The Day Waffles Spoke

by Pavithra Nair

     I woke up from sleep rubbing my eye and found myself on the floor. I only had one eye because I lost my other in an accident. I perceived that my owner had kicked me down. She wouldn’t do it on purpose as   she loves and cares for me a lot. She shares everything with me, all her tears and happiness. If anything bad happened to her, she would immediately run to me and cry on my shoulder. She has that little devil’s laugh which very adorable. She basically brightens up my day! 

The little chatter box talks to me all day, not even giving me a little gap to breathe and understand what she is trying to say. It’s both cute and annoying at the same time, and I desperately want to respond to her because in our world I am exactly like her, a blabber mouthed and playful teddy. If I were a human we would make a really great friendship that would last for long.

To be honest, I can talk and have feelings too, but in every doll’s life  it has only one chance to talk to their owner, but no one knows how long it will last. May be you could only speak a word or you will only get a minute and I have been yearning for that very day to come. But in that very minute I should let her know how much I love and care for her.

Thinking of all these, I looked at her, who was rolling like a pig in mud as she couldn’t find me on the bed. I slowly got up and laid on the bed, and as soon as she felt my presence, she squished me like a marshmallow. I felt suffocated and started breathing heavily and began to coughing. At that very moment, she got up and sat on the bed and looked around and then at me. She saw me coughing and was dumb struck! She was knocked out of her socks! I realized what I just did and gave her a nervous smile.

‘Waffles, did you just cough and smile at me?’ She shouted.

I was also surprised at her reaction and asked her, ‘Kid, did you hear me? Did you? Did you?’

She just stood there with her mouth open as wide as a cave and with eyes which would pop out any second. She then pinched herself to check whether she was dreaming, but she wasn’t.

‘Waffles, you can talk?’

I nodded and recognized that my time was here. I jumped in excitement and started running around the room. I shook her but she still had the same surprised look.

“Look kid, what you are seeing now is absolutely real. I know it’s shocking and unbelievable but we have no time to waste. Now let’s go, have some fun!’ saying this, I pulled her so that we could go to the park.

She came along and on the way she asked me a lot of questions like why I hadn’t talked to her all these years and where I had been till then. I explained her everything and she just nodded. We were playing in park but I noticed that she wasn’t as joyful as she was initially. I approached her and asked her what had happened. She looked at me with teary eyes and then said she didn’t have much time left.

 'So you will leave me any second? Can’t you stay forever with me like this and I would the happiest kid in the whole world.'

I let out a sigh and replied, ‘Look kid, don’t worry, I will always be by our side even if I don’t talk to you. I will always be here to listen to your stories, you will always have my chest to sleep on and I promise we will laugh, cry and experience everything together. I have waited for this moment to come for a very long time, just to thank you for cosseting me all your life , just to tell you that if you don’t have anybody and if I won’t be able to talk to you also, I will be here for you. I just wanted to tell you that I love and care about you as much as you care about me, and without you my life would be worthless’.

She hugged me and now we both were crying. Finally, I gave a small peck on her cheeks and I froze. She called me many times, I replied but she couldn’t hear me. I knew my time was over. She rested her head on my shoulder and said,’ I am really lucky to have someone like you beside me, I love and will love you forever!

I gave a little smile and said ‘I love you too, kid’.

🔆

(Pavithra Nair is a grade 8 student in Indian School, Al Ghubra, Muscat. She is a fine Bharatnatyam/Mohiniyattom/Kuchipudi dancer, and a huge fan of K-pop band, BTS.)