Teeku's news 1

Teeku was finding it a bit hard to understand what his mum had told him that morning.

"You are going to have a younger brother, or a sister soon"! She had said this with a smile, sitting him down on her lap, and looking at him with great affection, but it had come as a shock to Teeku. 

Yes, in this house, another child?

A brother,  or a younger sister?

He was not sure, what she expected him to do in response, was it meant to be a surprise gift? 

AS on his birthday, a few months ago, she had told him, that he could choose any toy from the catalogue, and that he had done, yes, his two new trucks, 

And just last month, mum had told him that his daddy was going to paint Teeku's play room, and get a new bed for him, as he was a big boy, now, and could sleep in his big room, and that he could choose his favourite colours. And Teeku had told his mum that he wanted blue colour, a bright blue!

But today, when she told him about a baby, he didn't know what he could say.

She didn't give him a catalogue to choose a baby, she didn't even ask him, if he wanted a baby. 

He was confused, it was all so very different. 

Getting a new toy, or choosing a colour for your room, or getting a younger brother or a sister! 

So, he had run away from the kitchen, running to the backyard, going around the house, one, two, three laps of the garden, and then he had come back to the back veranda. 

He was feeling a bit sad, he thought, as he was feeling like crying. 

No, no, big boys don't cry, he knew, so he started to do his counting, loudly, one, two, three, four, seven, ten five.....he looked at his hands counting on his fingers! 

And soon he was feeling better, moreover, the day was too beautiful to waste being upset about something that he didn't even understand much! 

He decided to keep doing what he had been planning to do that day, set up all his things in his new room, so he went back to his room, yes, to his old room, the room adjoining to his parents' room. Most of his big toys had always been in his playroom, which was his new room now, but his other things, like his shoes, his clothes, and his bed side things, his bedtime storybooks, his yellow robin clock, his bed time companion, Orio, and his favourite blanket.

His mum had packed all this stuff in small cartons, and his father had said that he would move it all that weekend. But Teeku had decided to do it all by himself. He had wanted to show his daddy that he was a big boy. 

His books were in a separate carton, and his bed side things were in another. And Teeku sat down to find Orio, his black and white fluffy dog, with one eye missing. Orio had always comforted him, no matter what. And today, he needed to feel its fluffy neck right now. 

He found Orio, and his fingers went through Orio's long ears, to find its neck, and with one hand under his own head, Teeku lied down next to the carton, on the floor. He was feeling a bit sleepy!

Suddenly, Orio started to laugh, "It is so tickly, Teeku!" Orio said with a giggle, "Take your hand out, Teeku, you are making me so tickly"! Teeku was surprised as Orio had never said that before. They had always slept like this. But he took his hand out and sat down. 

Orio also sat down just next to Teeku, and with their backs leaning onto the carton, they started to talk.