The Ghost Day

Bukin was in deep slumber. However, he was forced to be awakened. All different kinds of tricks had been applied as an effort to interrupt his sleep. His tiny bed had been shaken vigorously. His room temperature was changed into extreme heat and extreme cold to make him uncomfortable and tremendous banging noise was made, but when every single attempt resulted in a massive failure, his bed was turned upside down as the last strategy to wake him up.

 

Finally Bukin woke up yawning aloud, which sounded similar to Tarzan’s ape like yell. With his swooning vision he noticed a bizarre shaped figure. It was like a structure of a skeleton. To his amusement he realized that it was a headless body! But not entirely though, the head was tucked under its arm!

‘What sort of weird thing are you’? Bukin snarled as he felt very irritated.

Astonished by the fact that Bukin was not in panic at all; the ghost thought, ‘Isn’t that an odd question? Is he considering me as a lifeless funny object? His freaking appearance ought to scare the boy out of his wit…pity that he is bravely interrogating him on the contrary!’

 

‘Well I am an ill-tempered ghost, so to speak’, the ghost said in a hissing voice.

‘Frankly speaking, you really need a lot harder practice to be spooky enough for me. I am fade up with your sarcastic attitude. You are simply a pathetic ghost, nothing more than that. You have ruined my sleep for no reason. Now leave me alone and go away!’

The ghost felt strong resentment. He expected the kid to be scared to death. He had practiced for ages to keep the skull intact under his arm in an attractive way. But now he is in the depth of disappointment, discovering that the boy was not startling in fear. What a shameful situation for a ghost, he thought regretfully. He would rather embrace death than accepting dishonor for the ghosts. But tragically enough, he could not die twice as he was already living as a ghost.

 

The ghost said in an ornery tone, ‘I certainly have no intention to interrupt your nap just to make a joke in the middle of the night. I am doing it to discuss a serious issue with you. Today is The Ghost Day.’

The ghost’s statement did not have much impact on Bukin’s mind. Feeling extremely drowsy Bukin was only half listening to the ghost, he replied in a funny way which did not make any sense at all. The ghost was at the verge of tears (lamenting the fact that he did not have eyes otherwise he could burst into cry) and felt miserable than ever at Bukin’s puzzling response.

 

Bukin’s dizziness faded away as he saw the ghost in despair and he sympathetically said to the ghost, ‘I am so sorry for not paying much attention. Never heard of a ghost day, does that exists for real? How do you celebrate the day?’

‘We become very malicious on the ghost day and cause harm to human. We try to bring mischief to people’s life, as a matter of fact I threw out all of toys.’

Bukin seemed to feel little shocked by the loss of his exotic toys but then he decided to let it go. He spoke firmly, ‘Good job. Let the poor children get my toys. I have loads of them, often thought to give my toys away but mom won’t let me. I feel for the kids who are in poverty and misery.’ He sounded sad and mournful.  The ghost felt extremely guilty for what he did and wanted to cheer up Bukin. So he danced and sang a song which made Bukin delightful. He felt a great affection for the ghost. But his happiness did not last long as his mind got occupied with another thought.

 

Bukin asked in a mixture of discouraged and muffled tone, ‘Shall I become a ghost after my death?’

The ghost had an intense reaction and gave a hysterical shriek, ‘No…oo, never. It will never happen to you. Only those turn into a ghost who does a lot of evil act in their life time’.

‘Were you corrupted then?’ Bukin asked in disbelief.

The Ghost sighed and answered in exasperation, ‘Yes, I used to rip people off by taking bribe when I was alive’. 

‘What is bribe anyway?’

‘Well, this is none of your business because you are not grown up enough to learn about all these nasty things.’

Bukin kept pleading as his curiosity was intense, ‘But I want to know, please’.

The ghost still remained silent.

Then Bukin said impatiently, ‘Please don’t stop telling it, let me know’.

There was a pause.

 

The ghost pondered for a long time, and then he replied to Bukin in a trembling voice, ‘I want you to ask your father all about his misdeeds and he can explain it to you better. Let’s say good bye to each other now. I wish you a life full of bliss. My heart is burning with pain because I have to tell you something terrible before I leave; your father is going to join the other ghosts because his time is nearby.’

Original post, (ভূত দিবস)

**English translation by: Tithi, Canada**