The Peripatetic House (Part 2)

He saw an old, wizened man who had white hair flowing till his neck, a white French beard and was dressed in a brown robe and a leather coat with lots of pockets. Ram called out hello, and the man shouted who comes here, Ram’s blood curdled, the old man continued you little boy how did you come here? I have been the only one living here from the past 90 years. Who are you? And why are you here? Ram timidly stuttered, “m-m-m-my n-name is Ram, I did not mean to come here my house got me here”. The old man yelled again, “what codswallop, what do you mean your house got you here, and then paused and said unless, unless it is the peripatetic house”. Ram was confused and said, “the peripa-what house”? The old man replied, “Peripatetic house, the one that takes its owner all around the world, the one with the hole of the ruby the, one struck by a bolt, the one which only I know to stop. “Then could you please tell me how to stop the house please,” pleaded Ram. The old man said, “I will son, I will but you have to be quick because it is afternoon and the job must be done before nightfall else you will fail in stopping the house from travelling and the house will never stop”. Ram assured the man that he will stop the house before nightfall. So, from deep inside his coat the old man removed a leather pouch which was tied with a rope. He opened it and removed a red shining ruby and gave it to Ram and said, “there is a hole on the chimney of your house, go and put it there but be careful you have to get into the house as soon as you put the stone. If you don’t get into the house, you will be stranded in this forest and your mother will be in Ooty”. Ram acknowledged and taking the ruby said, “thank you”. He ran back home, told his mother that he found a way to get the house back at Ooty and said I’ll explain later. He grabbed the ladder, put it against the wall, climbed up, reached the chimney, took a deep breath and at the count of three he placed the stone and within a blink of an eye jumped into the chimney and waited for something to happen, but nothing happened. He was disappointed and went to sleep. The next morning, he woke up and saw that they were back in Ooty. He was so happy he ran around everywhere, then sat down to have vadas and explained to his mother what happened, after they were done eating, his mother gave him a tight hug and caressed him. They both were happy to be back home.