“I will make their heads spin,” I said relaxing in my chair with my thoughts making me excited.

It was a day which I had been waiting for. It was the party which was going to be a blast of surprises. I had invited my friends to a party. Right above the entrance I had placed a small bucket and attached a rope. The surprise was inside the bucket. As soon as I heard the sounds from outside the house, I knew my ‘guests’ had arrived. They rang the bell and I opened the door.

Fauz, Umar and Bilal jumped with fear because the moment they stepped in, the bucket turned upside down and lizards dropped on their shoulders. They were hysterical.

“They are rubber lizards, guys!” I said and all of us laughed.

“Cool surprise on the entrance dude!” Umar said as he shook my hand. Their eyes were glistening with excitement.

“What is the plan for today?” Fauz asked, with his hands still trembling from the welcome he had received.

“We’re going to an amusement park!” I said

My friends and I got into our car with my parents and we raced towards our destination. We first darted towards the Dodging Cars but my friends were clueless about the whole ‘Dodging cars’ process, mechanism, acceleration and rules. I became their driving instructor and explained to them where the accelerator was and how it worked.

“We get it,” Bilal shouted like it was kindergarten stuff. I shrugged my shoulders and sat down in my car. When the whistle blew, the violence began.

“Did you get it, Bilal?” I shouted repeatedly as I banged my car full force into his motionless vehicle. I could see his eyes growing wide. Fauz and Umar were so entangled by the mechanisms of their own cars that they forgot to drive, or dodge the other drivers. When the action came to a dizzying end, Omar, Fauz and Bilal were gazing at the cars as if they had just been in a train wreck. But they were crazy enough to plead for round two.

I have seen that Dodging Cars literally knocks all sadness out of its passengers. By the time my friends had gotten the hang of things, it was the fifth round. When we got out of our cars grinning from ear to ear, the rain welcomed us.

“This rain pelting could be a pretty good sign for us!” Omar said.

“Yeah, it’s time for your annual shower dude,” I said. Omer shot me daggers with his eyes.

“I was joking, man,” I said and grabbed his shoulder and we sprung into the middle of the ground and began dancing in the rain. Just then I saw my father walking towards us with a bag around his shoulder. He unzipped it and out came a brand new cricket bat, wicket and ball. We jumped with delight.

We played in the rain till it was dusk and our clothes were dripping with mud. Every moment I spend with my father and my old friends was a party. It took us 90 minutes to get to my house because of the traffic jam arising from the rain and the kicker was that Omar, Bilal and Fauz’s parents had shown up in their respective cars.

Omar handed me a present box. Then all three drove away with their parents. I went to my room and opened the present excitedly. A bullet of spray shot at me, drenching my entire face with paint.

‘What! They have decided to fight fire with fire… eh? Nice revenge!’ I thought with a laugh.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 3rd, 2016