It was a sunny Thursday afternoon. My sister had invited her best friend over and she was playing with her in the garden while I sat in a chair nearby and read my book.

My sister’s best friend’s name was Anna and she had straight, long brown hair to match her light brown eyes. Today she was wearing a green top with matching pants and joggers. Anna was confident and had a very good sense of humour. She loved cracking jokes and pranking people. She loved to make up stories and the way in which she narrated them, one believed them despite the fact that they were completely bizarre. However, she was also very good in her studies and was very popular with both her teachers and friends.

My sister was the exact opposite of Anna and so it was a mystery how the two became best friends. Now Anna sat down on the grass with my sister, Pearl, beside her. Anna was tall for her age and Pearl short for hers, which caused Anna to tower over Pearl like a giant. Now Anna began one of her stories in her usual loud and jovial voice.

“You know our class teacher Miss Jenkins? Well, she has a daughter who is about six years old and is called ‘Diamond’. Miss Jenkins hit her once for getting poor marks in school and she fell against the wall at the other side of the room. Since then poor Diamond has been confined to her wheelchair. She goes to school in her wheelchair and her classmates make fun of her and taunt her. She would love to have someone to play with but, unfortunately, she is all alone and has no one to play with,” narrated Anna in a dramatic voice.

I smiled at Anna and shook my head at her, but my sister looked shocked. Her hair band which she wore to keep back her short, black hair, had fallen off and her hair was flying all over the place. Her bright green eyes that shone like emeralds widened in horror.

I shook my head at her, assuming that she was putting on an act and went back to reading my book. The next day in math class, when Miss Jenkins gave Pearl her book back after correcting it, Pearl summoned up all her courage and stammered “M-M-Miss Jenkins, I am sorry about your daughter. Perhaps, I could come and play with her sometime.”

Miss Jenkins looked confused and frowned at Pearl. Then she said, “I don’t have a daughter Pearl. Where did you get such a silly thought in your head? I am a Miss and not Mrs, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“B-B-But Anna said you had a six-year-old daughter who is in a wheelchair and …” Miss Jenkins was a kind woman with a good sense of humour and she roared with laughter.

“Oh, Pearl! Anna was probably just making up one of her silly stories.”

For years after, Anna teased Pearl about that incident, but Pearl had learned her lesson and never fell for one of Anna’s stories again.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 30th, 2020