Why they started calling him that

Moncee and Berthy stood facing each other and they seemed to be polar opposites. Berthy's hair was messy, his necktie loose, his shirt fell over his trousers on one side. He could play the role of the caveman without any extra fittings...Whereas, Moncee was all prim and proper and looked fresh,like those models on magazine covers.

Moncee was not taken aback by Berthy's appearance but rather amused that Berthy had actually shown up.

Moncee: "I thought you would be busy doing what you always do."

Shimlee and Rusa had by then come out of the club room and Shimlee whispered to Keiro- "They are classmates."

Keiro was surprised. She could not imagine that Berthy and Moncee were close. But from the way they talked she could say they knew each other very well, even if they were not friends.

Berthy: "Only a fool would sleep when their house is burning down."

Moncee gave a short laugh because Berthy sounded serious. Keiro and the others looked at Berthy in wonder. But they began to understand the reason for his sudden change. If they were caught with the banned materials, their club could get banned, and then there would be no place for Berthy to sleep. One could mess with anything, but not Berthy's sleep.

Moncee: "I did not know you were playing house with the juniors." There was some level of mockery in his words.

'Do you want to join us? There's the place for the house dog...' Keiro wanted to say this, but she controlled herself. If Moncee took another step into their club room they would be done for. Keiro could imagine the next day's Moldi news headlines,-

'The secret collections of the ghost club discovered.'

'Hobbies of the ghost club members revealed.'

And sure enough, Moncee would contribute to publishing the whole story which would contain praises for the President who was doing his best to keep the campus 'Clean'.

Berthy: "Since our house is all dirty now, it's not suitable for the President's visit. How about coming tomorrow?"

Berthy gave Moncee a cold stare after he said this, and there was a short silence at the end of which Moncee gave a sigh.

Moncee: "Since your club leader has requested it, I'll have to postpone my visit. Yeah, and take good care of your kids."

Moncee then gave Keiro a look as if meaning to say he was not done yet. Then he made his way back with the other members. Everyone gave a huge sigh of relief.

And from that day on, to Berthy's great annoyance everybody in the ghost club started calling him 'Mom'. They were calling him that out of respect as the person who was protecting their 'house', but Berthy couldn't help feeling embarrassed. He flushed with anger every time someone called him that. But it soon spread to all club members, juniors and seniors alike, and even those members who rarely visited the club room dropped in to pay their respects to this 'Mom'. Even Roju followed cue and began to call him that.

And whenever Berthy declared angrily that he was not their Mommy, the juniors would fall down giggling and laughing and Berthy soon gave up. Berthy concluded that sleeping was what best suited him, these stupid juniors never deserved his attention in the first place. God only knew what the teachers thought of him with so many girls and boys calling him 'Mom'.

But on that day when Berthy became everybody's Mom, another event had taken place. Keiro and Rusa were given the task of transporting the banned stuff out of the club room and they had to do it at night when no one was looking.

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Moldi high

11:55 pm

Keiro and Rusa reached the club room around midnight and started collecting those stuff which they had earlier packed into two boxes. They took care not to make any noise and talked to each other in whispers. They carried the boxes away from the club room past the stairs and through the fire exit when suddenly they heard a piano playing in the distance. The music sounded sophisticated and melancholic. But any tune played around this time in such an atmosphere seemed sinister to Keiro. Keiro checked her watch, it was 12 am sharp. She looked at Rusa questioningly. Rusa paused for a second as if to recollect something.

Rusa: "I think the piece is one of Dopin's nocturnes."

Keiro: "That's not the point is it? Who the hell is playing it in the middle of the night?"

When Rusa thought about it, a smile spread across her face. Keiro felt a chill though. It seemed like they were both thinking of the same possibility. It could be a...

Rusa: "Let's go check it out." Rusa pulled Keiro to where the music was coming from.

Keiro: "Now's not a good time..." Keiro pulled Rusa back.

Rusa dragged a reluctant Keiro towards the source of the music.They found that it was coming from the music club. But when they got close to the club, the music suddenly stopped. Keiro felt another chill pass down her spine, nevertheless, she peered into the club room. The lights were off. Moonlight came in through the open windows and Keiro could distinctly see the figure of a handsome young man sitting at the piano. His slender arms rested on his lap and he seemed to be staring at the music sheet in front of him. It was like a picture straight out of a romantic novel. Keiro gave a sigh of relief.

Keiro: "It's just a handsome musician." Waiting to be discovered by the heroine...., Keiro thought to herself.

Keiro turned to look at Rusa who seemed to be staring at her ghost detector. When Keiro saw it, her heart jumped. The detector had turned a bright red...