The night Boppa came

The parents left by the afternoon train. Anand fell asleep at once. Anita stayed up to finish her novel, a murder mystery (which makes the next part scarier!).

At about half past eleven, she heard a scratching at the front door. Just imagination, she told herself. Then a rattle and a click. She shook Anand: "Listen, someone's at the door!" "Go and open it," he mumbled groggily (sleepily). "You silly! Someone's trying to get in!"

Before they could do anything, the door swung open on a rough-looking man with a green scarf. "Hey, it's Boppa!" He had recently started sweeping the compounds on their row of houses. So he was the thief! He knew exactly when people were out, leaving the coast clear.

"One squeak out of you, and see what happens," he said, brandishing (waving) his cudgel (a thick stick), and slid the latch shut behind him, locking them in. When he asked where their father's room was, Anita almost said "upstairs", but Anand quickly said, "The one next to this one."

"You silly goose!" whispered Anita. "That's your room! He'll come back furious." "At least it gives us time to think," said Anand. "He'll take a while to find the light switch."

Then, through the wall: a crash and a loud scream. A few muffled thumps, an eerie whine, and a low humming. "My time machine! He's started it!" Another howl, fainter, and lots of clattering. They shouted with all their might, and Mrs Sharma, her husband and Dr Mohan came running.

The machine was still humming softly. Boppa was gone. There was only one way out of the house, and the neighbours had come in that way. Near the switch panel lay the green scarf. They searched upstairs: nothing. "He's gone through my time machine!" said Anand, eyes shining. "What an imagination this boy has," said Mr Sharma kindly.

Boppa was never seen again. Papa had the machine dismantled (taken apart) because it wasn't safe, "maybe he also had a niggling suspicion that it worked". And Anand, sure he's a genius, has started a new project: a telephone to contact creatures in outer space!