June 11. “Button, I was just reading some of our earlier stuff and found that we had gone for our walk in the rain on June 16 last year.”

“How can I forget the fun we had? Can we go this year too?”

“We should have gone today because it rained cats-and-dogs throughout the day. The roads were flooded almost up to the waist…”

“How did you find out? You were at home the whole day!”

“Dost came back from Juhu where he had gone for a meeting and gave us the news.”

“Can we go tomorrow if it rains like it did today?”

“Sure we can. I’d like to now give you the news that brought a look of surprise and one of happiness to everyone’s faces!”

“What can that be?”

“Pippa’s back.”

“What?”

“Pippa, the snail who I got home a couple of months back suddenly returned from nowhere. And, as suddenly as she had disappeared!”

“From where?”

“Nobody knows.”

“I’ll go and look her up.”

“She’s fast asleep right now. Please be careful not to wake her up.”

“Story time?”

“Absolutely. How did you read my mind?”

“We’ve been buddies for a while now. I know how you think—at least a little.”

“Shall we title the story Pippa’s Second Homecoming.”

“Sounds nice.”