The Pomegranate Girl

He counted the coins he had in his pocket. The few crumpled notes had already been counted and recounted several times over. There was no way he could afford it. Exasperated, he wondered why things had to be so costly, especially the things he wanted most. Frustrated, his anger turned to her. Why could she not like something much simpler, say for example, bananas? Bananas were not costly.

It all started few days ago. They were walking down the road and she suddenly saw a fruit cart passing them, and almost to herself she made a comment, “I love pomegranates.” He knew it was stupid, but that statement kept ringing in his ears.

He never knew how costly those damned fruits were till he causally walked over to the local fruit vendor in the nearby market. Being good at maths had its advantages. He quickly calculated the number of samosas and candies he would have to sacrifice over the next month to be able to afford it. “Promise”, he told himself, “next time mom gives me pomegranates, I will never say no.”

So on her birthday he actually bought it exhausting his savings wrapped it in a nice packet and went off to meet her.

Everyone from the class was there with expensive gifts brought with the money their parents showered on them. He gave a smirk and smiled at the idea of how he had saved his own money to buy her the birthday gift. She would love to have it. He knew that for sure. When he gave it to her with the small card that read, “I remembered. Not from my parents.” She laughed. He was on top of the world. But then he could not believe his ears. “Nice joke,” she said, “Get my gift to school tomorrow.”

Within an hour he excused himself and got out of the party, taking back his pomegranate. He was sure she wouldn’t even notice. Tomorrow he would ask mom to pick up something.

Birthday parties of your first crush can be an exciting, exhilarating or an utterly humiliating experience. Sometimes it does none of those things but just puts you in front of reality.

So as he ate the pomegranate that he bought for her, he realized good food like good advice should not be wasted on unworthy people :)