Mowgli dangled from the tree, inching closer and closer to the edge of the branch.
His reflection appeared in the water; drawing the pretty girl's eyes to him.
She smiled.
Mowgli tried to copy.
He leaned on the branch.
SNAP! It broke from underneath his scrawny body.
The girl giggled and Mowgli scurried off back into the jungle; watching from a safe distance.
She balanced the vase of water on her head and headed back for the man village.
Without thinking twice about what he was leaving behind, Mowgli followed her.
The girl peered over her shoulder at the jungle boy.
She tipped her vase and watched it roll down the path stopping at Mowgli's feet.
He picked it up and collected water inside.
He reached his arms out for the girl to reclaim her vase.
She looked at the jungle boy and headed toward the man village.
Mowgli followed, attempting to balance the vase on his head.
He looked back only for a moment to let Baloo and Bagheera know he wouldn't be returning to the jungle.
He thought only of himself and the way the girl made him feel something he has never experienced before; not of his friends who would want a proper goodbye.
On the way back to the man village, Mowgli copied everything he saw the young woman do; how she walked, interacted with nature, and greeted villagers on the way to her house.
If she walked swinging one arm, so would Mowgli.
Finally, they stopped walking.
The two stood at the entrance of the girl's home.
The girl began to head inside.
Mowgli stood there unsure whether or not he was suppose to follow.
She took his hand and led him inside.
Inside stood a tall woman who resembled the young girl.
She was preparing a large pot over a burning fire.
She turned around to greet her returned daughter to find that she brought a friend.
"Shanti, you are late. Your father will be back with dinner any minute. Set the table."
The girl nodded.
"And set another for your friend."
Shanti grinned.
"What is your name child?" The woman turned to the young boy.
"Mowgli."
"It is nice to meet you Mowgli. I am Aashi, Shanti's mother."
Mowgli just looked at the woman; unresponsive.
"Why don't you go help Shanti in the kitchen; my husband will be home very soon with dinner."
Aashi gestured to where Shanti collected the correct amount of dishes for the table.
Mowgli followed the woman's instruction.
"Aadesh, husband, how was the hunt today?" inquired the man's wife as he entered his home.
The man forcefully dropped his hunting sack on the floor.
"I have been out hunting since dawn and the only living creatures I found were vultures. They were circling a tiger; the same tiger I have been after for years."
"Aadesh..." his wife tried to comfort.
"All the other hunters have sons to help them retrieve food and take over when they are too old to continue," Aadesh rubbed his aching neck.
He picked up the sack and dumped the insides into the pot his wife prepared.
"I'm sorry wife, it is snake eggs again," Aadesh began heading for his bed.
"Why don't you go wash up and join us tonight? Shanti brought a friend," Aashi told her husband about the boy.
"Alright."
The four sat down to eat.
Aadesh couldn't help but stare at the scrawny boy.
"What village are you from Mowgli?" asked the father.
"I do not have a man village," replied the boy; his cheeks full of food.
"No village?"
The boy shook his head; continuing to fill his mouth.
Aadesh and Aashi looked at each other, puzzled.
"Where do you come from then boy?" Aadesh asked.
"The jungle."
"The jungle?!" Aadesh and Aashi inquired in unison.
"It's true," Shanti added. "I found him while retrieving water."
"Good heavens! I'm glad you are alright!" Aashi exclaimed.
"How long were you in the jungle for son?" Aadesh asked the hungry boy.
"Well, as long as I can remember I guess." Mowgli released a burp from his chest.
"How...how...how did you survive all that time in the jungle; alone?" Aadesh became incredibly curious.
"Oh, I wasn't alone. I had Bagheera and Baloo."
The mother, father, and daughter exchanged glances.
"Would you say you know your way around the jungle?" Aadesh asked the boy.
"Well, sure."
Aadesh grinned.
"Mowgli, how would you like to stay with us? I can teach you everything you need to know about living in a 'man village.' What do you say?" the father asked the boy.
Mowgli looked across the table and Shanti.
She glanced down batting her eyelashes; blushing.
"Yes."
"Very good," Aadesh agreed. "We'll start tomorrow."
Later that night, Aashi lay next to her husband. "Looks like you got your help after all."
"I sure did. No more snake eggs for us."
The next morning Aadesh awoke Mowgli before the sun.
"Time to learn what it takes to be a man in a village," Aadesh swung a gun up over his shoulder and handed another to Mowgli.
"Ahh," Mowgli exclaimed as the weight of the weapon drew his body to the ground.
Aadesh spent two days trying to teach Mowgli to shoot a gun but the boy couldn't hold it steady long enough to aim.
His arms were too weak with too little muscle.
Aadesh was ready to give up until one night he heard Mowgli sneak out.
Aadesh grabbed his gun and quietly followed the boy in the darkness.
He stopped at the edge of the jungle; scared.
He climbed to the top of a tree at the edge of the jungle; his eyes searching for the jungle boy.
What Aadesh saw amazed him.
The jungle boy was conversing with a bear and a panther.
Aadesh settled himself on a branch and readied his gun.
The branch moved from under him.
It startled the animals and they ran off deep into the jungle.
Mowgli returned to the village.
Aadesh climbed out the tree with a new plan in mind.
The following morning, Aadesh told Mowgli to take a day off from training; to stay back with the woman.
He left early to catch up with the only other man in the village without a son.
"Kabir," Aadesh spoke, out of breath.
"Aadesh," the man nodded his head.
"How has your hunting been?"
"Not good Aadesh. You know I am without sons."
"As am I. But I have a plan."
Aadesh proceeded to tell the man about Mowgli.
"I am in," agreed Kabir.
The men shook hands.
Later that night, Aadesh returned home, once again, with snake eggs.
"Excited for tomorrow Shanti?" asked Aashi.
Shanti nodded.
Mowgli paid no mind to the conversation.
Aadesh cleared his throat.
"Mowgli, tomorrow is the festival."
Mowgli nodded in disinterest.
"Once a year, the village takes the day off to celebrate a year of good fortune," Aashi explained.
Mowgli nodded again.
"The woman girls do not fetch water, the women do not cook," Aadesh looked at Mowgli's unimpressed face.
"And the men do not hunt."
Mowgli's eyes grew wide.
"Every body stays in the same part of the village, celebrating."
"Doesn't that sound fun Mowgli?" asked Aashi.
Mowgli nodded as he swallowed the eggs.
"There will be all kinds of foods and music," Shanti listed in excitement.
"So get a good nights sleep Mowgli," added Aadesh.
The next day, Shanti, Aashi, Aadesh, and Mowgli headed to the center of the village for the festival.
Upon their arrival, Aadesh quickly went over to meet with Kabir.
"Look mother; a purple sari!" Shanti took her mother by the hand and led her to the booth where a woman was selling silk saris.
"Mowgli right?" a man extended his hand.
"Yes," Mowgli shook the man's hand.
"I have heard a lot about you."
Mowgli looked up and down at the man.
"Come, see what I am selling today," the man gestured inside of a hut.
There was a large glass case filled with hunting guns.
Animal skins hung on every inch of the wall.
"I bet you've run into monsters like these," the man ran his hand down the skin of a tiger.
Mowgli's eyes widened.
"A beauty isn't he? I found him deep in the jungle; the bottom half of him completely burned."
The man took the skin down off of the hook and swung it around his shoulders.
"That one under your feet is..."
Mowgli looked down at his feet and saw the shavings of a bear with the head still attached.
He felt very ill and ran out of the hut; heading for the jungle.
Aadesh saw him out of the corner of his eye.
He and Kabir ran to Aadesh's house and grabbed two guns.
They followed the sound of Mowgli's bare feet running through the dry dirt.
They stopped at the edge of the jungle.
Aadesh swung his gun's strap around his shoulder.
He put his finger up to his lip and carefully tiptoed into the quiet jungle.
Kabir nervously followed.
Aadesh stretched out his arm to signal for Kabir to stop.
He pointed up telling the man to climb the tree.
"...that's why we have to get out of here now!"
"Mowgli, they will come looking for you," Bagheera told the boy.
"You have to stay. They are your kind. They can teach you things you cannot learn from us," the panther added.
"Like hunting?!" inquired Baloo.
"I'm coming with you," Mowgli told the two animals.
The men climbed to the top branch of two different trees.
They removed their guns from their shoulders.
"Mowgli, listen to me, if you stay in the jungle, you will never find a mate," Bagheera tried to convince the boy.
"Neither do you or I; and we turned out just fine," added Baloo.
"Well, one of us did," teased Bagheera.
Aadesh raised his gun; aiming first at the bear.
His finger rested on the trigger.
"Ready..." Aadesh whispered.
"I'm coming with you!" Mowgli moved behind the animals; not knowing he had blocked the hunters' shots.
"Get out of the way boy," Aadesh whispered, holding his gun steadily.
"You will never be able to return to the man village if you leave now. Return now and no one will know where you have been. You need to be with your kind." The black panther was persistent.
"No he does not! He is coming with us," Baloo told the cat.
"Get on my back Mowgli; we are going home," Baloo told the boy.
Kabir waved at Aadesh; trying to catch his attention.
He knew Aadesh wasn't thinking straight and didn't want to the boy to get hurt.
"Ready..." Aadesh pointed his gun. "...Aim..."
CRACK.
The branch broke from underneath Aadesh.
His body fell flat on the jungle ground.
Baloo and Bagheera began to back up in panic.
Mowgli walked over to the injured man and picked up his gun.
"Mowgli please! Put the gun down boy."
Mowgli lowered the gun and tossed it into a pile of leaves.
He climbed onto Baloo's back and the three began to walk further into the jungle.
"Look out!" yelled Kabir.
PKEW!
A bullet barely missed the back of Baloo.
Mowgli looked back to see Aadesh aiming his gun at Baloo from the ground.
"Run!" yelled Kabir as he climbed out of the tree.
He took Aadesh's gun and smashed it into a nearby tree.
"Let's go Aadesh; hunting is over."