It was Hamad and his twin sister Maria’s birthday party that evening. All their close friends and some classmates were invited. Their parents had arranged a fun-filled event in the lush green lawn of their house, decorating it with sparkling lights, fragrant flowers and colourful balloons.

Among their class fellows invited was ten-year-old Farhan. He was impulsive, uncaring and impolite, who hardly missed a chance to make everyone’s life miserable with his rude and rash behaviour. In his presence, no one could relax and do something good.

A large table was placed right in the middle of the lawn, full of delicious food items and a lot of tasty juices for all the kids and guests. Two glittery candles, signifying eleven, were shining on a large cake.

“Let’s cut the cake, dear kids,” said their father.

Hamad and Maria were holding the knife together, Maria with her right hand while Hamad with his left.

Just then their grandfather, standing a few steps away, interrupted, “No son! Do it with your right hand!”

He smiled and changed his hand, then they blew out the candle and cut the cake, with a loud applause and the birthday song in the background. Hamad and Maria were very happy to receive so much love and appreciation.

The cake and juice cups were being served to everyone, the atmosphere was jubilant and everyone was enjoying. Their class fellow Hamza was talking to Ali, when all of a sudden, someone jolted them and Ali lost his balance and fell straight on Hamza. As a result, the plate in his hand, full of food items, fell on Hamza and then both fell on the ground.

The dresses of both the friends were completely ruined with stains of juice and oil. They both looked back angrily and found Farhan, who had bumped into the boys, laughing at them. Instead of being embarrassed, he was making fun of them.

“What is this Farhan? Look what have you done!” Hamza said angrily.

“Hey everyone, look at Hamza’s and Ali’s clothes!” Farhan pointed out and started giggling again.

“Why are you always running around so recklessly? You keep hitting and hurting people!” Ali pointed out.

“Oh come on! That was just a slight bump. Now if the plate slipped off your hand, it is not my fault!” he replied arrogantly.

Ali got angry on his answer, “Shame on you!”

“Calm down! Don’t talk like this,” Hamad’s father saw the quarrel escalate and tried to intervene.

Hamza and Ali became quiet, but their mood was completely ruined.

“I must go home now. Mum will not be happy to see how my clothes are ruined,” Hamza said looking at his shirt.

Hamad started regretting inviting Farhan to his birthday party as he was ruining his party and friends’ moods.

“Listen Farhan, if something happens unintentionally, it is a different thing. But if you do something deliberately and cause trouble, then you must apologise to them for it,” Hamad’s father tried to convince him.

Then he asked Hamad to take them to the bathroom and lend them his shirts to change into so that they feel comfortable. Both friends reluctantly agreed and followed Hamad.

While Hamad took his friends to his room, Farhan started teasing the other children at the party. He took snack from a boy’s plate and made annoying faces when someone would look at him. He then started running in a criss-cross manner, during which he collided with a toddler, and then bumped into other children, resulting in a lot of mess. Everyone was irritated by Farhan.

Meanwhile, Hamza and Ali changed into clean shirts and made their way out to the lawn when they saw Farhan rushing towards them. He had a naughty grin on his face as he was hiding a soda bottle in his hands, intending to open it on them. However, just when he was about to reach the friends, he stumbled on the raised floor that joined the lawn to the entrance of the house.

A loud thud followed a scream. Farhan had a fall, face down on the portico floor.

“Are you okay?” Hamad asked anxiously, while leaning close to him.

“It’s hurting. I think it’s broken,” Farhan was moaning holding his leg.

Hamad’s mother, who was a doctor by profession, ran to the boy. She checked him thoroughly and provided first aid. No bone was broken, but he had ruptured his leg muscles, and one of his lips had a tear, so some blood came out, which Hamad’s mother cleaned and applied ointment on. He was prescribed bed rest.

Farhan had been punished for his mischief and negligence. He wished he had obeyed the advice of Hamad’s father on time, so that he could have avoided the trouble that he landed himself in, but it was useless to regret now.

“Guys, I’m sorry…” said Farhan in low voice while looking at his friends.

“Oh, just relax and I will get you something to eat,” Hamza offered, extending his arm to support Farhan, who was limping.

The children continued with their party and enjoyed themselves, with Farhan resting on a lounge chair, watch all the fun.

He realised how ill-behaved he had been. He now knew that it was more fun to be the reason for others smiling than to annoy them.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 3rd, 2023