The Flower Prankster - an incident

I gently tip-toed across to the roughened red brick wall and stood very quietly behind it, so as not to create noise, like a predator creeping up on its prey. The wall was a tower-like structure just taller than me, enclosing scented red and white bedding flowers. I stood very quietly; holding my breath, making sure my mother could not see me. Then, as she stood midway in the garden between the yellow and white rose bushes, I very gently began climbing the wall. I placed one hand on the roughened stone edging and gently lifted myself onto the edge of the wall, staring mischievously at my mother’s back, and then with a great urge inside I shouted ‘boo’. My mother, surprised, turned toward me and gasped, I lost my balance on the wall and fell back but in the motion turned with my back toward my mother and toppled face first onto the paving stones beneath.

My mother ran toward me but by this time it was too late. The small paving stones soon became stained deep red as my blood splashed onto them. I cried with pain as my mother lifted me, muttering the words ‘Oh…god please let my son be ok’, and immediately took me inside, carrying with her my two reddened white teeth similar to the colour of the wall from which I had fallen. As she entered, I looked back toward my landing spot and cursed it for being there, thinking that if the ground had been softer, I wouldn’t have had such a sudden dramatic ending to my prank. Once inside, she took me straight into the kitchen and placed a towel drenched in cold water onto my mouth and held it tightly with one hand, whilst using her other hand to dial a telephone number. ‘Rajhi, betha has fallen and both of his teeth have come out…please come home quickly’, she said. A quarter of an hour passed and by this time my mother was frantic with worry as she held me in her arms  stalking the room from left to right. The lock on the front door turned and my father shouted ‘Rani, where’s betha?’ my mother replied, ‘Rajhi, chalo we need to go to the hospital’. She left the room, taking with her the two teeth.

As we entered the grounds of the hospital car park, my father asked, ‘Why didn’t you ring for an ambulance instead of calling me at work…you could have got to the hospital sooner’, my mother replied ‘Rajhi, I don’t know, I just wanted K.V. to be ok’, I could sense that my mother at this time was about to break into tears as she left the car and ran into the Accident and Emergency Department. ‘Madam, what’s wrong with the child?’ asked the receptionist, ‘My son fell and he is bleeding from his mouth’ my mother replied, showing the receptionist the two bloody teeth. ‘Ok, if you wait a while in the waiting area, I’ll get one of the nurses to take a look at him’, said the receptionist.

We waited for a while and by this time my father had come in also, ‘What did reception say?’ my father asked, ‘She said to wait to see one of the nurses’, replied my mother. ‘Madam, can you bring him this way please so we can take a look at your son’, my mother walked toward the nurse and frantically began to explain how I fell from the wall. ‘Madam…madam…I know you are worried but I can assure you we shall do the best for your son’, the nurse explained as my mother very carefully placed my helpless body onto the bed and stepped back. My mouth felt sore, as though somebody had placed salt in my mouth. I began to cry and my mother hugged me again. The nurse then explained that nothing was wrong and that only a few stitches would be needed. This brought about a calming in such a tense moment for my parents and myself. A few weeks passed and my wounds began to repair, which brought a sense of relief to me as otherwise, it was increasingly difficult to pronounce particular syllables and letters, without the frequent annoying lisp.