Bomb scare

In the month of March, the board exams were about to start. My school used to be the centre for board exams. To prepare the school for the board exams, the school used to be only for half day. Shortly after the board exams our own school exams would begin. The school days in March used to be very casual. The teachers had already completed the syllabus. The students hand already started preparing for the exams. The school attendance would also not be taken on a regular basis during this time. But an incident took place which was life changing for everyone.

I clearly remember I was in Grade 8. The school was only for half day in one of the days of March. My mother instructed me to not go to the school, stay home, and study for exams. Being an obedient girl I followed my mother is orders and did not go to the school that day.

Next day I went to the school and I spoke with my friends about what happened the previous day and if the teachers had given any homework. My friend Madhu looked surprised and asked me, "Do you not know what happened yesterday? Did nobody tell you?"

I had already imagine the worst. I was scared and I asked, "what happened? Was there a surprise test? Did the teacher ask about me? Was the attendance taken? Am I in trouble? Am I going to receive any punishment today? Nobody told me anything. Please tell me. I still have time to go back outside and call my parents," I was almost about to cry because of the fear.

"No nothing like that happened. First you calm down. I will tell you everything," said Maya.

When Maya said that I felt a little relieved thinking that I am not in trouble. I took a deep breath and I asked her again, "tell me from the beginning what happened".

Maya, the storyteller began, "we came to the school on time. It was just 5 minutes before the school begins. But we saw that the gates of the school were locked. The security guard of the school was signalling us to go away. We could not understand at first so we decided to go closer to him and ask him. As we moved closer be saw a lot of police cars".

"What? Police cars in our school? What happened?" Now my panic had completely transformed into excitement.

"Yes there were police cars. Not just that we also so people from military. They had barricaded our school. We asked the security guard that what was going on" Madhu pitched in.

"Did he tell you what was going on?" With each minute my excitement was growing. I was really curious to understand what had happened in my absence.

" He told us that earlier that morning the principle had received a phone call. The unknown caller said that a bomb has been planted in the school. First principle sir thought that it was a prank call. But then another call was received at 10 o'clock which told him that the last would take place at 1:00 p.m. if they do not act. Sir had no option but to inform the authorities. At soon as the authorities were informed police, military, and bomb diffusal squad arrived. We also saw the sniffer dogs with them," Maya's excitement had no bounds.

"So was there a bomb? Did they find it? What happened? Tell me quickly," I wanted to know what happened afterwards. I was keen to know what I had missed.

"We stayed here the entire time to see what happens. They did not find any bomb. It was a prank call after all. But it was a fun day at school. There was no school. We all missed you a lot yesterday," Maya and Madhu had narrated the whole incident.

Now I started feeling a bit sad. Incidence like these do not occur on a regular basis. Rather they occur once in a lifetime. I was really disappointed that I had missed such a fun episode of my school life. With disappointment I said, "looks like I missed all the fun. Lesson learnt: not missing the school is important, otherwise you may miss a bomb scare too".