Chica and Chiki woke up with a sense of anticipation. They, along with their friends from the Jungle school were going to be going on a picnic to the new waterpark which had recently opened. They had never been there and so were very excited to go there with their friends and play.

Both quickly woke up and got ready for school, much to the astonishment of their mama, who normally had to prod them to get ready. They quickly got the essentials ready – swimming costumes, towels, soap to clean up later, clean clothes, some food and water and went outside to wait for the bus to pick them up. The bus came with scores of happy children and kissing their mama good-bye Chica and Chiki got in to have the best day of their lives.

They reached the water park and teachers grouped them so that everyone could play in the various areas of the park without creating havoc and so everyone got a chance to play in each of the rides. Chica was initially upset that she was not with her best friend Rumi, but she quickly got over her snit and started enjoying herself.

Lunch time came and the teachers herded the children to have lunch. They also strictly told the children to have a nap after lunch as it was not good to play in the water immediately after eating. The children all obediently closed their eyes and went to sleep. Chiki was not sleepy and so started to slowly open his eyes to see what was happening around him. He found Chica also doing the same thing and both looked at each other started laughing, silently because they didn’t want to wake up the other children and get in trouble with the teachers.

Suddenly both of them heard faint shrieks. It looked like it was coming from the giant water slide. They looked at each other, unsure of what to do. The teachers were still asleep and so Chiki and Chica decided to investigate. They quickly ran towards where the noise was coming from and found Rumi struggling in the water. There were no life guards around as everyone was resting after lunch. Chica tried to enter the water to help her friend, but the water was too deep for her. She quickly made a decision, “Chiki, quickly run and get help and I will wait here with Rumi”. Rumi was scared and crying and her stomach was also paining from drinking all the water.

Chika ran as fast as his little legs would carry him and went back to where the teachers and other children were resting. He ran to his favourite teacher, Mrs. Cat and shook her awake and cried, “Mrs. Cat, please come quickly….Rumi is in the water at the giant slide and her stomach is paining” Mrs. Cat was initially disconcerted and woke up with a start. She started scolding Chiki for being awake when all the other children were sleeping. But then the importance of his words penetrated and she soon woke up the other teachers. Two of the teachers ran to get help and Mrs. Cat and Mr. Hare ran with Chiki to the giant slide.

At the slide, Chica was frantic, Rumi’s cries were becoming fainter and she could see that something was wrong, but she didn’t know what to do. She thought hard, probably the hardest she had ever done, harder than when she thought for exams and suddenly had a brainwave. She tried to grab some of the umbrellas which were strewn outside the slide to help shield people from the harsh sun and tried to throw them to Rumi. “Rumi” she shouted, “Open the umbrella and try to use it as a boat”. Rumi was tired but tried her best to grab atleast one of the umbrellas. She tried hard and just when she wanted to give up, she finally caught one and opened it upside down. She hopped on and soon was floating on it.

By this time, the teachers, with Chiki in their wake, along with lifeguards were at the slide and the lifeguards swam to Rumi and brought her safely to ground. On the ground, Rumi put her down in shame as the teachers started scolding her. With tears streaming down her eyes, she apologized to them, “I am so sorry” she said “I know I was told not to get in the water immediately after eating, but I so wanted to play in the giant slide” She looked at Chica and Chiki and continued “Thank you Chica and Chiki for helping me”.
The teachers also praised Chiki and Chica for helping out Rumi, but they also got scolded for not resting when told to. However, since their misdemeanor meant that they could save their friends’ life, they did not get scolded much.

On the way home, all the children were tired and quiet. Mrs. Cat took the opportunity to teach some life lessons to them and said, “Children today was an important day and we all learnt something. Can anyone tell me what it was”. For a few minutes there was complete silence and then a small voice piped out, “We should listen when our elders tell us something”. “Correct, replied Mrs. Cat. Older people know what they talking about, so when they tell you to do or not to do something like today, they say it from experience. What else?” Noone spoke up, so she continued, “Chica and Chiki also showed bravery when they tried to save Rumi and got help, so if you find yourselves in a situation you can’t handle, get a responsible adult to help you”. All the children nodded their heads as they started to leave the bus, happy with a day well spent!