She woke up
with a startle. Had she overslept? She checked the time on her mobile screen.
4:30 it moaned sleepily. She still had 1 hour to sleep. But she had so much to
do! She didn’t even need the sprinkle of cold water on her eyes to wake her up;
the thought itself was enough to wake her up. Hurriedly, she made her way to
kitchen. She stopped by calendar and smiled. ‘My Birthday’ was scribbled on the
date. It was decorated with so many flowers and stars that the date was no
longer visible. With a soft chuckle she moved on with her work. She started
baking the cake. Pineapple cake was Sally’s all time favourite. She could
almost see her screaming with joy. She knew every child waits anxiously for
his/her birthday. But there was no match for Sally’s anxiety. She was kind of
obsessed with her birthday. Each time she was invited for any of her friends’
birthdays instead of lighting up she would make a grumpy face which demanded to
know ‘When is her birthday?’ She would only be satisfied with the answer that
stated exact number of days left for her birthday. She remembered last year
when Sally woke up, she went to her room and wished her Happy Birthday. She got
so excited that she made everybody at home wake up and asked them to wish her.
She even made Leo (our dog) to shake its paw with her. She smiled at the
memory. She was busy with her chores when her husband appeared in the kitchen.
‘Honey its
5:15. Why are you up so early? What are you doing?’
’It’s Sally’s
birthday! I have lot to do!’
He stared at
for her a moment and then without saying anything went to living room and sat
there. He saw that her happiness knew no bounds. He sat there quietly. After an
hour or so when everything seemed perfect she took out the colour boxes and
sweets she had bought for Sally to distribute in school. Then she took out a
pink frock, matching earrings, stockings and hair belt. She took these things
and went to her room. The door was closed. She felt it weird and was puzzled
for a moment. Sally always kept door of her bedroom ajar while sleeping. Lost
in thoughts she opened the door and emptiness of the room filled her mind. She
stared at the empty room. It had been the same it was 3 weeks ago. The toys lay
scattered, bed was cluttered, she could see used plates below the bed, but
everything seemed colorless without the sight of her precious one. She dropped
the things down and cringed in a corner. The loud thud made her husband hurry
to the room. She sat in a corner motionless. Emotions were burning up inside her
but they just failed to come out. He knew this is no good. He kissed her
forehead and hugged her. But she didn’t move. He got up and came with a photo
frame holding Sally’s last year’s birthday picture. She was feeding cake to Sally.
There was an outburst of emotions. Tears ran down her cheeks. He said ‘Wherever
she is, she loves you’. With a crack in her voice she replied ‘But I love her
more’.
