Mystery of The Missing Drum

This was sometime ago when I was thoroughly fascinated by fire. I was not allowed to make fires, so I used to sneak up to the terrace and feed my obsession. The terrace was an awesome place. I had a birds eye view of the locality and nobody used it. There were two drums on the terrace. One was empty and the other was filled with soil. I used to make small fires in the drum filled with soil since it was safe and convenient. Making a fire in the drum was very convenient because I didn't have to worry about hurting the concrete slab and I could put off the fire easily by dumping soil on it. I used to sneak dry twigs, branches and leaves up to the terrace every other day. 

An empty drum.

One quite afternoon I tended a small, vigorous fire. The gentle sea breeze was nicely feeding the fire. It was a nice time. I was just staring at the flames oblivious to everything, occasionally adding more sticks and twigs. I heard a shout and I realized someone was calling me. Immediately I put out the fire by scooping soil on it. I ran downstairs. It was my mom calling me for lunch. I had a heavy lunch and fell asleep. I woke up in the evening and went upstairs to tend another fire. To my utter surprise someone emptied all the soil and took away the drum. I was pissed off. Why would anybody take the pain to empty a heavy drum filled with soil instead of simply taking the other empty drum? It didn't make any sense. I felt like a drug addict who was denied his fix. Angry and desperate I went around asking people if they borrowed the drum. I made a few phone calls and none of them said they took the drum. A couple of minutes later I went up the terrace to investigate what happened. Who would be foolish enough to miss the empty drum right beside the drum filled with soil?

I went to the heap of the soil and realized that it was utterly beautiful. It looked like a giant ant hill. It had a sharp peak made of compressed mud. It didn't make sense because if the drum was emptied by a man, the resulting heap would look roughly cylindrical with some cracks and chunks and a lot of loose mud at the base of the heap. This is because the mud at the bottom of the drum would be compressed by the weight of the soil above it. I poked the heap with my fingers and then went on to inspect the base of the heap. When I poked in I hit a hard surface. I swept some soil away and found the base of the drum still intact. I swept more soil away and found out that the drum is now only 1/3rd the height it initially was. IT HAS BLOODY BURNT DOWN!!!

Heap expected when a man empties a drum.

Heap I discovered.

This was a total shock to me. I thought I put out the fire before I raced downstairs. Somehow the fire grew up and went out of control and ignited the drum. The drum slowly melted down, and emptied its contents. I was amazed and ecstatic. It perfectly explained the unusual heap. I relished the moment and then thought of the consequences. Someone would need the drum and they will find out that it burnt down. I was the youngest child which meant I would be the obvious culprit. I went into damage control mode. I could remove all evidence of the previous fires and throw away the burnt drum. That would create an awesome mystery. A heavy drum was emptied and stolen when an empty one was available right beside. I felt like Loki, like Joker in Batman.

It turned out to be an impossible task. It was very hard to carry around a burnt drum in plain light. To top it off we were supposed to go on a vacation to my grandma's place. I removed all the matchsticks and burnt embers I could. Then we left for the vacation.

I thoroughly enjoyed the vacation and I completely forgot about the burnt drum. A week later we returned. The news popped up that a drum was missing. Luckily no one seemed to have investigated much since there was only talk of a missing drum. My mom was surprised. She informed that someone emptied and stole a drum when there was an empty drum right beside. I was chuckling inside. If Loki exists he must have been jealous of me.

My happiness was short lived since there was news that the drum was burnt down. I was the immediate suspect. There was an interrogation and I claimed to be innocent. I acted in total surprise and went up to investigate. I argued that if the drum was burnt there would be a lot of smoke and someone would have noticed. Even if no one noticed the smoke, the drum beside it would have shriveled a bit from the heat. There should also be soot on the adjacent walls. Since neither of them happened it must have melted from the heat of the sun. There was a gaping loophole in my story since the adjacent drum was perfectly fine. If the sun was actually intense enough to melt the drums, the empty one should have melted first. Luckily I was not convicted since there was no overwhelming evidence.

That evening my dad did his own investigation and found a match stick in the heap. I will never know if he really found one but that led to my conviction. He also claimed that drums don't burn in a fiery way, instead they smolder slowly with very little smoke. Then I gave up the farce and confessed. I was let off with a warning since it was an accident.

PS : All or most of the above story is fiction. I have a wild imagination as many of you know.