THE RED PENCIL

Rahul was celebrating his birthday. He had just turned ten years and was having a large party for his friends and family. They had loads of fun and there were presents galore. Rahul’s uncle gifted Rahul a lovely pencil box. Rahul was thrilled because he loved drawing and writing and always got top marks in his class for it.

The pencil box had a red sleek pencil with a lovely point. The eraser was shaped like a toffee and gave out the most delicious scent. The ruler was flat and long and the sharpener was smart and shiny. They were all very happy to be a part of Rahul’s box for he took care of his things very well. All, except the red pencil.

The pencil thought no end of itself. “Look at me” it said proudly, “I am so sharp and pointy. I help Rahul write and draw beautifully. You all look just like ugly lumps lying around the box. You hardly do any work at all. It’s me that Rahul picks up first when he reaches out into the box.” It boasted.

“That’s not true” said the eraser, “I help Rahul correct his mistakes.”

“And I help Rahul draw lines beautifully” said the ruler.

“And if you have a beautiful point, it is because I help you” added the sharpener sharply.

“Pooh!” said the pencil, “You’d all be useless without me. I am the best. Rahul uses me the most. I am most important in the box….” and on and on went the pencil.

The others got tired of the vain pencil and tried to ignore it, but the pencil wouldn’t let them. Soon besides jabbing them with words, it began to jab them with its sharp point.

One day the eraser, sharpener and ruler had enough. They waited for an opportunity when Rahul would leave his box open and go out of the room and soon enough he did.

Rahul had an important assignment at school coming up, one that involved drawing a lot of maps and lines. One evening, he had opened the pencil box to do his work. Halfway through his work, his mother called him and he left his box open to go to talk to her.

Quick as a wink, the eraser, sharpener and ruler hopped out of the box and hid inside Rahul’s bag which was crowded with books.

The pencil saw them go and was pleased. Now it had the box entirely to itself.

Rahul came back to his room. At first he resumed his drawing without glancing at the box. Soon one of his drawings went a little awry. He reached into the box to erase the mistake but couldn’t find the eraser. In fact, he was surprised to see that he couldn’t find the sharpener or the ruler either. He looked around here and there but he needed to get on with his assignment so he continued with his drawing – puzzled over what happened to the eraser, sharpener and ruler.
It wasn’t very long before the pencil became blunt, but there was no sharpener to sharpen it. Rahul needed to draw a line and there was no ruler. He needed to erase whatever mistakes he made but there was no eraser to be found.

Rahul was very upset. “Oh! This is most annoying” He exclaimed. “What’s the use of a lovely pencil that is shiny and red when it is becoming blunt?” “What can I sharpen it with? Where is my eraser when I want to erase? How can I draw without the ruler? It is most annoying” He said aloud unhappily.

The pencil heard this and felt rather ashamed. It dawned on the pencil that Rahul was right. It needed the other three as much as they needed the pencil.

Then, mother called Rahul for dinner. Rahul shut the box with a bang. He decided to finish his dinner and do his drawings later and also to hunt of the other three which seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.

Once he was gone, the pencil called out to the eraser, sharpener and ruler.

“I am terribly sorry” it began in a small voice. “I realize now we are a team and need each other to work together. All of us are special in our own way.”

“Also,” it said, “Rahul who always took care of all of us is very upset. Please come back into the box” it pleaded.

The eraser, sharpener and ruler were pleased to hear this. They too missed being part of the box and gladly hopped out of the bag and hopped into the box.

When Rahul came back after dinner, he was surprised to find them all there. He rubbed his eyes and wondered if his mind played tricks on him. He quickly sharpened his pencil and set about his drawing using all the items in the box. He used the eraser whenever he had to and drew all his lines beautifully with his ruler.

All the drawings turned out very well now that he had all the items and guess what? When he showed it to his teacher the next day, he got top marks for his assignment.

As for the pencil, you can be sure it never bragged again and was pleased instead, to have three good friends to share the pencil box with.

Vidyas