Pok Pok Bird🐦

Dass, it is past 10:30 p.m. Time for bed," called Aunty Banggati.

Dass obediently followed her with his chuppi in his mouth. Chuppi, as it was called in his language, was his soother.

Dass and his sisters grew up in their grandparents' house. Their parents visited every weekend and took them home during school holidays, as both were teachers in another town.

As he hit the bed, he kept tossing and turning. He asked his aunt to tell him a bedtime story. Aunty Banggati sighed but gave in. She told him a lion story. He asked for one more story and then another and another. It was going on and on like a train, and it was close to 11:30 p.m.

His aunt thought of an idea. She made a strange bird sound and scratched the wooden floor.

Pok Pok! Pok Pok!

Dass immediately sat up and covered his face. "What is that?" he asked, peeking through his fingers.

"That is the Pok Pok Bird," she whispered. "It comes at night to check house by house to see if any children are still awake."

Dass gulped. "What happens if it finds them awake?"

"It will carry them to its nest," his aunt said in a serious tone.

"Oh no, that is gross," said Dass, quickly flipping face down and burying his face in the pillow. "Aunty, tell the bird I am asleep."

His aunt smiled and pretended to whisper, "Dass is asleep now. Shoo, go away."

The next morning, Dass still remembered the bird. He asked his aunt where the nest was. She pointed at the huge tamarind tree beside their house. "The Pok Pok Bird only comes at night, and its nest is way up there," she said.

From that day on, each time Dass refused to sleep on time, Pok Pok would "visit" again.

One evening, after a strong wind, ripe tamarinds fell from the tree. Dass and his sisters ran to pick them up. Dass put a few in his mouth, then squeezed his eyes shut at the sour taste, his whole face twisting like a scrunched-up towel.

His sisters giggled as they stuffed their mouths with more tamarinds. Dass, still shaking from the sour shock, looked up at the tree and wondered, "What if the Pok Pok Bird is the one dropping these tamarinds for us?"

His sisters burst out laughing. "Pok Pok Bird? You still believe that?"

Dass was not so sure. He imagined a big bird with messy feathers, long claws, and a sharp beak holding a basket full of tamarinds, picking the sourest ones to drop on his head. Or worse, a bird with a nest full of stolen chuppis.

He gasped and clutched his chuppi tight. "Aunty, if the Pok Pok Bird has my chuppi, I need it back."

Aunty Banggati nodded seriously. "I will have a word with the bird."

That night, Dass did not take any chances. The moment he heard a tiny sound, maybe the wind, maybe a creaky door, or maybe just maybe the Pok Pok Bird, he yanked the blanket over his head.

"I am already sleeping," he whispered.

Not to frighten him too much, his aunt only brought up the Pok Pok Bird on nights he refused to sleep. She knew the trick worked like magic :-)