I'm a Big Kid

Still living in Antelope, I had a birthday. For some reason, turning 9 was a huge deal for me. It meant the difference between being a little kid and being a big kid. I was about to be a big kid! All I wanted for my 9th birthday was a new bike. I'd had a bike at the beginning of the Ranch, a nice one, but I'd loaned it to Geet ONCE and he left it in the middle of the road and it got backed over by a truck. Incidentally, this was not long before Pakhi, a girl slightly younger than me, was playing in the middle of the same road and got backed over by a truck. She was in the hospital for quite some time getting patched up.

Anyway, all I wanted was a replacement bike. It had, after all, been nearly two years since I'd had a bike. I dropped incredibly subtle hints to Sarv constantly, whenever I saw him. He had to go to Portland on one of his Donald Bluestone Lone Ranger Spy trips right before my birthday, but said he'd do what he could to come through Antelope on my birthday. The day rolled ever closer. This year Yasha had chosen a much more delicious flavor cake for her birthday two weeks prior to my birthday - white with whipped cream-and-strawberry icing. So of course that's what I was having too.

Nicky took special notice of my birthday. I hadn't been particularly close with him before that, but he seemed to be taking an interest in me nonetheless. I was living in Gorky, a small house at the bottom of the hill with Nicky (a different Nicky), Pramada, and Sanjay - three boys. Nicky (who later became Anshu, so lets just refer to him as that for now to avoid confusion) snuck into our house the evening of my birthday with at least twenty presents for me wrapped in tin foil. I waited patiently for my dad to arrive.

It got darker and darker and I waited and waited.

Finally, I heard his car pulling in behind the house. He came in with a few presents and we all sat down and began the celebration. We ate cake and I unwrapped each of Anshu's carefully wrapped presents - which included an apple and an old teddy bear and several other household items. I think he just wanted me to feel like I had a lot of presents to unwrap. Then I got to Sarv's presents: a book, a mad libs set, some other small trinkets from the Outside World, some candy. Then he said he had to leave. It was late and it was time for him to head back to the Ranch for a good night's sleep.

I think I couldn't hide the devastation on my face. I bit back tears and gave him a terse hug. He asked me to come out to the car to say good bye, so I followed him back fighting every emotion inside. He opened the trunk of the car and of course, I know you saw it coming, out came a nice shiny chrome and black BMX!

I'm pretty sure this was not the last time Sarv was able to fool me in this manner, but it is a lot harder to do nowadays. He does continue to try...