The wind blew Mindy’s hair as she opened the train window. It was a sunny day but still windy from the storm yesterday. Mindy sat alone in the train compartment, enjoying the picturesque scenery.
Her class was going for a field trip to Dubai for 5 days. This was also a part of an assignment, where they had to write an article about the history and culture of Dubai; describing their visit and what they learnt. They were supposed to carry their laptops with them to write about each day so they could combine it to form an article worth 40% of their grade.
Mindy glanced at her wristwatch and calculated the time left to reach Dubai. There was still about 2 hours left. She was just about to doze off when there was a knock on the compartment door. Mindy looked up and saw two girls standing. They were wearing the same uniform that Mindy was and looked extremely alike. Mindy recognized them as the twins from her class: Carly and Katherine.
“Can we come in?” asked Carly. “Everywhere else is full. Also we were getting bored of each other’s company.” Of course they were. They were always bickering and fighting among each other. They were nicknamed ‘The Bickering Twins’ by their class. Mindy didn’t usually talk to them. She usually stayed with her best friend Sara but Sara was in quarantine so she could not attend the field trip. Mindy didn’t particularly fancy the twins because of the constant arguments between them but she could do with some company.
“Sure! Come in,” Mindy said shifting her bags to make space for them. The twins entered and sat opposite Mindy. “You must know us. I am Carly and this is Katherine,” Carly grinned.
“I can speak for myself thank you,” scowled Katherine. Carly smirked and Mindy, who was feeling hostility in the air, quickly said, “A pleasure to meet you. My name is Mindy.” The twins smiled and they shook hands. Mindy warmed up to them and realized that they were not so bad when they were not arguing.
The three of them chattered happily together as if they had known each other for years. They soon reached Dubai and their teacher, Miss Potts, quickly rounded them up and counted the heads. She then took them to the hotel where they were to stay. Since it was late, there was no plan scheduled until the next day.
The children ran across the reception, tired and weary from their journey and they just wanted to sleep. Miss Potts patiently replied to all of their questions, “Not there Hilda, you must keep your bags over there. Mary, no, you cannot have a room to yourself. Speaking of rooms…” Miss Potts removed a sheet of paper from her bag and pasted it to the wall. “These are the rooms allotted for everyone along with your roommates. There will be 3 people in each room. Now hurry up and off to bed,” she smiled at all the children huddled in the lobby. It was huge but it looked very small with all the girls crowded in it.
“Hey Mindy! Guess what! We have the same room!” Carly and Katherine exclaimed happily together. Mindy grinned and rushed to read the paper Miss Potts had stuck. “We have room number 405. Let’s go. I can’t wait to sleep,” she dragged her bag towards the lift, the twins at her heels. She took the key from Miss Potts and went up to the fourth floor.
She opened the door of their room and entered. There were three small beds arranged at one corner of the room. There was a bedside table against each bed and a separate table to keep their computers on. Mindy kept her bag against wall and the twins kept each of their bags alongside hers. “This room is good,” Katherine said. Carly nodded, agreeing with Katherine for once.
Too tired to open her bag and take out her things, Mindy quickly undressed and took the bed near the window. Carly and Katherine did the same thing and closed the lights. All of them slept soundly.
The next day, Miss Potts woke them up and told them to get dressed and come down for breakfast. They quickly got ready and ate a scrumptious breakfast. Miss Potts then explained them the day’s agenda and all the girls headed out to visit the Museum.
They all had a wonderful day seeing the various artifacts and learning more about the history and culture of Dubai. They returned tired but happy; itching to write the day’s experience on their computers. They quickly ate dinner and headed up to their rooms.
Mindy quickly took her bag, excited to enter the experience they had had that day when she gave a cry, “My computer! It’s gone!” She hurriedly took out the contents of her bag searching it, but it was a fruitless attempt. She was puzzled and confused as to where it was. It was really expensive!
“We’ll help you find it. We’ll tell Miss Potts tomorrow. For now you should go to sleep,” Carly said. Mindy shook her head,” No. We will tell Miss Potts now.” Carly and Katherine tried to talk her out of it but it didn’t work. Mindy was adamant. She went out of the room to find Miss Potts.
She found her in her room, about to go to bed. Mindy quickly explained what had happened. “What did it look like?” Miss Potts asked.
“It was an Apple computer, white in color, with Mindy written across it in capital letters,” Mindy replied. Miss Potts nodded. “I promise I will try to find it. But for now, you should go to bed,” Miss Potts said kindly. Mindy nodded and headed to her room.
When she opened the door, she saw the twins bickering together. “Give me this! I will take care of it!” screamed Carly.
“No! I will!” Katherine snatched a bag out of Carly’s hand. Mindy recognized it as one of the twins’ bags. They were fighting over it. Mindy walked across the room, towards them and said, “What’s wrong?”
The twins turned around and saw her. Katherine quickly hid the bag behind her bag. “Nothing,” she said. Mindy eyed them suspiciously and walked behind Katherine to take the bag. “What’s inside this?” she asked trying to open it.
“Nothing,” Katherine said again. Mindy raised her eyebrows skeptically and tilted the now open bag on to the bed. She saw a pair of socks plop on the bed. She frowned. “Why are you fighting over a pair of…?” she couldn’t finish her sentence. She stared in horror and shock at what came out of the bag next.
An Apple Computer, white in color, with MINDY written across it.