Once, when David was very small, one of his 3 older sisters said to him: "Today is Mom's birthday. We're all walking to the mall. Do you want to come with us so you can buy her a present?"
David loved his Mommy very much so of course he wanted to go to the mall and buy her a present. But being very small, he only had one dollar to spend. "What can I buy Mommy for one dollar?" he wondered.
When they arrived at the mall, they went to a great big store that their Mom loved to shop at. David called it "The May" even though everyone else thought it was called "The Bay".
In The May, David looked around for something that he could buy for only one dollar. Dresses were too expensive. Shoes were too expensive (and Mommy always needed new shoes because she used them to crush spiders). Gloves were too expensive. Necklaces were too expensive. Mommy didn't wear earrings, and they were too expensive.
Just when David was starting to feel sad because he couldn't find a gift that he could buy with his one dollar, he found himself in the kitchen section. And there, on the shelf, was a sparkling new green glass that was only seventy-nine cents. It looked something like this:
He stood on his tippy toes so he could reach the green glass, carefully pulled it off the shelf, and carried it over to the cashier. The cashier looked at little David and the green glass in his hand, smiled sweetly, took his one dollar, gave him some change, and then carefully wrapped the green glass in white tissue paper before putting it into a May bag. David said thanks and told the lady that this was a birthday present for his Mommy, and that made the lady smile even bigger.
He then found his sisters and they all walked home together. During the walk they asked David what was in the bag that he carried so proudly, but he didn't tell. All he said was "It's Mommy's birthday present".
When they got home, they all gathered in the living room to sing Happy Birthday to David's Mommy. Each of his sisters gave her a present. David's Daddy gave her a present. And then finally it was David's turn.
He handed his Mommy the May bag containing the glass and said "Happy Birthday Mommy! I bought this for you all by myself with my own money."
She carefully opened the bag while everyone in the family watched. She pulled out the tissue paper and unwrapped the green glass. She smiled and pulled David close to her. "This is the best present ever!" she said, before kissing him and hugging him even tighter than normal.
David's older sisters and his Daddy watched the scene in silence for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing. It wasn't friendly, loving laughing either. It was mean-spirited bullying kind of laughing. Like they were teasing David. The laughter made David feel very sad, and even worse, he didn't even understand why they were laughing. His Mommy whispered in his ear "Don't listen to them. Your present is my favourite of all. You're the only one who really knows what I like."
That made David feel better and he tuned out the sounds of the rest of his family, snuggled into his Mommy's arms and was content. Then she carried him into the kitchen, rinsed the green glass, filled it with milk, took a sip, said "mmmmmmmmmmm", and then handed the rest of the milk to David to drink: "Try it," she said, "the green glass makes the milk taste delicious!"
When they were done enjoying the milk, David's Mommy and Daddy put him into their car and drove him back to the University of Waterloo where he was just starting the third year of his Computer Science studies. "Thank you for the best birthday ever," said his Mommy, as she said goodbye and drove away.
The End.
I added the last paragraph - which isn't true - because I still carry scars from the merciless ridicule I have endured over the years because I loved my Mommy so much that I spent all of my money on a green glass for her birthday. My Analyst suggested that maybe if I write about the incident and add a little bit of humour, I can finally get past the pain and humiliation inflicted on me by my family members. But he's a Systems Analyst, so what does he know?
Final thought: Who from my family can remember what they bought my Mommy for her birthday that year? Which present do you think my Mommy still remembers? Huh? Huh?
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