The comet.

This was no Sozin's comet. It was just another one that happened to be visiting after 20 years. But it would be the first one I would actually see. I was excited about it and was running about the neighborhood telling every one about the arrival of a comet. Adults did not seem to be much interested and the kids had never seen one. I was 8 years old then.

The much awaited night did arrive albeit slowly. But it brought with itself a beautiful snowy object with a head and a long tail. Over the years I was getting bored to look at the same seemingly stationary spherical objects in the sky. So it was a welcome change. But after a while I was disappointed. The comet did not show any signs of movement. I had been expecting it to move around in the sky and it was not doing a thing. Few old folks were talking of some imminent disaster which caught on my attention and instilled fear in me.

The next morning our pet was nowhere to be found. Oh! The comet I thought. In the process of trying to search it I reached late to school.Oh! That comet? I was punished and was asked to write about not being late a 50 times. That silly comet. The next class started and I was again punished for distracting the class with the story of our missing pet and the comet. Oh that damn comet. Although the rest of the day went by without much ado, by the end of the last class for the day I was convinced that the comet was the reason for all the bad things happening to me and that the imminent disaster would soon happen. My idea of a disaster was getting punished everyday, no games and no ice creams. I was worried.

I reached home after school and to my surprise found our pet sleeping calmly. I did check that it was alive with a brave heart. Then my parents told me how lucky we were that we had found it. But I would still not forgive the comet. In the evening my teacher visited my house asking why I was behaving erratically in the class. Once he came to know about the missing pet and how much I liked it he apologized and vowed not to punish me again. But I did not hear his disclaimers. Now how many teachers would do that? But those were the yester year teachers in our small village who cared about each of their student. The teacher had also brought my grades and I had stood first in my class.

I feasted on a big ice cream and by the time I had finished eating it I was once again staring at the odd object in the sky admiring its beauty and the luck that it had brought me that day. For the next few days I would be switching my opinion about the comet almost everyday until I was sad to see it disappear one day. It was as if I had lost a friend who was playing a part in my daily life. My parents consoled me saying it would return the next year and for about a month I did count the number of days left for my friend to return.

Those were the young days.