Imposter

Everyone called him Frij. And he liked his nick name, even though it meant nothing. His mother had given it to him. Of course, in the college records he was Surya Veer Pratap Singh Jamwal. But even his close friends did not know that name.

One day Frij entered the college library and went straight to the Librarian.

“Sir, I want to make a confession,” Frij almost whispered. The Librarian looked at him quizzically but said nothing.

“Sir, last year I had pilfered this book from the library.”

His eyes downcast, he slipped a copy of ‘Log Tables’ by ‘Frank Castle’ across the table.

The Librarian looked at the book and then at Frij, and said in an extremely harsh tone, “And what of the remaining six copies?”

“Sir?”

“Yes, there are only 18 copies of this book in the library instead of 25. This is one of the seven missing copies. Where are remaining six?”

Frij turned abruptly and left the library. The Librarian felt humiliated. He decided that he will report this matter to the principal.

Soon two boys approached the Librarian. They were Frij’s class mates.

“Sir, who was that boy?”

The Librarian looked at them suspiciously, “Why?”

“Was that Frij? But that’s not possible. He must be an imposter.”

“Are you trying to make a fool of me?” the Librarian was angry. “You friend comes and humiliates me and now you come and play tricks with me? How dare you?”

“Sir, we aren’t playing any tricks. We are just trying tell you that that boy could not have been Frij.”

“Why?”

“Sir, Frij met with a fatal accident last week. He didn’t……”

The Librarian looked at the table. Copy of ‘Log Tables’ by Frank Castle was not there.

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A post for A to Z April Challenge

Today’s letter L