“Sshhhh! She’s coming,” whispered Maira, and the chattering turned into silence. Today was her mum’s thirty-sixth birthday and Maria had everything planned out very well.

Soon, dad helped mum come out from the taxi as she was wearing a blindfold.

“Surprise!” everyone shouted as dad took off her blindfold.

“Oh, how sweet of you all!” exclaimed mum, and then she noticed that she was standing at the harbour and there was her family in front of a cruise ship.

“Why are you all standing in front of that cruise ship?” she asked and pointed to the large Albatross Cruise, which was behind her family. Then her eyes caught the sight of luggage piled in a corner.

“What’s this all about?”

“Yes mum, we are also going to spend a week on the new island resort that has opened recently!” Ali, Maira’s younger brother, spilled the beans.

“Ali! Why did you tell her? Didn’t we discuss our plan?” huffed Maira angrily. Ali definitely could get her temper boiling in less than a second!

“Well, first of all, I am sorry. Second, I didn’t tell her everything,” Ali said, defensively. “There’s a lot more I can tell her…”

“Sshhhh!” said Maira, angrily.

They boarded the ship and, after settling down, Maira asked everyone to join on the dock as they would play a few games, followed by a treasure hunt conducted by her grandparents.

When they would be near the island, she planned to gather her mother’s presents and have a gift-opening session, which is a traditional session of present opening, followed by a speech by someone from the family.

“Okay, everyone, gather around,” Maira announced cheerfully. “All the games are ready. There will be a timer of 10 seconds. In that time, everyone will have to write a game on a piece of paper. Then, they will put all the pieces of paper in that bowl. We will shake the bowl and mum will randomly pick paper three times. Those three games will be played.”

In her mind, Maira thought that the only games coming into their minds in 10 seconds will be hide-and-seek, musical chairs and Simon says. And other games will be too long to write. She thought she was smart, but her family was even smarter.

All the pieces of paper were written and put in the bowl. Mum picked one piece of paper, opened it, and said it had ‘gun’ written on it.

“Who wrote ‘gun’?” asked mum.

“Oh, I wrote it,” said Ali. “It is a short form of ‘gun-fighting.’”

Maira was shocked, but asked, “Did you bring your play guns, rifles and bombs? I don’t think you brought them,” she said impatiently.

“I’ve brought them!” said Ali cheekily, waving a bulging bag in his hand. All Maira could do to not play was to come in front of her brother in the pretend battle and stand there till her brother threw a fake bomb at her, which meant she was out of the game.

The next piece of paper was picked, it was written by her sister, Sara, who was the youngest person in the family. The name of the game was ‘makeup’.

Maira couldn’t believe her ears. “Did you bring your make up?” asked Maira crossly.

“Oh, yes. Granny, where’s that case?” asked Sara.

“I have the case over here, Sara dear,” replied granny loudly, getting up from her seat.

Soon, Granny and Sara were salon stylists; Granny was doing the men’s hair and Sara doing the female’s facial work and hairstyles.

Maira sat in the corner, with a frown that made her wonderful hairstyle and fancy make up look useless.

Why was everything happening against her wishes, Maira wondered. She wanted to play traditional games, gun-fighting and make-up salons were usually played at her home, and they were not special. She was so lost in her thoughts that when the last piece of paper was picked, Maira had to be jolted back to the present by mum.

Grandpa had written the note, and it said ‘treasure hunt’.

“Grandpa, treasure hunt was supposed to played as a separate game after these games,” Maira protested.

“We are about to reach the resort, so why not speed things up?” replied grandpa.

“Uhh!” said Maria under her breath.

Grandpa and granny quickly collected some items and hid them. Then they took out some bags and baskets, and distributed them.

Then, granny announced, “Okay, everybody, the hunt is ready! The task is to find books on boats and ships,” she waved a book on steamships, “And, whoever collects the most will get a prize bag.”

Everyone fanned across the cruise, searching.

This game was what Maira enjoyed. Soon, all the books were collected and counted. Maira had collected a lot and was the winner! But granny took out the prize bags and handed them to everybody.

Maira opened her bag and saw it filled with candy and confetti to the top. “Granny, I asked you to fill them with jewellery, not with candy!” Maira said.

“Oh dear, the candy is easily available and what if a male member won, he would not like the jewellery, would he?” responded Granny, shrugging her shoulders.

Maira was having a hard time trying to take in all these events happening, but not as she had planned. She tried to put on a fake smile and go to get the presents for the gift-opening session.

She gathered her siblings and grandparents on the deck. Then she put on a special chair for her mother. It was time for the speech, so Maira was selected to give the speech. But, as Maira opened her mouth, Ali stood up.

“Hey, Maira, I want to give the speech too,” he said.

“No, you cannot,” replied Maira, an edge coming to her voice.

Mum sensed this and said softly, “It’s all right Ali, you can also give a speech.”

“Mum, can I give a speech, too?” asked Sara. Her mum nodded.

This was too much for Maira. She tore across the deck to one of the cabin rooms. She slammed the door and collapsed on the bed, weeping.

A few minutes later, her mum opened the door gently, to find Maira asleep on the bed. Her face was damp and she had dozed off, crying. Her mum saw her mobile phone lying on the bed, WhatsApp open. She had been texting her friend about the party which according to her was ruined. Her mother slightly touched her forehead and Maira opened her eyes immediately. Her mother hugged her and said

“It’s okay if things don’t happen the way we want them to happen, but despite all that, everything went perfectly well and everyone just loved the unique celebration, which only took place because you made it possible,” her mother said while Maira seemed to understand things.

She hugged her. Mum held her hand and brought her out to all the family waiting for them. Specially dad, who also had a little surprise for everyone!

“And now, it’s time for the fireworks!” he declared. Everyone shouted in excitement.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 13th, 2024