Myat Theingi Kyaw - Magical Garden

Magical garden

Now Mary understood what was happening. A terrible disease was killing many people in this town. People were dying in almost every house. In Mary's house, the one who died was her servant, Khamla. Three other servants had died that day.

The next day, people were running in and out of the house, crying and screaming. No one thought about Mary. She was crying because of the people's screams.

She was scared and hid in her room. Sometimes she cried. Then she fell asleep again.

The next morning when she woke up, the whole house was quiet. There must be no more sickness. Everyone must have recovered. I don't know who will take care of me instead of me. So why hasn't anyone brought me breakfast yet? It's strange that the whole house is quiet, she thought.

Then, voices were heard from the hall.

"Oh... how sad. She was such a beautiful young woman."

Someone said.

"There's a child too. Isn't he there?"

Another asked.

"We've never seen her before."

Within a few minutes, when the door opened, they saw Mary standing in the middle of the room. The two men jumped up in surprise and backed away.

“My name is Maryland North. I was sleeping while everyone was sick. Now I’m really hungry.”

She said with a short smile.

"This is the girl, no one has ever seen her. They must have forgotten to call her."

The old man said to the neighbor.

"Why have you forgotten me? Why hasn't anyone come to take care of me?"

Mary asked angrily. The young man looked at her sadly -

"Poor little girl... as you know. There was no one left alive in the whole house. So there's no one to come to you."

He said.

In this strange and sudden event, Mary learned that her mother and father had died. Some of the surviving servants had also fled during the night. No one remembered Mary. Now she was left alone.

Mary didn't even have to touch her parents. So she didn't miss them. She only thought about herself. That's how she did it.

"Where will I live? I hope to live with a family that loves me."

She thought so.

First, Mary went to live with an English family who knew her parents. She hated messy houses and noisy children. So she went to play in the park by herself.

One day, Mary was playing in the park, which she loved so much. At that moment, a boy named Basil came to play with her.

"Go away, there's no need to play with me."

Mary snorted.

Basil was angry at last. Then he laughed and joked. He danced around Mary. He made fun of Mary's broken flowers and sang. And Mary became even angrier. No one had ever made fun of her so mercilessly.

"You'll be going home soon... We're all so happy you're leaving."

"I'm happy too. But... I don't know which house to go to."

Mary replied.

"You... are so stupid. Don't you even know this? You have to go to England... you have to live there with your uncle, Mr. Archibald Craven."

Chapter (1)

A girl named Mary

Nobody seems to care about a girl named Mary. She was born in India. Her father was an English officer. He was always busy. Her mother was very beautiful. She spent most of her time at parties, so she had to hire an old Indian woman named "Ma" to look after her.

Mary is not a pretty girl. She has a thin, angry face and yellow hair. She always orders Khamla to do what she wants. Khamla does not care about other people, she only cares about herself. In fact, she is a selfish, discontented, and irritable child.

Mary was about nine years old. One hot morning, when she woke up, she found another Indian maid sitting beside her bed, instead of Kamla.

"What are you... doing here?" she asked abruptly -

"Now leave, and... send Khamla to me immediately."

When Mary said this, the maid was very scared and went to look for her.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am... he... he can't come."

Something strange happened that day. Some of the servants were missing. Everyone looked scared and trembling. But no one told Mary anything.

Kamala hadn't arrived yet. Finally, Mary went down to the garden and started playing by herself under a tree. Mary was making a little garden. She picked big red flowers and planted them in the ground.

“ I missed seeing Khamla... if she comes back, I'll beat her,” I said to myself. A moment later, I saw her mother enter the park with a young Englishman. The two of them were talking, unaware that Mary was listening.

"Oh... is the situation really that bad?" her mother asked the young boy worriedly.

“Yes... it’s very bad. People are dying like flies. It’s dangerous to stay in this city. So my family should go to the hills. There are no germs there.”

The young man replied seriously. -

"Ah... yes. We'll probably leave soon."

Suddenly, they heard loud screams from the servants' room next door.

"Hey... what happened?"

My sister-in-law asked in surprise.

"I think one of the servants in my sister's house died. Why didn't you tell me that there was an illness in this house?"