The Story of a Ghost ( LONG )

It was my second day at the house of my in-laws, the sun was up and the day was beautiful in the country side. My father-in-law and I were sitting the the wide open space in his house, he had a peculiar habit of relating incidents that happened in his youth with all the spices that he could get. 

" In 1943 when I was stationed at the border.." he was saying, but my mind was somewhere else. Just then I heard my mother-in-law yelling"rat! rat! rat in the kitchen". We rushed out to see what was going on, but on the way to the kitchen, I saw my mother-in-law, color drained from her face as if she had seen a ghost. 
"What happened mom" I asked.
"No, nothing" She replied still rubbing her hands nervously on the napkin she was holding, and went into one of the inner rooms.
I looked at my father-in-law and the look on his face said that this was not the first time such thing has taken place. I asked him about it, at first he was reluctant and was keen on changing the topic, but on repeated asking he gave in said that there were instances of kitchen utensils falling from the rack and there being no one around. I did not believed in ghosts and told him " Oh! dad it might be the wind from the large open ventilation vent or the rack might have become loose, I will see to it tomorrow". 

Dusk was always good in the country and I thought of walking till the crossroad.

"Hey, Gopal" I yelled on seeing the old watchmen at the crossroad. 
"Good evening saab, it's been a long time you visited here".
When he came near I could see he was wearing all sorts of rings and chains on his body. "Why so many chains and rings Gopal" I asked.
"Sir" he said and looked sideways on both the sides "During night there has been incidents of people hearing weird noises, even the water in the well on the far end of the road has become red. These chains are said to keep ghosts away". 
"Haha"I laughed nervously,"there are no ghosts in this world" I said mustering the courage,though deep down I felt fear. 
Time flew as we talked and it was night time, the road to my house was deserted with a single road light casting eerie shadows on the walls. 

"Will you have tea" I asked Gopal. "Come on, Its been a long time".

Reaching home I gave him tea and asked looking fearless" Will you be able to go alone or should I come along?". 

Gopal left cursing me in his thoughts.

During dinner my father-in law told that he had always slept on the roof but now he was not allowed to due to these incidents." Damadji(son-in-law) why don't you sleep on the roof and show them that there is nothing as ghosts."

"WTF" I said to myself, but now it was my pride that was at stake, and it overcame the fear."Umm, OK that would be great" I said with a smile on my face.

That night I took as long as possible to eat the dinner, even ate two chapattis more than usual and sat in my bedroom in the hope that someone will ask me to sleep here, but no one did. With a heavy heart and vivid thoughts in my brain I took leave. 

The night was calm and the only noise was that of wind blowing, but my brain was far from sleeping, even the slightest rustle of leaves would bring drops of perspiration on my forehead. I don't know when I fell asleep but around 3:30 I was awaken by slight rustle of leaves on the banyan tree across the house. I saw someone there, first I thought that it was a monkey but it looked more like human. I thought "It's enough there is no point being a hero if that ends with you being dead" I got up ran down the stairs and in the process slipped and landed at the base with a thud and bent my back. "Who's there?" I heard my wife's voice. I got up went up the stairs as fast as I came down and shouted " Who was it? Did someone fall?"
My wife replied that she didn't know and it might be a monkey. I reluctantly agreed that yes it might be a monkey. With all my courage I looked at the tree and to my relief there was nothing or no one there. I could not sleep the whole night and in the morning told my wife to pack bags and went to the chemist to get something for my back.

I was sitting on the table reading a newspaper when I heard something in the kitchen. I went to look trembling with fear, what I saw left my mouth open. 
There was a monkey coming in from the ventilation vent and while taking a banana from the basket dropped a big plate on the floor and ran the way he had come. Hearing the voice everybody gathered around and looked worried, my father in law shouted from the bathroom" Everybody see even the water in the bucket has gone red" I ran to the bathroom and saw that the medicine I bought for my back has fallen in the water and potassium permagnate present in it had made the water red. Then it struck me that govt. used the chemical to clean the wells and the red color was due to this.

As for the "figure" on the tree I set out to investigate on my own. 
A smile broke on my lips as I saw that the"figure" was none other than then a panditji's dhoti fluttering away in the wind.

"Dear, I think we should not leave your parents when there are incidents of "ghosts" in town, I think we can stay a bit longer" I said to my wife with a self satisfactory smile.