Haszie's Christmas Gift (Part Four)

haszie's christmas gift

Part Four

By Delfin

After dinner, she crept up to her room, and waited.  She was waiting for the perfect moment when the house would grow silent; no pesky siblings to entertain, no boring chores to complete, no searching questions about school work from Papa - gosh, the list could go on and on and on!  You had to be saint to live in this house!

Her ears strained to hear the slightest sound.  No, the house was asleep; you could hear even a pin fall in this silence.  She could feel the growing excitement as her heart thumped hard against her chest.  She retrieved the comet-jewel from the bedside drawer where she had left it the day before.  She trained her table lamp onto the comet-jewel.  Was there something wrong with her eyesight?  There were more of the brown, mouldy dots.  Her heart sank and she stared at it, almost in shock.

The jewel had lost its shine.  This cannot happen.  She tried to recollect.  Did she drop it somewhere again?  Was one of her scarves on which she had left it in the drawer dirty?  She hadn't cleaned her room in ages though her Mama had been pestering her to do so for sometime now.  That must be it!  Her drawer had polluted her precious comet-jewel!  She wished she had listened to her Mama and kept her room clean and tidy.

Anyway, that must be it.  Just some dust that had enveloped her comet-jewel.  She will start her cleaning now; she will start with the comet-jewel.  She grabbed a clean handkerchief that was lying on her laundry basket filled with washed, unfolded clothes.  She began to rub the jewel, first, slowly, with gentle circular movements.  Then, as the moulds remained, her actions became more vigorous.  In a heart-stopping moment, she realised that the spots weren't going away, clinging stubbornly to the jewel as though they were fused onto it.  Her eyes welled up and her vision blurred.

Surely, The Father couldn't have cheated her!  There must have been a mistake of some kind! Surely... no... there must have been a mistake.  She reached for the box which she had flung into the waste-paper basket after removing the comet-jewel from it the day before.

She examined the box carefully.  No clue on the exterior of the plain mauve box.  She lifted the top and looked inside the box.  What was that?  On the bottom, there was a note printed on a cream-coloured petal.  In her excitement, she had eyes only for the comet-jewel; the plain box was a non-entity.  With shaky hands, she carefully dislodged the petal from its haven and placed it on the reader.  The translation read,

And that is the end of the short story, `Haszie's Christmas Gift.

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Haszie's Christmas Gift (Part Three)

haszie's christmas gift

Part Three

By Delfin

"Hasz, guess what?!  We're having a Roachie," Reminghee shouted out to her, before mouthing, "God save us" and shaking her head side-to-side rather vigorously. Reminghee was seated at a table in the far right-hand corner, about three tables away from Haszie who was playfully tossing a blue-black fruit in the air and catching it. It was a fruit packed with nutrients that her mum swore by to stay healthy but it had a bitter-sour taste that Haszie did not relish. Haszie thought it made a better toy.

"What?! A Roachie! Oh, gosh, when, when is she or he coming?"  The toy was forgotten; no, this news was better sport!

"Next year, transferring to our school from the one she goes to in her ghetto planet. And oh, yes, it's a she, though I don't see why we should bother - for all we care, she's an it!" Reminghee almost spat out the last word.

"Why can't they just stay in their ghetto planet?  Why would they want to come and ruin our beautiful planet as well? I have heard about these guys; they are pretty odd. It was just last year that Maallang's father went to work there. Maallang said they are incredibly ugly. They have spindly legs, or at least, long, thin limbs they call legs."

"Really? I have never seen a Roachie before. I have always wondered how they look like," little Miss Do-Gooder Jemimiah squeaked.

Haszie rolled her eyes and smiled knowingly at Reminghee. "So, Jemimiah, would you like to see one?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah, I think a different kind of person would, you know, would add colour to our school. I am sure it would be interesting to get to know them. We could, you know, we could, maybe, learn from them, maybe?" Jemimiah's voice was tinged with uncertainty as she glanced first at Haszie and then, at Reminghee.

"My dear, why wait! I will show you what they are like." Haszie's voice took on a professorial tone as she got up from her seat. "Let me first show you how those precious darlings walk." She stood on tiptoe with her hard claws touching the golden-brown grassy patch on the canteen floor. Wobbling around, she managed a few steps before falling with an exaggerated tumble.

Most of her classmates fell forward, laughing hard. Jemimiah became silent, looking on uncomfortably.

Haszie had a wonderful day, indeed. She was the star, the one who caught everyone's attention. Ah, if only every day was like that - the coveted comet-jewel in her possession and her classmates' admiration at her cleverness. She was clever, wasn't she? She giggled silently to herself as she walked home. Then, her thoughts returned to comet-jewel and her paces quickened. She needed to get home to give the comet-jewel the shine it deserved before attaching it to the necklace. The Christmas Ball was in a couple of days; she didn't have a moment to lose if she wanted to make sure she was not just the star of her school but, most of all, of the Ball as well.

Part Four will be posted on 20/12/2014

Haszie's Christmas Gift (Part Two)

haszie's christmas gift

Part Two

By Delfin

"Hey, so how are we?!" Cereen sprinted up close to Haszie and flung her right hand around Haszie's bony shoulders.  "I am having an appointment with The Father tomorrow.  I wonder what I will get," she beamed dreamily at both Haszie and Plasee.  "Wait, wait a minute!" Plasee interrupted excitedly.  "Didn't you go today, Hasz?  We met Johia after the bell went and she said you had gone to meet The Father as soon as school ended.  Come on! Tell us, tell us, quick!  What did you get?"

"Er...um...I...I didn't, couldn't go.  Felt sick, um, maybe, maybe tomorrow....  Sorry, have to go.  I'm late, my mother will be looking for me, sorry," Haszie muttered hastily and turned her back on them.  As she hurriedly splashed her way through the puddles in the orange undergrowth, her mind was in a twirl; a thousand angry thoughts ran berserk, causing her to huff and puff as she plodded along.

Really?!  Gosh, did they really think she was going to tell the world she had received the best present, ever, before the Christmas Ball?!  Did they honestly expect her to be the one to spoil her own surprise?  What did they take her for, a dunce?!  Really!

She took a deep breath when she reached her spiked-roofed home, with several antennae reaching to the heavens.  She let out a sigh; no, she wasn't going to let a couple of giggly girls get to her.  She was going to be the star at the Ball and she could picture the grand entrance she will make, to the envy of everyone.  All eyes will be on her as she sweeps into the elaborately decorated hall.  She would be dressed in the gown stitched from the soft muslin that Pa had brought back from Earth.  The comet-jewel would be glittering on her plain black necklace.  Aye, that would be a dream come true, indeed!  She smiled, her lips curving upwards with a hint of a simmering glee that she tried her best to suppress.

She was a little early for dinner so she slipped past the dining room and went below into the crater to her room.  She jumped onto her wicker bed, and reached into her pocket.  She fingered the box for a few seconds before she drew it out.  She stared at the box, cradled in the palm of her hand.  Just then, she heard a hard rap.  Startled, she looked at the door.  Hurriedly, she pushed the boxed gift under her pillow and slid off the bed.  She turned the pearl handle on the leather door and peeped out.  There, holding a pot of mud, stood her youngest brother, Charmant.

"Oh, what do you want now?!" Haszie could hardly hide her impatience as she continued, "I am busy. Go!"

"Please, it will only take a minute, just a minute, not a second more, I promise.  In school, my teacher gave all of us beige mud for us to make presents for anyone that we choose.  And I thought Mama would love to have flowers like the ones you sculpted for school, you know, those shiny wild flowers, with minute petals that look like diamonds?  But I forgot how you make permanent glitter after you freeze the spring water.  Please, Hasz, puhlease?  Mama would surely love to have those for Christmas.  Will you show me how? Will you, will you, please?" Charmant pleaded.

"Charmy, you are so stupid!  I've got better things to do. Now, go away!" and Haszie slammed the door.  Charmant lowered his head to hide the tears that threatened to overflow and dragged his feet back to his room.

Haszie returned to her bed.  Sculptured flowers, indeed!  She had important matters to take care of.  What would a little boy know about the value of a comet-jewel.  She took the black necklace from the side-table drawer and the fast glue which was on the table.  She, then, retrieved the jewel from under her pillow.  She placed it on the necklace, shifting it from one position to another till she found a suitable resting place for it in the middle of the necklace.  It was then that she noticed something amiss.  She thought the jewel had lost some of its shine.  She lifted it and peered at it closely.  What were those brown, mouldy dots on the surface?  Did she drop it in the orchard?  She couldn't remember, but she must have.  There was no other reason.  She took the end of her sleeve and began to wipe it gently.  Just then, she heard her older brother, Zibar call out, "Dinner!"

Part Three will be posted on 13/12/2014

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