. He took it home and wrote his name on it, to that mark the stick was his. Then as he was waving it around, it slip off his hand and flew towards the west.

A small blue bird was flying towards the south, to go back to its nest. Then suddenly it collided with the stick, and the poor little bird fell into a nest. It thought the nest was his, but actually it was not.

The magic stick continued its flight, and flew towards the west. Then it flew straight into a tree and got stuck in between the leaves. A big squirrel climbed up the tree, shaking the branches and the stick fell down hitting a cat. The cat attacked the stick till it flew up and caught by a red-breasted robin.

The robin flew high up in the sky, with the stick in its beak. But as it turned left, the stick slipped down towards a park. It fell onto a little boy who was playing on a swing. He looked at the stick, pick it up and started laughing. He then threw it high up and the stick flew away to the other side of the park. Some joggers saw it coming and they kicked the stick before it could land on the park.

The stick again departed on a journey, this time to a small house where lived a family of nine. It fell on the roof but the strong wind blew it up again. It landed on their car that was on the way to a ranch. The car hit a bump and the stick jumped onto a tree branch.

As it landed on the tree, a raven held its claw tightly to the branch, then moving to its nest. The black raven hit the stick and the stick fell onto a hawk that was swooping down for a lunch which was a white mice. The hawk then flew away with the stick on its back, and it took the stick high up to the sky. It flew far, far away over the farms and meadows, to search for another prey.

On a beautiful meadow, there was a farmer with his white and black cows. Then out came a rabbit, and it ran towards the cows. The hawk saw the rabbit, and it swooped to catch its prey. As the hawk jerked, the stick fell down into a big apple tree. The stick fell through the branches and down the big tree.

Down came the stick, until it hit a boy’s head. The boy looked at the stick and saw his name on it!  So, the sad little boy had got his stick back. It was the stick that he accidentally let go a few days back.

The happy little boy took the stick home, waving the stick like a little wand. He could never guess how far had the stick went before it got back in his hand. Over the trees, from a village to a town, over the farms and the meadows to get back into his hand.

Baneet Wants To Eat

There was a tall man whose name was Baneet.

He looked around, wondering what to eat.

He opened the fridge but there’s nothing he could see.

He walked around the garden but saw only a bee.

He thought, “What should I have for dinner?”

“Hmm… maybe I should ask my friend, Finner.”

He walked along the street and saw a lot of apples.

There was an apple stall and there’s even a tree called Grapple.

Grapple was a huge apple tree, with lots of big, red apples.

But as he walked nearer, he could not see any ripe apple.

“What happened?” asked the hungry, confused Baneet.

Then out of nowhere, he saw a very huge plate of meat.

Only then did he realise that he was actually dreaming.

He laughed and laughed, before he was screaming.

He was lying on his hammock and was almost falling.

He looked around, wondering if he was still dreaming…

Martin’s Adventure

On one fine autumn day, Mr. Flexi was having a meeting with his contractor, Martin. Martin’s staffs, Lloyd, Doyle, and Peter was also there.

Mr. Flexi showed them the plan of a house that he wanted them to build for him, including the burglar sensors and alarm, fire detector, and other safety alarms.

The next day, they started building the house. They built the foundation, and after that they started to put up the bricks. Then they made the flooring, plastered the walls and painted them.

It took them six month to built the beautiful house. They had installed the celling fans, lightings, the burglar sensors and alarm system, fire detectors, panic buttons, telephone line and other home accessories as ordered by Mr. Flexi.

“Thank you,” said Mr. Flexi. “This house is awesome. Here is the check for the rest of the payment. I am very happy to do business with your company. Please tell Martin that he had done a good job”

Lloyd, Doyle and Peter went to a coffee house to enjoy the afternoon after they had completed building the house. They drank delicious hot coffee and ate scones with jam and fresh cream. Then they went to their office to meet their boss, Martin.

“Hi Martin!” Lloyd said as he went inside Martin’s room.

“We had just met Mr. Flexi and he’s very happy with his new house. Here is the check for the rest of the payment and he said that you have done a good job.”

“Thank you,” said Martin. “How long did we took to complete the house? Six months, right?”

“Yep!” said Lloyd in an excited voice. “Six months. Quite fast for a house of that size.”

“Any more houses we need to build, Martin?” asked Doyle. “We’re all ready to start on a new project. I just can’t wait to start building a new house!”

“Nope,” said Martin. “Not yet at this moment. By the way, how about having tea at my house?”

Peter answered, “I’m not sure about the others but I would love to have tea at your house.”

“We have just had tea at the coffee house in front of our office but it will be wonderful to have tea at your house, as we didn’t ate much at the coffee house,” said Doyle.

“Good,” said Martin. “We’ll have tea at my house now.”

So they all went into Martin’s black car and he drove them to his house. He parked it at the porch and they all came out of the car. Martin’s pet cats ran to greet him and his friends. One of the cat went back to it’s cage to take a letter that arrived that morning.

“Good cat!” said Martin, giving the cat a new toy. It’s just a crumpled small piece of paper that was not needed any more. The cat happily played with it together with the others, rolling it around like a ball, running over each other to play with the new toy.

“Come on!” said Martin, opening the grail of his house.

He opened the door and walked inside, followed by the others. Martin served them some delicious homemade bread with homemade strawberry jam and lots of delicious fresh cream. They drank the hot, mint tea and it was so tasty that Martin had to brew another pot of mint tea for them.

They talked about the house that they built for Mr. Flexi and later about the robbery in front of Keith’s new house that they built before Mr. Flexi’s. Martin was painting Mr. Flexi’s house when he saw the incident happened. It happened so fast and no one knew who the robber was for he wore a mask that covered his whole face with tiny dots at the eyes to let him see where he was going.

After that, they had a dinner at a restaurant near Martin’s house. When they reached the restaurant, a small hungry white kitten with blue eyes went to Martin, pleading for food. Martin stroke the tiny cat and wondering what to give to the poor kitten. He only had some sweets and chewing gums in his pocket and wondered if the cat would like to eat them.

Suddenly the tiny kitten ran away as if it was scared of something. Then Martin saw a man wearing a thick black jacket walking into the restaurant. He looked familiar but Martin could not remember he was.

Martin walked to the table where his friends sat. He looked at the menu and ordered Ceasar Salad, baked salmon and ice-cream. Martin looked around him and saw the man in the thick black jacket sat next to their table. When their order came, Martin and his friends stopped talking and enjoyed their delicious dinner. Martin was enjoying his baked salmon when the man in the thick black jacket walked to their table, took Martin’s bag and ran away.

Martin jumped and ran after the thief with his friends followed by the restaurant’s staffs. Martin, who used to join lots of races and was the three times winner of the annual Boomland Run in a row, could easily caught up with the man.

The thief jumped over a big box and Martin jumped over it too, the thief jumped over a big truck’s tyre and Martin jumped over it too. The thief took a left turn and Martin went after him. And when the thief went right, Martin climbed onto a tall apple tree, jumped down to the other side of the tall wall. He caught the thief and he pushed him down to the ground.

His friends arrived with the police and the police took the thief to the police station. Martin and his friends went to the police station and after giving their statements, a police officer gave Martin his bag.

The next day, the case was on the front page of all the news papers in Boomland. ‘Brave Contractor Caught A Thief’, Martin read the article proudly with his friends in his office. He felt so happy to get his bag back and to help the police solve other robbery cases that were committed by the same man. The man was the masked man who robbed Keith in front of his house, that was why he looked familiar when Martin saw him in front of the restaurant.

Keith was so happy to get back his new laptop that was snatched by the man in front of his house on the day he bought it. So that night he invited Martin and his friends for dinner at their favourite restaurant.

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