The boy jumped about, running away from his mother while she tried to feed him, and only when she started reading out a story that he did he (at first) start to slow down and pay attention, and then meekly sat down next to her with his mouth and ears open. The Seera (an Indian sweet dish) seemed to keep melting away in his mouth as the story filled his mind with detail, and bought a sparkle to his eye. He was five, and had started to need something more than Clifford the Dog to keep him seated in one place.
"Do you like the seera, child?"
"Yes, but it's not as good as what Pati..."(his mom's mom) "...makes. However its a great attempt mom, I think you've gotten the sweetness just right".
His mother smiled at the critique delivered in a thoughtful tone. She did learn how to make seera from her own mother, though she'd been more drawn to the sour and spicy dishes as a child. She started to wonder how many more bites her son would sit down with her for...
"Mom, when I grow old and have kids, you're going to have to make all of them seera, and make it nicer and nicer each time"
"All of them? Just how many children are you going to have?"
"I think 12 is a good number, 6 boys and 6 girls", he said.
His mother couldn't stop laughing at the thought, and proceeded to read him next chapter of the story. At seeing his demand smiled on, the kid turned his mouth away from the proffered spoon,
"Mom, you must promise!"
"Well, before that, don't you want to know the Katie is going to start going to school in the next chapter?"
Mothers have tricks, ranging from subtle distraction to outright bribery - the current story book seemed to fall into both categories. The kid's eyes widened as his mouth opened in surprise and fell silent.
A chapter later, once the boy had had enough to eat, the mother abruptly got up and said, "Its time for me to fix your brother some food, I'll be back, the next chapter is really good". She then walked into the kitchen, without any intention of walking back in the next two hours.
The kid waited as his brother was served, started to get irritated, but his mother seemed to be occupied every time he tried to drag her back. She managed to be on a phone call, in the bathroom, working in the kitchen. He was torn between the indignation of not getting the attention he wanted to what really was going to happen next in the story. Just as his mother had hoped, curiosity won the better of him as he slowly began to read. He managed two entire, narrowly typed chapters in three hours before he quietly curled beside the book and went to sleep. His mind had started to buzz with stories and the possibilities of getting more and more of them from books. Only then did his mother almost mystically appear, put a pillow under his head and blanket over him. As she was about to turn off the lights, she heard his deep slumbering breaths and said, "My son, we have a deal."
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Happy Mother's Day, ma :)
