The Birthday

She knew she had very little time.. his birthday was only a few days away... his birthdays had never been celebrated grandly.. he had never asked for it, and no one had ever felt the need... considering that the only thing he spent money on were books and cassettes,he was never difficult to please if his birthday presents were any of the above... except for the occasional games or toys, much like his life, the presents he got were also routine, not that he was complaining... he was, well, like that...
but this time, she wanted it to be different, it was his 15th birthday, the one after his tenth standard board exams had got over, the first big hurdle in life... and she wanted him to celebrate it in a slightly better fashion than they usually did... and the first and perhaps only difficult task was convincing him.. because, although she was very strict about everything he did, lately she had understood he was growing up, and increasingly left his things to his judgement.. well, she was his mother, and knew what was best for him..
besides, she knew things he didnt..convincing him was difficult, for he was a shy child, with a handful of close friends, and ran away from attention of any kind, except for the ones which his extra curricular activities demanded.. for she was still very strict about that... and so he was trained in classical music, played in the cricket team,and was a member of the school quiz and debating teams... all of which he liked in a very matter-of-fact way...
all said, he was a very reluctant social animal...but she wouldn't have any of that.. with 2 days left, she forced him to accept the fact that he would have to invite at least 10 of his friends to celebrate his birthday.. the only thing which he could decide was the place...and so it was, that for the very first time he could remember, he was doing something more complicated than distributing sweets for his birthday..
but after all was said and done, he was happy, and grudgingly thanked her... and she in turn, thanked her god, for she had survived the day...but he doesnt like celebrating birthdays, because she died 9 days later..
until next time, some things arent forever...