The Birthday Gift

It will soon be your sixth birthday.

I was thinking of what to give you as a birthday gift. I looked at the wrapping paper and said,” What can I give my dear Suraj? Tell me.”

It said, after a moment of thought, “Give him a story! I want to be wrapped around a story.”

“But where can I get a new story? I don't know any.” I said, worried.

“Don’t worry,’ said the wrapping paper. “Here’s one.”

And it told me a little story.

As soon as he opened his eyes that morning, Suraj knew that it was his birthday. How could he not know? Mummy and Daddy were smiling at him, and singing “Happy Birthday!” Sunlight flowed in through the window. He knew it was going to be a wonderful day, his sixth birthday.

And a wonderful night, too, because tonight, there was a birthday party. All his friends would come. Suraj had many friends – some from school, some from the houses nearby, and a few who came to his house only once in a while. Tonight, all of them – Vish, Chotu, Manoj, Anna, Raju, Ravi, Sharmila – would come to his house for the party. It would be a lovely party, Suraj thought.

And so it was, with balloons of all colours, red and green, blue and orange, pink and purple. The balloons filled the house, floating in each room, making their ceilings colourful. They were in different shapes – some round like balls, some like eggs, some like tubes, a few like elephants’ trunks, and one like a clown’s smile.

On the table was a BIG birthday cake, full of chocolate and covered with cherries – just what Suraj loved. And on the cake was written “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SURAJ”.

His friends arrived in ones and twos. Each had a nice gift for Suraj wrapped in beautiful shiny paper and tied with silver and gold string. The boxes - round, flat, short, tall – were waiting to be opened. But Suraj waited for his favourite friend – Vish. “His gift will be the best,” Suraj thought.  “He is SO late.” he thought angrily, “Why can’t he come on time for MY birthday?”

Where was Vish? He knew Suraj loved chocolates, and he had got a big box of chocolates, wrapped in black paper. “Suraj will really like this,” he said to himself.

As he came near Suraj’s house, he found a few small boys playing by the street, under the street lamp.

“What are you doing here?” Vish asked one of them. “Why don’t you go home?”

“It’s his birthday,” said one of them, pointing to the tiniest one. “We wanted to play, but our houses are too small. So we are playing here.”

“Ah! Ha!” laughed Vish. “It’s another birthday party. How nice! Where are the cakes? And sweets?”

“We don’t have any,” said the birthday boy, looking a little sad.

 A birthday party, and nothing nice to eat? No cakes, no sweets, no chocolates? Before he knew it, Vish said, “Happy Birthday to you” and gave the little boy the big box of chocolates.

The little boy smiled and said, “Thank you”. He opened the present and threw away the wrapping paper. Vish picked up the wrapping paper, but he could not see any dustbin nearby. So he folded it neatly and put it into his pocket.

The little boy saw the chocolates. They looked wonderful. And there were so many! It would be enough for all of them. A huge smile lit up his face. He said again, “Thank you.”

Vish said, “Excuse me, I must hurry. I need to go to my friend Suraj’s house. It’s his birthday too.”

“Say “Happy Birthday” to him,” they said to Vish happily.

So that is how Vish reached Suraj’s house – late and with no gift. Suraj was waiting and as soon as Vish walked in, he smiled.

“Vish!” he exclaimed, “Why are you so late?”

Vish told him the story of what had happened. Angrily, Suraj said, “You gave away MY gift to somebody else. A full box of chocolates! I don’t want to talk to you again.”

And he walked away from Vish.

Poor Vish! He stood alone in a corner of the room. All the boys and girls in the room played with each other. They kicked the balloons, played games, ran around the room, chased each other, and ate lots of cake and chocolates and sweets. And no one played with Vish.

What could Vish do?

He wanted to cry. He took out his handkerchief from his pocket, and found the paper he had used to wrap the box of chocolates. It was black paper; it smelled of chocolate. The smell made him happy. The paper gave him an idea.

Vish found white, yellow, and pink crayons. Then he started to draw on the black paper. He wanted to draw something that would make Suraj happy, a drawing full of love, and warm. He drew a smiling face with eyes as bright as the sun. Between the pink lips you could see teeth that glittered with whiteness. The face grinned at Vish, and made him laugh.

Vish picked up the face he had drawn and went to Suraj. “I made this for you,’ he said. “It’s my birthday gift. It will keep you happy.”

Suraj was surrounded by toys, all the toys he had got, cars and trains, guns and balls, games and planes – oh! so many toys. He looked at the crayon face on the paper and said, “It’s a silly face. I don’t want it. I want my chocolates. Go away.” And he threw the crayon face into a corner of the room.

Poor Vish! Hurt, unhappy, friendless. Quietly, he opened the door and he left the noisy party.

That night, after the party was over and all the guests had gone, the gifts were piled high in the centre of the room. The gift from Vish – the crayon face- was lying under the sofa.

Suraj was sleeping, but he was tossing and turning in his bed. He was not happy because he had fought with his best friend, Vish.

Outside, through the window, you could not see much. It was a dark and windy night; the sky was clouded and the moon and stars could not be seen.

While everyone was sleeping, two thieves were awake. They were twins and they were called Dishum and Dushum. They wanted to steal all the toys in Suraj’s house. Quietly, they placed a ladder next to the window and jumped in through the window. They had a big black bag; they picked up the new toys and put it into their bag. One by one, the toys went into the big black bag.

The little noise woke Suraj up. He saw the two big fellows taking away his new toys. He wanted to call Daddy for help. His heart went “Thump! Thump! Thump!” But he was too scared to move, to speak. In his mind, he thought, “Help! Help!” He lay alone in the pitch-black darkness. Who could help him now? He thought, “Help me, Vish!”

Suddenly, in the dark night, a cold gust of wind blew into the room. It made little Suraj shiver, and it made the two fellows shiver for a moment. The wind caught the black paper. It flew out from under the sofa and into the air. The face grinned at Suraj, and made him relax.

Then, the wind caught the paper again, and it turned away from Suraj, towards Dishum and Dushum. The black paper twisted in the air, and the smiling face changed. The pink lips and the white teeth were twisted into a scary grin. The round yellow eyes had turned into narrow ovals.

Dushum looked up and saw the face hanging in mid-air. Slightly scared, he whispered to Dishum, “Dushum! What is that?”

Dushum looked up. “Dishum? What?” he asked.

Dishum pointed into the darkness. "A gh-gh-ghost", he mumbled.

By now, the wind had turned the paper the other way, so Dishum and Dishum could only see the black side. In the darkness, they could not see the paper floating.

“There’s nothing”, said Dushum. “You must be imagining things. You shouldn’t watch so many horror movies.”

As he spoke, the wind turned again, and the face suddenly appeared. The twisted face grinned at them.

Very scared, Dishum turned to run away. But Dushum held up his stick, and jumped towards the face.

Suraj lay very still on his bed, watching. The paper flew up in the wind, high above their heads. So Dushum jumped into empty air and fell down on his face. He quickly got up on his hands and knees, and found his stick on the floor. Dishum was sure that they were fighting a ghost. He stood scared, stuck to the floor, with his eyes big and his jaw dropping. Dushum saw the face hovering above him again.

Again, he jumped. But this time, he fell on top of Dishum, and both of them fell over. They looked up from the floor, and saw the face scowling at them. Very frightened, they crawled and ran helter-skelter to the window, forgetting the toys. Dishum jumped out of the window, and scrambled down the ladder at top speed. Dushum also jumped out, missed the ladder completely, and fell right on top of Dishum. Thud!

Hearing the noise, Daddy woke up and came over to Suraj’s room. He said, “Oh, no! You have fallen on the floor.” He picked up Suraj from the floor and put him on the bed. Suraj tried telling Daddy about the thieves, Dishum and Dushum, and the face, but Daddy wouldn’t listen.

“Just go back to sleep,” he said sleepily. “It’s late. We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.”

“It’s very windy,” he added, and shut the window. As he did so, the wind blew in, the paper flew across the room onto the bed, right next to Suraj.

After Daddy went back to his room, Suraj lay in bed, with his arms around the smiling face. He thought of how the face had fought against the two thieves, and he felt happy. Tomorrow, he would tell Vish all about it. He would say a big “Thank you” to Vish. He knew they would be best friends again, for ever and ever.