BREAKING EXCITEMENT Sona Sharma lives in a large joint family full of happy people who argue sometimes. Relatives come over unannounced, the phone rings often, and everyone is always welcome whatever the time. These are Sona''s people: Amma - Sona''s mom. She is a music teacher and singer. She''s always humming a song or listening to music. Appa - Sona''s dad. He works with computers all day and sometimes at night too. Minmini - Minmini means "firefly," and she is Sona''s baby sister, who is almost one.
Thatha - Sona''s grandfather. He knows a lot of things. And when he doesn''t know about something, he tells a story about something else. Paatti - Sona''s grandmother. She makes the best sweets in the whole world. She always laughs at Thatha''s jokes. The President - Sona''s other grandmother. Sona doesn''t know her real name.
The President used to be the president of some college, so everyone calls her that still. She lives in the only orange house in the entire neighborhood, called the Orange. Joy and Renu - Sona''s friends from school. They live a street away and go to school with Sona in an auto-rickshaw. Mullai - Sona''s auto-rickshaw driver. She picks up Sona, Joy, and Renu, in that order, to drop off at school. In the evening, she takes them home--Renu first, Joy next, and Sona last. She''s never late and recites a lot of Tamil poetry.
Miss Rao - Sona, Joy, and Renu''s class teacher. She is kind, funny, and strict all at the same time. Sona and her friends hope she''ll be their teacher forever. Elephant - Sona''s best friend. He fits perfectly in her toy bag and her cuddly chair and next to her on her pillow. Sona never goes anywhere without him, except, of course, to school. On Friday morning, when Sona came down from her room to get breakfast, she couldn''t contain her excitement. "It''s the last day of school," she said to Elephant.
"Forever?" asked Elephant. "Not forever, silly," said Sona. "The last day before our midterm break. Nine whole days." "What will we do for nine whole days at home?" asked Elephant. "Good question, Elephant," said Sona, and she decided to make a list of things she could do during the break. 1. Go on an adventure.
2. Write a book with lots of pictures in it. "Will I be in it?" asked Elephant. "Absolutely," said Sona. "All my books will have elephants in them." 3. Go to a museum. 4.
Spend time with my friends. 5. Play board games. Sona put her list aside and ran downstairs when she heard Mullai honk. Soon they were off to school. "Do you have any big plans for the break, girls?" asked Mullai as they zoomed along. "I''m making a list," said Sona. "I''m going to read zillions of books," said Joy.
"I''m going to visit my grandparents," said Renu. "Here we are," said Mullai, pulling up in front of the school. "Enjoy your last day." The whole school was extra noisy during assembly, and still their principal, Mrs. Girija Shekar, didn''t tell them off even once. There were no more lessons to do. On the last day before the break, they read stories in the library, had an extra art session, and sang funny songs in music class. When it was time to go home, Renu sang, "Holiday, holiday, time to go away .
" "Holiday, holiday, loads of time to play," finished Sona. Miss Rao clapped her hands to get their attention. "I know you''re all excited to get started on your break," she said. "But I have an important announcement to make." "Please don''t give us holiday homework," said Joy. "I want to read a zillion books." "No holiday homework," said Miss Rao. "It''s a happy announcement.
" "Tell us, Miss," said Sona. "I''m getting married," said Miss Rao. "Next Thursday." "Married?" Renu exclaimed. "That''s only six days away," said Joy, counting it out on her fingers. "Can we come to the wedding?" asked Sona. "Yes, of course," said Miss Rao. "I''ll be sending invitations to your parents.
Keep a lookout for the mail." That evening, when Sona, Joy, and Renu got into the auto-rickshaw, their excitement had shifted from what to do over the break to what they should wear for Miss Rao''s wedding. "Should we go in matching skirts and blouses?" asked Sona. "That''s a great idea," said Joy. Renu was quiet. "What''s wrong?" asked Sona. "I hope we return from our village in time for the wedding." "You''ve got to be there," said Joy.
"For Miss Rao''s sake." As they turned from the busy road into a quiet street, Mullai asked, "So do you know if Miss Rao is coming back after her wedding?" "Coming back where?" asked Sona. "To school," said Mullai. "What if her husband is from another city? She''ll have to go and live with him." Sona looked at Joy and Renu in shock. Could that happen? They had never imagined going to school without Miss Rao as their teacher. For the rest of the ride home, Sona and her friends held hands. "I think she''ll be back," whispered Sona emphatically.
"I''m not sure," said Joy. "My cousin got married and she had to move to England to be with her husband." "My aunt came from Kerala when she married my uncle," said Renu. "She only visits her hometown once a year." Oh no! They couldn''t even ask Miss Rao about it because the next time they would see her would be on her wedding day and that might be too late.