“Grandpa,” Bobby looked at his grandfather.
“Yes?” Grandpa put down the newspapers on his lap. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Sharon. She’s always picking on me.” He pouted.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does she do then?”
Bobby described how his erasers kept going missing and pencils being broken. He had caught Sharon taking his ruler that Mom had given him for his birthday. He got it back only when he told his teacher. The next day, he got kicked under the desk when he sat beside Sharon during recess.
“It’s no use telling Mrs Toh,” Bobby wailed. “I’ll only get more kicks from her!”
“Let’s try something, shall we?” Grandpa told Bobby his plans.
~~~
Mrs Toh was handing out the printed outlines of the animals found in the zoo. Everyone wanted to choose their favourite animal. “Mrs Toh! Mrs Toh! I want the zebra!” Quite a number of them wanted the zebra. Mrs Toh sighed inwardly, “I knew I shouldn’t have printed it.”
“Class, settle down.” She stopped, clutching the papers tightly in case one of them snatched the papers when she wasn’t looking. The children took five minutes to stop shouting at her and their classmates. She surveyed the class and announced, “You’ll get to choose when you have answered by questions.” A collection of groans were heard.
“Do you want to colour your favourite animals or not?” She said severely. They sat up and looked at her expectantly. “Now, raise you hand only when I finished the question and answer only when I tell you to. Understand?” The sea of heads nodded earnestly.
“First questions, what has spots on its body and a long neck?” A hand shot up. “Mark.”
“Giraffe!”
“Good! You get to colour the giraffe.” As more animals were given, Bobby was anxious. He wanted the kangaroo and knew that Sharon would probably try to wrestle it from him. When the question came, Bobby’s heart nearly stopped. The answer was kangaroo and no one hands were up. Did he dare? He tried his luck and put up his hand. “Bobby.”
“Kangaroo.” He was handed the picture. However, to his horror, Sharon was sitting in front of him, he hadn’t noticed that before. She held the paper tightly, refusing to let go. Mrs Toh had noticed it and looked at her.
“Sharon, that is for Bobby.” Sharon gave it to Bobby stony faced. There was some resistance. Not wanting the paper to be torn, Bobby let go. Surprised by the release, Sharon fell back. She would have hit her head on the table if not for Mrs Toh’s quick reflexes.
“Mrs Toh, I…” Bobby was stricken.
“It’s okay, Bobby,” she smiled in assurance, turning to Sharon her tone changed, “I want to talk to your mother later.”
After the class, Sharon was made to stay. If looks could kill, her dagger stares would have done the job for her as Bobby walked past her. He shuddered at the thought. His heart lightened when he saw Grandpa.
“Grandpa!” He ran to hug him.
“So, how did it go today?”
“Well, Mrs Toh wants to talk to Sharon’s mother.” Grandpa raised his eyebrows and Bobby told him about how Sharon had nearly hit her head.
“Let’s talk to her mother, shall we?” Grandpa smiled. Bobby wasn’t sure about it but if Grandpa was going to do it, then he should be a man about it too. They proceeded towards the classroom where Sharon and her mother were in.
“Mrs Toh, I’ve been very busy lately and Sharon has been rather quiet since,” at this, Sharon’s mother swallowed a lump. Mrs Toh placed a hand on her, not saying a word. Dabbing at her eyes, she continued, “I’m sorry that Sharon has been causing so much trouble here. It’s just that I can’t afford a maid and there’s no one else to look after her when I’m at work.”
At this, Grandpa interupted, “Excuse me, maybe I can help.” He smiled at them, “My grandson here is lonely sometimes. Maybe Sharon can come over to our place sometimes to play with Patch, Bobby, is that ok?” Bobby stared at Grandpa, strickened; let Sharon, the terror to handle Patch?
“Who’s Patch?” Sharon asked suspiciously.
“My hamster,” Bobby was almost whispering.
“You have a hamster?” Sharon sounded wonderous. “Mommy! Can I go there now?” She was excited. Finally, there was someone with a hamster which she always wanted to own.
Bobby felt sick in the stomach. However, there was nothing he could do but pray that Patch was going to be in good hands. With that settled, they set off towards Bobby’s home.
~~~
“He’s so cute!” squealed Sharon. Her mother smiled, Sharon had been very quiet at home and this was the first time since she last talked so animatedly. Bobby was still worried about Patch but when he saw how gentle Sharon was with him, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Grandpa was having tea with Mrs Toh while the children were having fun with Patch. Bobby was trying to teach Patch to run through the maze that he had built. Sharon was laughing at his attempts.
“Well, if you can do it, you get to play with Patch after school tomorrow,” Bobby challenged her. Sharon stuck out her tongue and proceeded to teach the curious hamster.
When Mrs Toh finally said that they had to go home, Sharon was still trying to push Patch into navigating the maze. “Sharon, time to go home,” her mother spoke.
At that moment, an amazing thing happened. Patch was sniffing and moving around the maze as Bobby had hoped for!
“So,” Sharon said softly, “Can I come tomorrow?” her eyes were twinkling. Bobby sighed inwardly and nodded his head. He would be the talk of the class if he didn’t keep his promise.
