The Present
Eight hundred, nine hundred ..........and a thousand! Oh God!.....How am I going to make enough money for mother's birthday??Karen sighed. A regular college student, Karen had been trying to save money since a few months. She needed at least fifteen hundred bucks to buy a decent present for her mother Mrs. Collins. But today , when she broke her cache which was a small piggy bank, it only disappointed her, as she still ran short of money. "Mom's special day is just a few days away and I am still struggling to raise enough funds. What on Earth should I do??" Karen said to herself. Aggrieved, she trudged herself to the balcony and looked at the sapphire sky with anticipatory eyes, hoping that it would start raining cash and coins.
Down on the Thornhill street , she could see a crowd clustered around the famous 'Meals on Wheels', the tortilla-bestsellers, who had developed quite a fan following in the area since their inauguration. "These people might be making a fortune. Lucky fellows", Karen heard herself saying and suddenly something crossed her mind. "What if I go for a part time job?.....Even if I earn eighty bucks a day ....by the week's end, my pockets will be heavy enough," Karen thought. She totally adored the idea. Next she was brooding over the possible domains where she could try her hand and again 'Meals on Wheels' topped the chart. Without wasting much time she headed towards the tortilla shack owned by the Mexican couple, Mr. and Mrs. Redz. She was a bit tensed as she was not certain whether they would employ her, but soon she greeted a pleasant surprise. The Redz' were planning to start another food shack but in a different part of the city.For advertisement they'd decided to make colourful pamphlets. However at 'Meals on Wheels', they had enough errands to worry about so they hardly had any time to spend over the pamphlets. For them Karen had come as an angel in disguise. She was vested with the task of making atleast 100 pamphlets by the end of the week ,to which she'd happily agreed. After all they were paying her fifty bucks for this small task. She immediately jumped into action and even worked overnight to finish the pamphlets as early as possible.By next morning she was ready with the beautifully dabbed sheets of paper.The Redz' couldn't believe their eyes and praised Karen for the job done so quickly. They took no time to grant her with the well- deserved fifty bucks. Karen's happiness knew no bounds. This first achievement acted like a soup for her soul. Her confidence level had boosted up. She was now positive that by 16th April, she would have collected fifteen hundred rupees.
The celebration time didn't last long for Karen, as soon she was surrounded by the money concerns. She was so vexed with trying to make money that she couldn't pay attention to her lessons in class. Not even to the spicy gossips that her friend Lizzie had been jabbering since the last few minutes until she had said something about the history test that was scheduled for Monday, the following week. She told Karen that everyone dreaded the test as they were scared of the thick history book and were willing to do anything to get through the history hurdle. Karen beamed as she got another opportunity to earn. A nerd in class, Karen used to make easy notes for every subject and this was the time when her prestigious history notes could be of some use. So after class, it was announced that Karen would be selling her history notes. The idea was a big hit and Karen managed to collect another three hundred bucks. She had mixed feelings at the time. Happy with the assemblage, still the pressure of making more money haunted her and that too before the sixteenth day of April. She closed her eyes and tried to recall the elegant white kurti in the Atlantis mall that she'd planned to gift her mother for her birthday. Soon the price-tag flashed in her mind and she was reminded that a lot was left to be done.
After trying her hands at making pamphlets and notes it was her cooking skills that she decided to test. Karen's orange-coconut cookies were quite appreciated in her neighbourhood. When she'd made them for the first time , her neighbour, Mrs. Smith had all praises for her. She had asked her for a jar of the special cookies and had jokingly promised to pay if Karen shared the recipe with her. So anticipating to earn something, Karen decided to make a jar of the orange-coconut cookies. In the evening, she was at Mrs. Smith's doorstep with the cookies. Mrs.Smith couldn't stop thanking her and then asked the recipe. A bit reluctantly Karen told her the secret ingredients to make the perfectly puffed cookies. After some chit-chat it was now time for Karen to leave. She became tensed as Mrs. Smith had still not handed her the money. "She might have forgot her promise", Karen thought, and with a gloomy face started to leave, when Mrs. Smith tapped her on the back." Wait! You fulfilled your promise and now its my turn", Mrs. Smith said and took out a hundred dollar note . Karen had tears of joy in her eyes. She was now too close to collecting her desired amount.
Back at home , Karen sat counting her earnings. After so much hard work she'd filled her pockets with a whooping fourteen hundred and fifty. A meagre amount of fifty bucks was still left and her Mom's birthday was a few days away. She had to think of some other way and that too quickly. With so many thoughts clouding her mind she sat surfing on her laptop hoping to find something useful and it seemed that God granted her wish for in front was a site that allowed new authors to earn money by submitting articles paying a minimum of fifteen hundred per article. This amount they sent every week through courier. Karen without wasting any time opened up her collection of stories that she'd written during her holidays and started typing them. For the next five days , she used to stay awake late night typing her stories and submitting them. Days passed by and finally the much awaited birthday arrived. Mrs. Collins was struggling to wake Karen up. "Wake up dear, its eleven plus there is a courier for you"....the words had partially skipped her mouth when Karen jumped out of her bed and ran to see the courier. To her relief , it was a cheque worth fifteen hundred.
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