Brain Bash

THE SECRET BIRTHDAY KEY-1

THE SECRET BIRTHDAY KEY

A few years before the beginning of the reign of King William IV and Queen Adelaide, a certain poor woman named Mrs Sandra Tramp gave birth to a pair of twins one foggy morning in London. Her babies were a male and a female and were both diagnosed at the very early stage of their lives with an unusual health condition the doctor called “brain bash”. This unusual health condition, according to Doctor Emilia Parker, head of children’s hospital in London where these twins were born, was, and I quote, “Nothing serious. Only your wards will be victim of excessive shyness and fear. I think that is all.”

Mrs Sandra Tramp named the male baby Paul and the female Pauline. Both children grew up together. But after their sixth birthday anniversaries which were held at Sir Harry Tramp’s house on 29th February that year, both Paul and Pauline fell seriously ill.

Little Pauline as lucky as the Queen of the Ethiopian Kingdom and as pretty as a newly bought picture from town, was now Mrs Sandra Tramp’s only joy and future hope. She miraculously survived the illness, but the boy died when he was only seven years old. Years passed and Pauline alone grew up steadily at her parents’ house. Pauline was blonde. She had long hair, blue eyes and an oval face. She was a very polite girl.

A few years later, Pauline was now in grade 6. As a school girl, her teacher loved her very much. However, her teacher bitterly complained about her problem associated with her doodling hands as a result of her brain bash condition. Pauline had two female close mates, though; those were Joyce and Francisca, and the only male mate she had was Saied. Joyce was slim and hairy and was the one that liked wearing her eyeglasses while Francisca was fat and tall and was the one that also liked wearing her sun-glasses on special occasions only. She hardly laughed even when her mates were entertained. As for Saied, her only close male mate, he liked having an empty smoking pipe hanging in a corner of his large mouth whenever he was out of his class. He always liked eating ripe fingers of banana his mother always bought for him. He also liked wearing a pair of black boots. He was always entertaining. He sometimes played the acoustic guitar his father had offered him some time back.

One windy Thursday afternoon, they had closed early from school and had discussed funny matters on their way home. So, as a sign of courtesy, her friends decided to accompany Pauline to her father’s house and rest together for some time.

“ My dear friends, are you sure you are spending much time at my house today?” she asked, openly smiling.

“ Yes, we are, Pauline,” answered Joyce, hugging her warmly.

They played and ate and sang and danced at Pauline’s house. After doing all these things, her friends decided to leave. The reason was that the time for Pauline’s mother to return from the market was drawing near.

“ We are leaving you now, Pauline,” informed Francisca, unhappy, though.

“ Are you sure you are leaving now?” asked Pauline, timidly picking her newly bought school bag from the floor.

“ Yes, we are,” answered Joyce, also picking her bag from the ground. “The reason is that you will be helping your mother home when she returns from the market. Moreover, it passed Midday long time ago and our parents too will be worried if they do not see us in the evening.”

“ Bring me what you cook this evening tomorrow.” Saied hugged her warmly.

“ I will,” said back Pauline, also hugging her other mates. “I know you like eating boiled cassava, Saied. But I do not know if you also like eating pounded yam with groundnut soup with fried chicken and crab. I am jealous when I am eating this delicious meal. But because you are requesting for this evening meal, I will not hesitate to bring you some tomorrow.”

“ Are you sure of that, Pauline?” coughed Saied.

“ Yes, I am very sure of that,” answered Pauline. “Will you eat it, Saied?”

“ Yes, I sure I will if only if you will offer me my portion tomorrow secretly before we gather at assemble. I think that is all, Pauline.”

“ I am sorry then, Saied,” said Pauline, shaking her head in surprise. “But I am sure the food will have got spoilt by tomorrow morning if I brought it.”

Saied shook his head in disagreement with her. Pauline gazed at him.

“ Do not worry about that, Pauline,” he insisted. “Just do as I say. I believe if you happened to bring it, it will have heated itself by the time you reached the school premises and even remained steamy until break.”

“ What do you mean by that, Saied?” asked Pauline, totally puzzled. “Can you explain that to me, I cannot understand you?”

“ It will happen the way I say it,” reassured Saied, laughing. “Just believe me, my dear friend.”

“ You amaze me, Saied.” Pauline was confused.

“ It is my way of life, Pauline. Anyway, see you in school tomorrow then.”

“ I will miss you, Saied!” said Pauline back and let them leave her father’s house.

After the departure of her mates, Pauline sat lonely in her dirty room. She was relaxing when Mrs Sandra Tramp returned from the market. As usual she helped her at the kitchen until dinner was completely ready. She and her mother enjoyed their supper together at the dining-hall. The following day snow fell heavily so, Pauline did not attend classes that morning.

One sunny afternoon, Pauline was sitting lonely before the main door to her father’s house when a sudden thought came through her mind. She faced the cloudless sky and talked in her mind.

After that she went straight to her bedroom and rested.

The following day, snow fell heavily again, so Pauline and her mates were unable to meet after school. But two days later, the weather was very much better; there was sunshine, but it was all mild and enjoyable. Again Pauline had something important to ask Saied. She had been thinking about it sometimes back.

“ What will you offer me on my twelfth birthday, Saied?” she asked, openly smiling.

“ I will offer you something secret and special you will never forget the rest of your life, my dear Pauline. You will get it only if you believe me from the bottom of your heart,” Saied had laughed.

“ Is it going to be something I will keep in my room for months, or something I will eat just a day and forget about it, Saied?”

“ No, Pauline, neither of those. It is going to be something secret you will need in a critical situation, Pauline.” Saied gazed at her.

Pauline too laughed and Saied warmly hugged her once more.

“ You are funny, Saied,” Pauline had teased.

But the Egyptian mate did not disclosed whatever he intended to offer her on her twelfth birthday party yet. Pauline was pleased that she began dreaming about the unknown gift Saied had promised to offer her on her 12th birthday celebration.

A week later, after school had closed, Pauline sat under the mango tree that stretched its branches over her father’s house and rested. A few minutes later, she came to the middle of their concession and waited impatiently for her mates Francisca, Joyce and more importantly Saied to come, but her friends all delayed. She could not understand the reason why her mates delayed coming to her house that sunny afternoon. So she sat lonely disappointed and observed the beauty of the sky.

She coughed twice and shook her head pitifully.

“ I turned twelve years old today,” she muttered, sad. “But Mummy said she is not going to offer me anything. This means that she is not going to offer me any birthday parcels until the day she gets money.” She cried for a few minutes, went behind the house, sat on a wooden chair and went on. “I have never been happy my entire life before. But I hope from today onwards that things will change for a better someday.”

She stood up briskly and sat back quietly on the old wooden chair that had been placed at the back of the house and remained there again.

Later, she also waited for her mother to return from town. She dropped more tears and sat lonely there. She was thinking if her classmates were ever going to come or not. She was hopelessly sad. So she went to her room calmly and mourning. She sat on her rocking chair and rested impatiently. That day indeed was a sad day for her.

Pauline’s father was Sir Harry Tramp. He had returned earlier from the forest. But Pauline was not aware he was resting in his bedroom.

Sir Harry Tramp was a famous hunter. He was tall and very strong and was nicknamed “Hercules” for that matter.

Nobody in the entire United Kingdom ever dared him in anything he did either good or bad. While Mrs Sandra Tramp cherished Pauline very much, Sir Harry Tramp hated her in everything she did.

“ I hate that careless girl of mine,” he muttered now at the back of his house that evening whilst manning his rifle. “I do not know why she cannot hold any things carefully in her two hands. I am sure this is not as a result of her brain bash condition. I have never seen a little girl with such carelessness like this before. She has broken all the valuable items in this house. I wish she were not my biological daughter, for I intend to swap her for a common shoe lace at the market square. I say this for her acts do not resemble mine at all. So I am hosting no birthday party for her this evening. I have postponed it. That will take place in two weeks, instead of today. She is too careless and she is such a useless girl. Excessive shyness and fear my foot! That is why I hate her so much that I do not want her to live in this house of mine.”

Sir Harry Tramp then burst into a wicked laughter until it was night totally while Pauline was very sad that night too. Her mother, too, was mournfully sad. She did not have supper. It was a pity to see her in that mood that time.

The following day, when Pauline went to school, Saied the Egyptian boy made her laugh during lunch at the school canteen.

Pauline’s other mates were closely following their chat.

“ You have already informed me this morning that you will be celebrating your birthday in two weeks, instead of yesterday. You said your Dad has postponed it. So do not try and inform me again,” said Saied.

“ That is okay. But will you allow me to ask you once again what you intend to offer me on that day, Saied? And why have you not yet disclosed that to me up to now?”

“ I am promising you a secret birthday key, Pauline.” Saied was smiling.

“ A secret birthday key for me, Saied!”

“ Yes, Pauline. Does this surprise you? In fact, you will need it when trying to open a door in an emergency situation at your father’s house. Just believe it and you will be happy.”

“ You say I will need it when trying to open a door in a critical situation only at my father’s house? I cannot wait to see that secret birthday key. So quickly tell me the door and how that key looks like.”

“ I will describe it and also tell you the door I was talking about. And I promise you will love it.” Saied laughed Saied, went round the house twice and came back to his initial position more confident.

Pauline did not believe him. She too was only laughing, and doubting.

At closing Saied, Joyce and Francisca left the school premises very late. As for Pauline, she had already gone home lonely. The reason was that her mates were delaying. She did not understand the reason of their delay. She was more or less impatient to see them at her father’s house so that she could receive what Saied had promised her. The true reason of their delay was that Francisca, Joyce and Saied were searching for Francisca’s missing school bag in the school the time she left.

Back to the school premises, Joyce had something to say. “I think someone might have hidden your school bag somewhere, Francisca,” she assumed, openly shaking her head.