The Fifth Volume Mystery

Rahmat Chacha was a professional scrap dealer. He bought old books, newspapers, empty cans, jute bags, glass bottles , and other miscellaneous things which had either resale value or could be recycled. He had a two room brick house with a big yard where he kept the old stuff. Everyday morning junk sellers from different corners of the small town would make a beeline to his yard and sell their wares consisting of old newspapers, old books, glass bottles, broken plastic stuff etc.

 Rahamat believed in fixed price and never haggled with the small vendors. He would pay them the money instantly. So everyone liked to do business with him His work hours begun from five to nine in the morning. Later of the day he would be busy sorting the scrap and pack them neatly in bags for the recycle factory people to load in the evening in their trucks. The leftover scrap was bought by the local people. 

Rahmat had no one in the name of his family. Rahamt ‘s wife died quite young and there were no children. He had two orphan assistants Bitu and Bhola , young boys who helped Rahmat to sort the scrap and in turn they were paid small amount and lunch. In the evening the boys had to fend for themselves but were allowed to sleep in the junkyard.  

Rahamt was literate person and could read and write. One fine day while sorting the old books, Rahmat found a whole set of folk stories in five volumes, hard bound and looked pretty new with a stamp of a reputed city library.He wondered who could be so heartless to discard such books. But then he shrugged his shoulders and decided to sell them for a bit higher price.

Next day morning, he took the stock of the scrap and especially looked for the five volumes of the folk stories. To his dismay he found one of the volumes missing. Both his assistants also denied of seeing the book.

Meanwhile the sorting of the other scrap went on as usual. In the evening the buyers came. All the scrap of the day was loaded in the trucks but somehow Rhamat was in no mood to give those four volumes of the Folk tales as if he didn’t want them to be separated from the lost volume. 

The whole day Rahamat’s eyes darted every corner of the scrap yard looking for the lost book. Even the two assistants searched meticulously for the lost book. All the books stacked and bundled neatly where brought down and were strewn all over the yard. All the three people with heads down and eyes fixed on the books appeared like a mother hen and her brood looking for worms on the ground. The passerby’s looked curiously at the trio in the scrap yard. 

Night descended. All the three were tired and decided to quit the search for the day. surprisingly, Rahmat offered dinner for both his assistants. He walked back to his bare room and flopped into his rickety cot. Sleep evaded him. He tossed and turned like a restless beast. It was beyond midnight, his eyes slowly drooped.

“ Hello ! Are you looking for me?”, said a melodious voice. 

Rahmat woke up with a start and saw a beautiful lady staring at him. She looked like the picture on the cover page of the fifth volume of the folk tales which had suddenly disappeared from his scrap yard.

“ Who are you? How did you manage to enter the room. I had latched the door properly.Moreover it not easy crossing the yard with all the junk strewn everywhere”, Rahmat almost spoke in one breath.

“Oh dear! You ask too many questions. Looks like you never had the experience of talking to a woman”, said the lady in a soft voice

Rahamt was bit annoyed. “ There is no need for you to make personal remarks. You have come to my house uninvited. You better explain yourself before you accuse me of anything”, said Rahmat.

The book cover lady laughed and gestured with her hands as if she was apologetic but Rahmat could see there was no sincerity in her beautiful eyes.

I am your Fifth volume of the folk tales which you got yesterday and you spent the whole day looking for me. Though we appear quite new. But we came into existence more than five decades ago. But its our misfortune that whoever bought us never showed any interest to read. We were literally tossed away from one owner to another. All those people who are rich and buy books only to show off in their personal library, bought us. Even the dust proof cover was also never removed. We always appeared new and fresh. I clearly remember once we were bought by a lady from a library auction as a birthday gift for her teenage daughter. The girl looked at the set of the books with disgust. She shouted at her poor mother. “ I wanted a set of diamond ear rings and you bought these stupid books. You think I have the time to read all these weird stories”, saying the girl threw the books in the garbage bin.

“ God ! The dust proof cover saved us from all that murk”, said the book cover lady with a sigh. A rag picker retrieved us from the garbage bin and we landed in your scrap yard.

“ Thats fine. But how did you disappear? And why? And Where?”, said Rahmat. 

“ Oh dear ! Again a volley of questions”, dancing her eyes the lady showed a false annoyance.

“ All the while I was there with you. Only you could not see me. I have the trick of making myself invisible whenever I feel like. But all these days I could not try the the trick since all we five volumes were bunched together. Since I was the fifth volume , I bore the brunt of being the last and always took the weight of the other four. May be if people read us, I would have never got the chance to be picked up by anyone in the beginning since we were written in a sequel. The moment we landed at your place, you were the first person to separate me from so called my sister volumes. I am grateful to you. Well! I immediately moved away with my power of being invisible and watched all the fun of you desperately looking for me. I felt good”, with a sweet smile she finished her words. 

“Well what are your plans now?”, enquired Rahmat pensively.

“ At last you asked a sensible question my dear man. What do you do when you love ...I mean like a person? The answer is simple you would want to spend your entire life with him/her. Precisely even I would like to do the same. Now don’t again give me those puzzled looks”, the lady said.

“ Let me make it to you clear. I am not going to be a burden on you. I am talented . I have special powers. I can create anything you want. From a scrap dealer I can make you the owner of gold mines. You need not spend all your energies and time sorting out garbage. I can cook wonderful meals and make soft bed for you to sleep. You can fulfil all your dreams”, said the damsel with utmost seriousness.

Rahmat looked at her thoughtfully and asked her “ Prove it !”

Next Morning, the sun was almost up. Both the young assistants were waiting for the classic kicks on their back which was suppose to be the wake up call from their employer Rahmat. 

Nothing happened. Bitu forced himself up and looked towards the house. There was silence everywhere. He woke up his partner. Both the boys went inside the room. Rahmat was no where. 

All they found was the fifth volume of the folk tales. 

Bitu excitedly picked up the book so that he would get a reward from Rahmat for finding the book. Bhola came closer and pointed out , “ Hey, look ! Doesn’t the man next to the beautiful woman resemble Rahmat Chacha...”