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1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City, 1774 Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, 1982 Star driver Danica Patrick born, 1865 Battle of Fort Stedman Virginia, 1946 Soviets announce withdrawal from Iran, 1932 Verdict is announced in Scottsboro case, 1911 Fire kills 145 at Triangle Shirtwaist factory, 1634 The settlement of Maryland, 1957 Common Market founded, 1975 King Faisal assassinated, 1994 Last US troops depart Somalia, 2001 Icelandic pop singer Bjork makes splash at the Oscars, 1955 US Customs seizes Howl, 1983 The Motown family stages a bittersweet reunion performance, 1879 Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf surrenders, 1933 USS Sequoia becomes presidential yacht, 1958 Sugar Ray defeats Basilio for middleweight title, 1967 Martin Luther King leads march against the war, 1968 Johnson meets with the Wise Men, 1918 Belarusian Peoples Republic established, 1941 Yugoslavia joins the Axis,

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Mudman

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It was the second of September. Our school had organised a trip for us to the Rann of Kutch and the entire class had come. It was the second day of our trip and we had already seen several sights. My friend Rahul still complained that all he could see was mud. In the afternoon we stopped at a wayside eatery to have lunch. The children were allowed to buy their own food. This caused a crowd near the counter. When things got out of control, a random stranger shouted, “Beware of the Mud Monster!”

All the children left the counter and rushed to surround the white haired old man who had uttered this sentence. He said, “Never leave your vehicle at night in the Rann of Kutch!” Then he passed out. Rahul, I noticed, got very scared and started shivering. I told him not to believe the ramblings of a drunken slob, but after that he never stopped clutching my shoulder.

As our fortunes had it, the school bus broke down in the middle of the night when we were returning to our hotel. It appeared that some mud had entered the engine. The children were unfazed; most started listening to songs on their electronic gadgets. Rahul did not, as he was busy shaking with fear. I could not, since he was still latched onto me. To end this farce, I stepped out of the bus. Rahul was forced to since he was my jacket, metaphorically.

The teacher came out to stop me, but Rahul got scared by his voice and lashed out. I then ran away, so that the teacher would not scold me. I ran for some distance, and ended up in the middle of some muddy swamp.

I dropped Rahul on the ground and screamed, “Look around! Do you see any mudman? Do you see?” He looked around, shook his head and got up. He also stopped shaking. He said, “Now that I think of it, it was an unbelievable thing.” He chuckled a bit; I laughed. Soon we were laughing and roaring about the stupidity of it all. Rahul was rolling on the floor. When he got up, he noticed that I had gone pale and was staring in one direction. He looked, too. At some distance was a humanoid figure, but made completely of mud, with sludge dripping down its shoulders.

The next thing I know was that we were screaming and running for our lives. I caught sight of the bus and pulled Rahul with me. When we got near the bus, we shouted to the children, “Mudman!”

We were catching our breath when the mudman appeared behind us. We turned around and we were paralysed with fear. The mudman moved closer, and then wiped his face off.

Suddenly the teacher, whom Rahul had pushed, was in front of us, covered in mud.

Neither Rahul nor I have spoken about that day ever since!

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