A Cheeky Friend

• Mai Anh Sultani, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2022

I stretch myself out on the warm sand, relaxing under the shade of a coconut tree. I hear seagulls squawking and the splashing of waves against the shore, creating ripples in the ocean. Sparrows chirp merrily like a choir of tiny voices singing to each other. The wind blows light breezy gusts of wind around, moving leaves around in a dancing circle. The beach is amazing today. “Kiddo! Wake up! School time!” Suddenly, a voice speaks, ruining my dream.
“Mum, there’s no school on Sunday,” I replied, and went back to dreaming. Until the sunlight crawled under my blanket and brought me back to reality, my stomach growling in hunger.
I go out to the kitchen to have breakfast. The house is empty, and it seems that nobody’s home. I see a note on the fridge, saying,
Honey, we’ve gone to an emergency meeting in our company. Don't forget to feed our cheeky Sanh and change his water. See you in the afternoon,
Mum and Dad.
I shrug and continue eating. “Kiddo! Wake up! School time!” I raise my eyebrows in confusion. If Mum and Dad are outside, then who was that? I gulp and go to get a weapon - a pan - to fight the stranger. I search the room from bottom to top, checking for any signs of people. Suddenly, the voice speaks again. The sound had come from the backyard. I dash outside and bang the pan against my hand, telling the person to come out. The strange thing was no-one was there. A shiver runs down my spine. Maybe there really isn’t anyone here. I sit on the floor, shivering. Then as I look up, Sanh stares at me. “Kiddo! Wake up! School time!”
As I look at Sanh, anger rises in me, and I feel like a fool. It turned out that he was the one pretending to be Mum. Though, it wasn’t surprising that Sanh was the culprit. He is my number one enemy and happens to be Mum’s shadow. He follows her to the kitchen, stays on her shoulder when she waters the garden and even knows how to dob on people, even though he couldn’t speak. And his favourite person to dob on, his enemy, was me. When I didn’t give him food or when I teased him, he used his innocent façade to get me in trouble. He would get Mum and point at me with his orange beak, and Mum somehow understood him. And now that I was the only person home, he seemed to have learnt some new skills - mimicking Mum. I looked at him and rolled my eyes. Suddenly, an idea came to my head. I could use his talent to trick Mum. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have to deal with his dobbing. It was worth a shot. “Mum!” I cried. “Mum, I need you!” I smiled slyly.
“Mum, I need you!” Sanh repeated. Oh, yes, I thought. This was going to be great.