Tamarind

Every Saturday I get to go with Ma to the Mackenzie house. I followed Ma while she did her chores – cooking, cleaning, mopping. She would let me help out whenever there were clothes to be dried, unbreakable dishes to be rinsed, or silver to be polished.

This Saturday was special because it was the day they would have all kind of things in there of different shapes and sizes wrapped in golden foils with colorful ribbons, in a large silver bowl. I used my imagination to guess what they could be this time. Could they be creamy sweets that melt in your mouth? Or chocolates! It could be cakes with pink, blue and yellow icing. Perhaps they aren’t sweets at all. Perhaps they are salty. What salty treats could they wrap? I couldn’t think of any. Only salty things that came to my mind were either too runny or too awkward to be wrapped in such dainty forms…unless they were Tamarind candies. But what would the Mackenzie family know of Tamarind candies. Ma told me they are from far west, the Mackenzies – a land where white fairies dwell…

They could be toys too. A soldier that marches forward and back when you press a button, or a doll that dances, a dog that barks and wags its tail, a teddy that laughs. I hope there are no figurines this time, like the one I got last year. You know the kind you’re supposed to admire from a distance? The kind that ended up in my mother’s tiny glass display case, which was too delicate and expensive to be touched? Ma said that’s what it was – a glass figurine of a dog.

I could see Miss Sally from the pantry where Ma was busy cleaning. Miss Sally was wearing a blue dress and she looked like a princess. I hope she won’t mind that I got her a rose again. Last year I promised her Ma’s Tamarind candies…but they got over. I hoped she had forgotten about it just like she had forgotten to open some of the gifts.

“It’s the thought that counts” Ma had told me. I don’t understand it. I would mind terribly if someone got me a rose on my birthday. That’s because I would also like toys on my birthday, just like Miss Sally gets on her birthday.

I wanted to get inside before the party got over, and all the cake too. I wondered when will Mrs. Mackenzie notice me and ask me to join the party, like she did last year. She was busy talking to someone with white hair. I kept looking and looking but she wouldn’t look towards me. Why do grown ups talk so much? Don’t they ever run out of words? I always do…especially when I’m with Miss Sally.

I looked at Ma, “Ma, can I go and give Miss Sally this rose?” I asked her.

She looked back at me, smiling sadly. I didn’t like it when she smiled sadly. It meant I couldn’t get what I wanted. “You’re not invited dear.” She said.

After a while, “Let’s go home now…we’ll have rice pudding for dinner tonight.” Ma said.

As she led me away from the door, I took one last look at the silver bowl. I hoped they were all figurines.

END