Childhood

Title : Happy bad-day

As a child, birthdays always meant one thing to me; cake! That was all I could think of as my seventh year birthday celebration was approaching. A week before the date, my daddy came back with a little pink lacy ball gown fit for his princess. I couldn’t wait to tell all my friends about it. Everyday I would go to my parents bedroom, to the spot where the little dress hung, to take a very good look at it and dream about wearing it. My mum has never been known to throw a small party, she had a way of making the smallest gathering look like a King’s coronation.

On the day of the party, I was surrounded by so many grown ups rather than kids my age. Nobody cared about neatly packed hair, or my ‘princessy’ little pink dress. They just made loud noises and ate all my food. So I took a stroll outside, knowing I won’t be missed. While I was out, I saw a girl by the street corner, with just a wrapper to her chest. I approached her smiling, “What is your name I asked?”. “Halima.” she replied. I spoke to her for a while and found out that wrapper was the only dress she had. I gave her my dress and asked her to give me her wrapper, she did so without hesitation. Halima and I spent the whole day playing.

When I got home, the party was over and my parents were looking for me. When my daddy asked about my dress, I lied that it was at my neighbour’s house. My mum took me round the neighborhood, but we couldn’t find my dress, neither did I see Halima anywhere close. My lies infuriated my dad and he gave me the beating of my life. That was when I decided to tell him the truth. His hands became limp, and I saw regret in his eyes. From that day onward, he vowed never to touch me. Till date he has never laid a finger on me, no matter how much I dared him.

Vera