The Chronicles of Humouricana

It was a beautiful spring morning. Katie, Joy, Crystal and Natalie were busy getting ready in their houses. They had decided to meet at the library. As usual, Katie was late but today, she had an excellent excuse with her. “I overslept and then John told me that I was late so, I rushed to the bath to get ready but it was occupied. The other bathroom was also occupied. Then after getting ready, I came out and a truck went by and drenched me in mud due to yesterday’s rain. I had to change and then when I was finally around the corner, another truck went by. I had to change back again.”

By this time the girls were roaring with laughter. Finally Joy calmed them down and began the discussion. She said “Keep quiet! The librarian is looking in our direction. Now, let us start with Crystal’s discovery.” They all looked at Crystal, who was the shyest of all and said in a low but sweet voice, “I…I have found a book.“ "We are all surrounded by books.” said Natalie who was getting impatient. “Y…Y…Yes, b…but it is a magical book. “Really!” the others exclaimed loudly. They all saw the librarian’s stern look, “Girls! It’s a library. Keep quiet or you will have to go.”

Apologizing to the librarian, they left the library and went to Katie’s home. On the way, Katie got drenched again. “Not again!” she whined. The girls saw each other’s face and all said the same thing at the same time, “Oh Katie! When will you stop being so clumsy?”

Finally when they got home, Crystal said, “Now, about my discovery. The book which I discovered is magical.” “What did I miss?“ Katie asked as she came, changed for the fourth time.

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“Oh nothing! “Joy assured. “So, the book allows the readers to go inside it.” Crystal continued. Let’s get there Natalie shouted at the top of her voice. “Wait! The librarian must be still angry with us, let’s go into a disguise. “Joy remembered and gave the idea.

Disguised as posh ladies in Katie’s clothes, the girls proceeded towards the library. But, as they were dressed in Katie’s clothes, the bad luck got transferred. They were soon drenched in mud due to a car. One look at Katie and she is clean. ”Yay! Now you all know why I was late …..Ahh! Katie exclaimed as she slide down the mud slide made by nature especially for her.

“Now we all have to change. I am never going to wear Katie’s unlucky clothes. Let’s go to Joy’s house, it’s in the neighbourhood only.“ said Natalie in disgust.

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As a result, the girls got ready again in their new disguise and continued their journey. At the library, they followed Crystal to the restricted area. “But this area is RESTRICTED!” Natalie said in a high tone. “Shhh!” shushed the others. “I…I know. Once while I was cleaning the library as I volunteer every Thursday, I overheard the librarian speaking to her niece about it.” Crystal stammered. “So you didn’t discover it. Nonetheless, let’s go in the book and explore it.” Natalie said.

The girls searched high and low in every corner of the restricted section but they couldn’t find ‘The Chronicles of Humouricana’ anywhere. At last, Katie found it under a rug she slipped on.

“Hey! It’s here. I found it. Let’s go in. Whee! Here we go!” Katie whooped.

In Humouricana, the people waited for the girls with open arms, fountains of chocolate, gallons of juice, pounds of sweets and much more.

The girls went through dozens of tunnels before they reached the magical land. The people were of various sizes, some only a centimetre long and some over 100 feet tall! The girls were astonished!

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They were led to a hall where lunch was laid especially for them. Joy took to the chocolate fountain and drank a glass in one gulp. However, her ears were pouring out real smoke! “Ahh! This chocolate is really hot!” But she was late; the others had already drunk their share of chocolate. ”oh it’s hot! It’s hot! I won’t drink chocolate ever again! “Crystal surprisingly shouted.

They went on to the sweets. This time Natalie started the eating. “Oh wow! These are so delicious. Girls! You must try these.”

Joy, Katie and Crystal dashed into the pot full of sweets. Taking a handful, the girls exclaimed in disgust”Eww! They are bitter! How can you like them Natalie?”

“Let’s move on to the juice. Crystal, you try it first.” Joy said. “Ok, I will go.” Gulping down the juice, she prayed to god for it to be good. ”Yuck! Its peanut butter flavoured with strawberries and blueberries and blackberries and cherries …and…and get ready for it…tomato sauce all mixed in salt water. I am going to throw up.” Natalie’s dress got ruined.

“Katie, it’s your turn. Please try the dishes till we help Crystal.” Joy pleaded. Brave as a warrior, Katie went on. She tried the pasta. It was as sweet as honey times thousand. She tried pizza next. It had raw fruits, honey, curd and soya sauce in it. “Yuck!” exclaimed Katie. “Let me try noodles.” However, it was cake dough rolled and baked with extra spicy spices. “Water! Water! I need water.”

An elf, about 10 cm tall came with a glass of water with just a sip. “I will need dozens of glasses like this. Oh! It’s saltier than sea water. OH! Please give me NORMAL water.”

Calming down, she went to try the cake. It was a normal cake with no different taste. But when the other girls tried it, they found it salty.

“Isn’t this supposed to be NORMAL?” Joy screamed.

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Natalie, opposite to her nature, calmed Joy down and said, “Calm down Joy, its ok No problem. Let’s try something else. There must be something fun to do except eating foul food with weird taste.”

“Girls, our queen has requested to meet you. Please follow the shining purple path to go to the royal palace.” said a royal courtier.

Traveling the whole land of Humouricana, the girls finally reached the royal palace which was 1/3 underwater, 1/3 floating in the sky and 1/3 on the land, just like the castles in Joy’s favourite movies.

“Good day girls! I am Humana, the queen of Humouricana. I hope you ate well. We have been expecting you. Did you like the food?” greeted the queen.

“No! Your food is very foul and the dishes hake a very weird taste.” Crystal said the ugly truth.

The queen looked a bit embarrassed. “So…let’s run. The queen looks upset. I can’t believe you said all of that Crystal’ after all you are very shy. “Joy scolded.

Natalie was surprisingly quiet. Finally she broke her silence and said, "um…um…I think I…I know what is happening. Our true nature has been exchanged, D…D…Dear queen please tell us w…w…why is this happening?”

The Queen explained that it is the magic of Humouricana that bring about these changes. The food, the nature of a person, everything is opposite in Humouricana. She then ordered something and asked the girls to drink it. It was schezwan sauce but it tasted like chocolate.

She then ordered some mud. The girls hesitated a bit, but then when they drank it, they found it tasting as water only.

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Suddenly, Joy became home sick. “I want to go back. I am not feeling well. Please let’s go. Our parents must be worried. Dear Queen, How can we go back?”

“Drink sea water and it will take you home, it will not be salty but sweet. The royal carriages will take you there in no time. Farewell friends, please come back to Humouricana soon. We will be waiting for you.”

“Let’s go. Farewell queen, we will come back soon.” The girls said in unison and went in the carriages to drink sea water and go home after drinking, they fainted.

When they came to, they were on Earth at Joy’s house.

They were all thrilled.