Derrick is a rebel, he wants to discover the sun-soaked surroundings, but his rebellion is muted by his proactive grandfather, Roger. He is a small man with a frail frame and bushy eyebrows, which do most of the talking as he speaks. It seems as if he has never shaven in his lifetime; his beard grows all over his face and nearly touches his waist. And the knots in that wild growth appears like snakes ready to bite. With small eyes and a pointed nose, Roger conjures up the image of a clever goblin: ugly, short and hairy.

Grandpa does all within his capacity to calm down the fire of rebellion eternally burning within this boy, who seems indifferent to the frightening myth surrounding the calamity that sun had unleashed on the villagers centuries ago (or, they believe so).

Wherever an acutely inquisitive Derrick asks him about the sun, Roger tries every possible trick to divert the attention of the boy who might some day go out of hands, open the door of his small, two-roomed hut during a demonically sunny day and walk out to never come back. Who would dare to go after him to save him; the entire village lives under the impact of constant fear.

Derrick was living in his humble abode under the mild shadow of lamps & candles. The candles were everywhere, on the cobwebbed shelves, on the rotten wooden cabinet…… The only bright thing about the dirty old hut were the candles and Roger loved them, as they were more captivating then the moon, which hardly gave an exhibition of invigorating light. Moving in the dark was so spirit-downing.

The Derrick’s mind feels a splurge of excitement and he asks Roger in a compelling voice “Is the sun a relative of the moon, which never meets the latter, as the sun sleeps during the night and the moon sleeps during the day?

An alarmed Roger rather than answering the teeth-chattering question would tell the boy to fetch water for him, as his throat was getting dry, or he would advise him to sleep immediately if he wants to grow up strong and handsome like him (the biggest lie.)

Grandpa always had a way to ignore the questions fired by Roger, who was running out of options to calm down his curiosity. There’s every possibility that the biggest nightmare of grandpa might adorn the garb of reality- Roger might actually walk out!

To be continued………..