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Story Time: The special cake
“Hey Azmat, what have you brought to eat during the recess today? It’s your turn isn’t it?” asked Khalid as he reached the bus stop and stood by his friend.
“I’ve got two bananas.”
“Only two bananas?” asked Khalid. “They won’t fill us up, will they?”
“Don’t worry Khalid, today we’ll eat plenty of birthday cake.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, Mr Nut celebrated his birthday yesterday,” Azmat told his friend.
“Oh you mean Farid!” laughed Khalid.
“Yes, I’m sure he’ll bring a lot of cake to school,” said Azmat.
At that moment, the bus arrived. Both the boys boarded it and sat down together on a seat near the window.
Farid was Azmat’s next-door neighbour and studied in the same school. His father, Mr Hameed, was an engineer who had been transferred from Lahore to Karachi just a month ago. Each morning, on his way to work, Mr Hameed drove his son to school.
Almost every day, Azmat and Khalid robbed Farid of his lunch during the recess.
“We are student leaders,” they would say to Farid, “and every newcomer has to pay us the toll in the form of snacks for this whole year. When he refuses to give us refreshments, we throw him over the wall into a pool of dirty water.”
Now as the boys rode the bus, Khalid said, “Farid is a real nut. He believes us and lets us eat his things. He doesn’t even complain to the teacher about us.”
“He doesn’t have the brain or heart to do that,” added Azmat.
“Oh boy! Remember the big red apples we grabbed from Mr Nut the other day? They were delightful.”
“Yes, I do,” said Azmat, “but I liked the peanut butter sandwiches, snatched last week, much better. My mouth waters when I think of them.”
At last the bus reached their stop and the boys got off.
“Mr Nut is not here,” said Azmat as they entered the gate and looked around.
“Don’t worry,” said Khalid. “Sometimes he comes to school rather late.”
While sitting in their classroom, Azmat and Khalid watched the gate to see if Farid had entered the school. But they did not see even a glimpse of him. “He won’t come today,” said Azmat under his breath as he worked on his Maths.”
When the recess bell rang, Azmat and Khalid did not leave the classroom. “I don’t think Mr Nut is here today,” said Azmat. “Let’s eat the refreshments and be content with that.”
He gave a banana to Khalid and began to peel the other for himself. Then they came out of the room and walked towards the playground.
“Hey Mr Nut is here! Standing alone under the tree!” said Khalid in a loud whisper. “He must have come in through the other gate. Let’s grab the box of cake he has in his hand.”
Azmat agreed. They hurried towards Farid looking all round to make sure they were not being watched.
“Hello Farid, our wise friend,” Azmat greeted him sarcastically.
“Why didn’t you invite me to your birthday party?” Farid didn’t answer; he just smiled at them.
“Don’t worry Azmat,” Khalid said, “He will treat us to a good cake right now.”
He tried to snatch the box from Farid. At first Farid resisted, but soon gave in.
“It’s a huge cake and smells good,” said Khalid when he opened the box.
“It looks delicious too,” said Azmat. “Come on, hurry up, share it with me. I’m pretty hungry and my mouth is watering.”
Khalid broke it into two equal halves and gave a piece to his friend. Like hungry dogs, they started to gobble the cake.
“Ouch!” both boys cried, throwing away the cake and spitting hard. “The cake is full of hot chilies!” said Azmat.
“Come on, let’s go drink some water,” said Khalid.
The boys ran off to find water, leaving Mr Nut behind laughing at them.
When Farid got home that afternoon he said to his elder sister, “Baji, your plan was just wonderful! It worked so well that I am certain they will never bother me again.”
“Good,” said his sister, “my efforts were not wasted.” Both brother and sister roared with laughter.
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