Tales From Calovinia, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

Chapter 1 – An Attack

It was a glorious day in Calovinia. All the flowers were blooming and all the birds are singing in the gardens around the beautiful castle. King Ali of Calovinia was having a happy time talking to King Gampore from the country of Arguay. But soon, an attack by their enemy, Cinra disturbed their private gathering.

Their ally, Torky came to help the Calovinians and together they fought the enemy but they almost lost to the very powerful Cinra. Torky sent more armies and at last they won the battle. The King of Torky ordered his infantry units named the Janissaries to attack Jupron because it was the King of Jupron who made the plan for Cinra to attack Calovinia.

In Jupron’s fort, a Jupron spy came back from Calovinia, telling the news of the incoming attack to his leader. The Jupron army leader, Date Masamone commanded his armies to prepare and sent a cavalry archer to see if the Torky’s armies had arrived.

As the cavalry rode out from the fort looking out for the enemy, he was almost shot by Torky’s Janissaries. Immediately he rode back to the fort with the bad news. He jumped from his horse and ran to tell the Date that armies from Torky were already there.

Date Masamone commanded, “One hundred skirmishers, attack now!” and off went the hundred skirmishers to the battle ground. They attacked the Janissaries but the Janissaries were too strong for them and they were defeated in no time. Jupron sent more and more armies and at the same time a big reinforcements from Torky reached the battle field .

The Juprons fought and fought until most all of their soldiers at the battle field were killed. The Date did not give up, he sent more and more armies. But the Janissaries were too strong for the Juprons. Then Date Masamone sent  out all of their archers. They almost won the battle but as a new reinforcements from Torky reached the battle field, the Torky won the battle.

The King of Torky was very happy to hear the good news. He had defeated all of his enemy except Cinra. But the King of Torky was a very wise man. He knew that he could not be really sure that there was no other enemy except Cinra because anyone could turn into an enemy in just a blink of an eye.

To be continued …

Visla The Cat, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 3)

Please click here for: Visla The Cat, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 2)

Visla was proud of her new friend. She thanked the cat for helping her. Ahmad came out to check what had happened. He saw Visla’s new friend chasing the mean black cat away. Ahmad took out some milk for Visla and its new friend and played with them.

A few weeks later, Karim went out station to Kedah. Karim took Ahmad along with him. Karim’s eldest daughter, Aiman was on holidays, so she was assigned to take care of the cats. Aiman loved the cats too but Visla missed Ahmad. Visla was very lonely and felt all alone without its friend, Ahmad.

On the day Ahmad came home, Visla was not around the house. Everybody searched for Visla but could not find it. Ahmad searched around the neighbourhood and at last he saw Visla sitting on the roof of his house. He asked his father for a ladder but the ladder was not high enough to reach the roof. Ahmad called Visla down, holding a cup of milk, but Visla was too frightened to come down.

Then it started to rain, and Ahmad was really worried about Visla. He tried to think of the best way to help Visla to come down from the roof. Ahmad knew that Visla loved its kittens very much, so he took one of the kittens from their box and held it up toward the roof so that Visla could see the kitten and hear its meow. The kitten meowed but Visla did not even move from where it sat.

Ahmad took the kitten back to its box. All of the kittens were meowing calling for their mother. “They must be very hungry,” thought Ahmad. Ahmad was about to go to the fridge to get some milk for the kittens when he heard a sweet meow from behind him. It was Visla! Brushing her head at the door, Visla meowed at Ahmad happily. Visla then jumped into its box and licked its kittens. Ahmad was happy to see Visla again, and so did the kittens. And Visla was very happy to see Ahmad too.

~~ The End ~~

Visla The Cat, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 2)

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After a few months, things was much better for Visla at the new neighbourhood. Visla became friends with all the nice cats, Kompa, Vantol, Sinta, Arda and Tankra. They even managed to chase away the bad cats from the neighbourhood.

Karim and his children would play with the cats everyday. One fine day Visla had its first six kittens, Stripsla, Gamfna, Kalarta, Softna, Ivosale and Kontv. Visla was a very good mother. It took good care of the kittens and guarded them from the other cats. But actually Ahmad was the one who guarded the kittens more seriously than Visla.

One afternoon, Visla went out for a walk, leaving the little kittens in their box. After a while Visla reached a house that seemed to be empty. Visla walked in and saw empty rooms after empty rooms in the quiet house. It was a huge house with lots and lots of big rooms. Visla continued to  explore the house until suddenly it saw a shadow.  Visla was very scared and was about to run away when it saw a grey cat at the door.

The cat lived in the house. It was a very nice and kind cat. The cat invited Visla to stay in the house for a few days. Visla liked the idea of an adventure at a new place but Visla was worried about its kittens. Visla was scared if the cat would eat its kittens.

Anyway, on the way home to Karim’s house, Visla made the decision to spend a few nights at the huge house. Ahmad was hanging the clothes in the backyard when Visla started to move her kittens to the huge house. Ahmad wondered what was Visla doing. He soon found out that Visla had moved to another place.

Ahmad was very sad. He thought that Vista moved away because it was upset that he played with the kittens too often. The next day, Ahmad stood at the kitchen door. He thought about Visla and the cute and lovely kittens; wondering where were they and if they were alright. 

Then he saw Visla walking towards to his house. Ahmad was happy and he rushed to the fridge to get some milk for Vista. He took out the milk and found out that Visla had moved all of its kittens back to his house. So Ahmad played with Visla and its kittens.

Moments after Ahmad went back into the house, a huge ferocious, black cat came into the backyard and drank Visla’s milk. Visla’s friends tried to help but the mean big cat chased them away. Visla bravely attacked the big cat. At that moment, Visla’s new friend from the huge, empty house arrived. It was a very brave and strong cat and it helped Visla to chase the mean cat away.

To be continued…

Visla The Cat, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

One rainy day, a man named Karim went out of his house wearing his raincoat. He ran to his car and drove to a nearby supermarket. On the way, he saw a wet, peach coloured little kitten crouching down in the middle of the road. He stopped his car by the roadside and went out to save the frightened little kitten before it was hit by a car.

He then took the kitten home. He dried the kitten and gave it some milk. After it had stopped raining, Karim let the kitten go home to it’s family. Anyway the next day, the kitten went back to Karim’s house. Karim’s children played with the cute kitten and named it Jaharta. Jaharta became their pet and they loved it very, very much.

Years later, Karim’s kids were already teenagers and the eldest was off to the university. Jaharta had kids, Kalok, Visla, Untah and Nathuz. Kalok loved to go inside the house, Visla liked to stay outside, Untah explored the neighbourhood a lot and Nathuz would explore inside Karim’s house whenever it had the chance.

One fine day, Karim moved to another house. All of the cats but Visla did not want to get inside the car with Karim’s family. So, only Visla moved to Karim’s new house. Visla loved Karim’s new home but a lot of the cats in the neighbourhood did not like Visla around. Anyway there are a few that became friends with Visla.

So the two groups of cats always fought whenever they met. Karim’s son, Ahmad always went out to stop the fights and chased the other cats away from their backyard.

To be continued…

Please click here for ‘Visla The Cat, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 2)‘

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 5)

Please click here for The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 4)

“Oooh, what a great aeroplane. This A380 First Suite is awesome,” said Martin. “It’s like a huge private jet with lots of passengers. I’ll go to sleep now so that I can start working once we reach London,” he added with a big smile. About 21 hours later, the plane landed safely at the London’s Heathrow Airport. It was a great flight and everybody had a good rest after their adventure on the way to the Melbourne Airport. ”I’ll go and discuss about our show at the Royal Albert Hall with the press,” said Martin and he added, “Paul, I’ll take the tube to London and I’ll meet you at your house later,”

Paul drove his friends to his home where his old Uncle Jack was waiting for them. Uncle Jack was their band manager and he had been working on their latest concert as soon as he received Paul’s call from Australia. ”I’d say that the best date for the concert should be on the 2nd of July, perhaps,” said Paul’s uncle looking at his diary. “I had a meeting with my old friend who is the manager of the Royal Albert Hall and he suggested the date,” he added. ”Then we only have about 2 months to go,”said Paul. He called Martin, “Marty, the concert will be on the 2nd of July at 21:00″.

After his meetings, Martin met them at Paul’s house. “Pretty cosy in here, Paul,” said Martin. “I’ve always like your home. It is really comfortable, with soft sofas and tasty hot drinks”. It was a very beautiful house indeed, and it is not far from London.

The next day they were very busy getting ready for the concert. Paul took out his purple glittering trousers with a matching jacket and a white shirt. Martin pulled out his blue shirt with white sleeves while Eve put out her long and glittering pink dress from her bag. Lin took out her beautiful red dress carefully out her bag while Peter searched for his shining black jacket and black trousers from his bag. They put on their clothes and started practicing. They practiced very hard and wanted to give their best for the concert.

A few days before the concert, the Caltex petrol station cashier arrived safely in England. Paul invited him to his house and to watch their rehearsals. He also invited his old friends, Jalil and Kamal to the concert. They arrived in London after a 10 hours flight from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

A day before the concert, they went to Gordon Ramsay restaurant for a tasty breakfast and off they went to the Royal Albert Hall for their rehearsals. There were fans waiting for them outside the hall and they were very happy to see them. The tickets were already sold out and lots of their fans were sad because there was no more tickets left.

Everybody was very excited about the concert, especially their special guest, the Caltex petrol station cashier from Australia. He sat happily at the VIP seats together with Jalil and Kamal. The Astolf Band’s fans were very excited to see Paul Tonnel, Martin Flangs, Eve Sara, Lin Bastain and Peter Hard singing together again in their glittering, colourful and shining shirts, jackets and dresses. They sang and sang, danced and danced happily as they used to do years before. The crowds were cheering, “More, more!” every time they finished their songs. The fans were all shouting loudly with excitement and Paul’s uncle kept saying, “Bravo! Bravo!” until the end of the concert. It was a marvelous night! Some of their fans even fainted because they were too excited watching the band on stage!

The Caltex petrol station cashier was so proud and happy to be able to watch the concert, he was a good man who liked to help others and never thought to be able to watch a concert by the Astolf Band in London. Paul Tonnel, Martin Flangs, Eve Sara, Lin Bastain and Peter Hard were good friends and they were always nice to their fans and everybody they met. They were very happy to sing together and to see their fans again.

~~ The End ~~

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 4)

Please click here for, The Astolf Band (Part 3)

After a wonderful barbecue, they all went inside for some tea. Peter asked Paul, ”What’s your plan for tomorrow?” Paul answered, “Since everyone is here, we’d better go back to England and start working for our concert. There would be a lot of things to do. We’ll first must make an announcement through the media, then we’ll have to plan for our concert”. “Okay,” said Peter “I’ll go upstairs and book my flight online. Paul shouted at Peter, “Don’t forget that we’ll be flying on the 1:00 am Qantas flight.

Very early the next morning, Martin woke up to a big roar. He went to the window and looked outside. “It is raining!” shouted Martin. He took his umbrella and ran outside. “Woo-hoooo!” shouted Martin excitedly, singing in the rain. Peter, who was in the kitchen, slicing the delicious, freshly made cheese for breakfast wondered what Martin was doing outside. Peter walked out and the happy Martin shouted excitedly, “Ooh! What a wonderful rain! I’ve been waiting to sing in the rain for so long.”

Peter pulled him inside and told him that a storm is coming. Martin had been very busy travelling to the big cities that he really missed singing in the rain like he used to do when ever the Astolf Band members were together in the countryside. “Storm?” asked Martin. He switched on the television to watch the news.

Eve woke up after a lightning struck the ground a thundering thunder roared outside her bedroom. It was very dark. “Blackout?” asked Paul who was using his laptop. He turned it off and went down stairs. Lin was walking out from her room when the lights suddenly went off. She went downstairs and asked, “Is it a blackout or somebody had switched off the electricity?” Martin answered, “A blackout!” while buttering the bread. “Ooh. That smells so good,” said Lin, walking to the dinning table. “Really tasty, you must try it,” said Paul while eating his bread. Peter said, “Home-made butter;  my home-made butter. And also the freshly home-made bread”.

The bad storm was almost gone when they walked out to the car to go to the airport. Martin sat beside the driver seat and asked Peter,”Are you sure that we can catch our flight?” Peter answered, “I hope so”. After they’ve travelled about 6 kilometres, they realised that they were almost out of fuel. Peter stop by at the Caltex petrol station to refill the petrol and soon they were on the way to the airport.

Soon as the car was moving towards the Melbourne Airport, the car suddenly shook. “What’s wrong with the car?” asked Lin. “I think it must be the tyre!” said Peter. “We must have hit something sharp!” They went out to check the tyres. “Wild kangaroos!” shouted Martin. “They are coming our way, run!” They ran and ran and ran until they reached a petrol station nearby. The three wild kangaroos were still behind them. The cashier of the mart at the station saw the kangaroos chasing the friends. The cashier was also a cowboy who was very good at using the lasso.

He took out his lasso with a 10 metre rope, and lassoed the wild kangaroos one by one until he caught all of the kangaroos. They were amazed to see how the cashier lassoed the kangaroos, it was like watching a cowboy film. They thanked him and Martin asked him if he could help them to fix the tyre. “Of course!” said the cashier. They led him to the car and the cashier helped them to replace the tyre. “Thanks! We have something for you for helping us,” said Paul giving the cashier a fifty dollar note, “We would like to invite you to our concert in London. I’ll be sending a ticket for you to go to our concert, together with a plane ticket to London.”

They drove off to the airport  hoping that they would not miss their flight. “We are not very far from the airport now,” said Paul. As they were running inside the Melbourne Airport, they heard an announcement saying that their flight to London was delayed. “Good,” said Peter, “We are very lucky that the flight was delayed, if not we might have missed our flight.” At 3:30 pm, when they boarded the plane to London.

To be continued …

Please click here for The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 5)

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 3)

Please click here for; The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 2)

“Mmm … Tasty!”  said Martin licking his lips. He put down his tea cup and looked at Lin saying, “The tea is very tasty, Lin”. Lin answered, “Thank you, Marty. So all of you are going to Australia tomorrow morning, right? Can I come along?” “That is a very good idea,” said Eve. She put down her tea cup and said, “You are right, Marty. The tea is very tasty.” Lin went up from her chair and said, “All of you can sleep here tonight. I’ll cook dinner for all of us.” “Lin, do you have the ticket yet?” asked Eve. “No, I’d better book my ticket now,” answered Lin going to her computer to book her ticket.

Early the next morning, the four friends were ready to go to the airport. Lin said to her friends, “We’d better get going. I think it is time to go to the airport.” “Yes! Time to go to Australia to meet our old friend, Peter Hard,” added Paul, smiling happily. Soon, they were in a taxi, on the way to the San Pablo Airport. They rushed inside the airport and checked in their bags. “Vuelo a Australia está listo para despegar!” Lin looked at her friends excitedly and said, “That is our flight to Australia, let’s go!” Soon they were on the aeroplane to Australia to meet their friend.

On the lands of Australia, they rented a car and drove from the airport, past an orchard by a hill, and green fields full of cows. “It is beautiful in Australia,” said Eve. Later they reached Peter Hard’s house. Paul knocked the door and after a while, Peter opened it. Paul asked Peter, “Will you join us to re ….” But before Paul could finish his question, Peter laughed loudly and hugging Paul, Peter said, “Ha ha ha! My old friends. It is really good to see all of you again.”  

Paul was stunned.  The serious Peter was acting so weirdly that made him nervous. Paul cleared his throat and continued his sentence “… vive the Astolf Band?” Peter pulled Paul inside while saying, “Of Course! I love the idea. In fact I really miss the band members. And it is so good to see my old dear friends again.” Peter looked at his friends and said, “This is a big house and I have enough rooms for everybody. You can go apple picking in my orchard while I get things ready for a barbecue dinner tonight.  By the way, there are a few pear trees in the backyard and a few cherry trees near the garage. Bring some big baskets so that we can enjoy lots of the sweet, juicy fruits tonight.”

To Be Continued …

Please click here for, The Astolf Band (Part 4)

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 2)

*Please click here for The Astolf Band (Part 1)

After the cup of tea, Martin invited Paul and Eve to spend the night at his home. They had an early night because the next morning, they were going to Spain to meet Lin Bastain.

The three friends woke up very early the next morning. They all rushed into Martin’s car. And “Vrroooom!” went the car. The car speeded down the road, they turn left and right and at last they reached the Berlin Schönefeld Airport.

Martin parked his car and they rushed to the departure area, checked in their bags and soon they heard, “Achtung! Flug nach Spanien wird bald fahren!”. “That is our flight to Spain, let’s go!”, said Martin rushing to the departure gate.

In the aeroplane after they buckled their seat belts,  Martin put on the headphone to listen to the music while Paul went to sleep.  Eve looked outside watching the birds flying over the buildings around the airport.

A few hours later, their plane landed safely in Spain. Paul, Eve and Marty took a taxi and they drove past the woods to Lin’s house. At last they reached Lin’s house. Martin went to the small house and knocked the door. The door opened and Martin saw Lin at the door holding a newspaper.

Lin was speechless to see her friends. Martin said, “Oh! Hello Lin”, and he pulled Paul and pushed him to the front door. Paul asked, “Hello Lin, would you like to join us to revive the Astolf Band?” Lin looked at them and said, “Did you came all the way to Spain just for that?” She smiled and said, “Of course, if you all will come inside and have tea with me.”

To be continued…

*Please click here for The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 3)

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

After a very successful performance in London, Paul Tonnel had a very nice rest in his home. He was sipping his tea and listening to the music when started to think about the old Astolf Band.

Paul Tonnel was the singer and guitarist of the Astolf Band that used to be a very popular band in the 1980s. Suddenly he thought it would be nice if he could re-group and revive the band as it was in the old times. He went to his computer and searched for the addresses of the original members of the band, Paul Tonnel, Martin Flangs, Eve Sara, Lin Bastain and Peter Hard.

He wanted to contact them and to ask them if they want to revive the band. He read the list and then he realised that they all lived far away from each other. He slid his chair to his other computer and used the internet to book a flight to Germany to meet Martin Flangs. Then he went to his bed and went to sleep.

“RRR-IIII-NGGG,” went the alarm clock. Paul ran to his bathroom and brushed his teeth and started to think what would the others think about the his idea. Than he put it out of his mind and ran to his car.

He drove to the Heathrow Airport. He parked his car and waited for his flight. But an hour later, the flight was delayed for another half an hour. While he waited, he took out his hand phone to book another flight to Spain and later to Australia. Pulling his bag to the departure hall, he saw another Astolf Band member, Eve Sara chased by her fans.

He ran after her and asked her if she would like to revive the Astolf Band. Eve whispered, “I have never thought about it but I will if you help me to get out of this crowd”. So, to get Eve away from the crowd, Paul made a 15 minutes show for the very excited fans. After it was over, he only had just enough time to catch his flight.

He found out that Eve was also going to Germany and they ran together to catch the plane. They were almost late but they reached there before the departure gate was closed. Their fans followed them and later went to look out for their plane and waving as they watched the plane flew high up to the sky.

It Germany, the plane went down safely and when Paul’s phone received the signals from satellite, he called Martin. “Marty, I will reach your house at around 9:00 pm tonight. Bye,” said Paul while rushing to get out of the airport and to get to Martin’s house.

At 9:00 pm sharp, Martin heard a car in front of his house. Martin said to himself, “Das sollte Paul,” which means that should be Paul and rushed to open the door. He rushed outside and almost said, “Willkommen Sie alten Freund”. He lived in Germany for more than 2 years now that he almost speak German to his English friend. He quickly change to English, “Welcome my old friend”.

Paul asked Martin about his idea to revive the Astolf Band. Martin thought for a moment and asked, “Would you like a cup of tea?” Eve said, “Yes please, of course” while going inside the house. Paul shook his head and asked again, “Marty, would you like to revive the Astolf Band?”. Martin smiled and answered, “Sure!”.

To be continued…

*Please click here for The Astolf Band (Part 2)

A Man Named Jalil, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Chapter 3)

Please click here for Chapter 2

Jalil rushed to his office to attend the conference. He parked his car and ran into his office. When he reached the conference room, he found out that nobody was there yet. He was very proud to be the first person to arrive for the conference. So he setup the projector and get things ready  for his important presentation.

Soon more people came into the conference room. People looked at him as if something was wrong with him. Jalil looked at himself and realised that he accidentally wear a tuxedo instead of a jacket! No wonder people were looking at him.

After the conference, they had a business meeting. They discussed about ways to look for new costumers and to attract more people to buy their goods. Jalil said to his boss, “I think that we should also try to attract the kids,” he said. “We should use glitters and colourful lights at the kids department of our stores. That will attract more kids’. His boss looked at him and said, “Wonderful! What a great idea! Ten dollars for you, Jamil.” Jalil cleared his throat and said, ‘I am Jalil, boss, not Jamil’.

At home, Jalil looked at the ten dollars note that he received from his boss. Then, “MREEEEOW!” He looked outside and saw his cat fighting with his horse. The cat ran inside the house followed by a few chickens in a parade. Jalil was stunned, “A cat fighting with a horse? It must be the effect of the wrong food that I fed them this morning,” Jalil said to himself.

Jalil chased the cat. The cat ran into his library and jumped onto his armchair. Jalil leaped towards the armchair to catch the cat but he accidentally knocked down the armchair and fell down on the floor together with the armchair. He could not catch the cat because it had already jumped up onto the ceiling fan! The cat looked at Jalil and the armchair and it went up the stairs to Jalil’s bedroom followed by the chickens in a parade with Jalil at the back of the line chasing after them.

Soon the chase was over. Jalil managed to catch the cat and chased away the animals from his house. He locked the door and looked at the mess that they had caused. Outside his house the cats and the horses and the chickens had stopped fighting. Jalil was too tired to clean up the mess, so he walked to the library and sat down to read his book, ‘Darry Doment’ again hopping that for once he can enjoy his book in peace and quiet.

~The End~