four pebbles
all in hues of
a marine blue
sit on teacher’s
table

students go
upto her
and learn
to count in fours

four in one set
nestled in an apple cup
is four
and si it goes

till it’s my turn
and i say four two’s
are eight
four three’s are twelve

when teacher nods
encouraging me
i say four four’s are
and stop

a scorpion is crawling there
among the pebbles
and one more and
there’re more

i point to one
angry red scorp
and teacher screams
and throws out

the pebbles
scorpions and all
i smile but not too much
i’d gathered the creatures

in break time
and had released them
there to play their role
as distractor main

we had the rest of the day off
as teacher was nervously clearing
the classroom checking
for scorpions