Appukuttan : Fright Night

Appu was never one with a strong heart,
bumps in the night would wake him with a start.
"Hoo ees it? Vaat ees it?" he would shout out,
off the bed he would jump, arms flailing about.
Back at the lodge he'd heard many a story,
some were spooky, the others plain gory.
Tales about killings, suicides and unexplained happenings,
these were what kept Appu occupied, on chilly evenings.
Shivers running down his spine were a regular occurrence,
he was beginning to consider them quite a nuisance.
One day there came the Bakshi family from North India,
they had a pretty little daughter, who liked to sport a bindiya.
Appu liked to be around them a lot,
serving them eatables, beverages and what not.
Now the old man of the family was quite a handful,
he sprayed food on Appu, when he spoke with his mouth full.
"Nevarrr mayind, nevarrr mayind.." although he would say,
in his mind he'd want the old geezer dead in an alleyway.
Mr Bakshi's lack of etiquette he would tend to gladly overlook,
for the man's tales were rivetting, as though right out of a book.
One evening Mr. Bakshi spoke of a lady,
"She'd be dressed in white, looking very needy..."
"she lures young men to their deaths, we call her a chudail..."
Appu opined "Vee koll her a 'yakshi', she haas a terrible wail..."
That night he couldn't sleep out of fear,
at every toss and turn, her cry he would hear.
Suddenly there were footsteps in the dead of night,
Appu almost peed in his lungi, out of sheer fright.
Looking out the window, he saw a woman wearing white,
"Aiyyooo, someone saave meeeee, it ees so late in the naight!!"
Running at top speed with his lungi in tow,
He ran into the manager, who stood with arms akimbo.
"Vaat ees all this raacket, Appu? Stop yellling laike a paansee"
"Saar, theyar eees a 'yakshi' outside, why don't you go see?"
"Yew foool!" the manager screamed "thats no yakshi.."
"it's only the poor sleepwalking Mrs. Bakshi"