Page 18 - My FlipBook

activities."

"So it seems like he was having a great time. He was happy playing Lego
with you and he was thrilled you introduced him to football. The rest was
just bad luck. You can't blame yourself for that. He wouldn't like to find out
that he was the reason you were so sad and grumpy all the time. He would
want you to be happy." Payal really knew how to comfort people.

Uh-Oh smiled through his tears. "Thank you for listening. I am sorry I was
so rude to you all. But seeing kids always reminded me of my grandson and
made me terribly upset. I thought if you hated me, you would stay away
and I would not be reminded of my grandson so much. I moved out of my
old house, because the memories were driving me crazy. I thought moving
away would help, but I just carried the memories in my head and every
little trigger made me sad again. Nidhi, my dear, I owe you a special
apology. When I saw that soccer ball, the worst memories came back to me.
I am sorry. I did not mean to frighten you."

Nidhi smiled. "Don't worry uncle Uh-Oh. Now that I understand, I forgive
you. I promise all is forgotten."

"Uh-Oh, what's that?" Uh-Oh looked puzzled.

Nidhi gasped and clapped her open mouth. The kids went on to explain
how they came to call him Uh-Oh. They looked worried as they explained,
but they needn't have. Uh-Oh burst out laughing and insisted they continue
to call him that and refused to tell them his real name.

As he was laughing, the door bell rang. Suresh opened the door and there
was Santa and Akshay. Santa winked at the kids and they smiled back.
Then Santa and Akshay had some tea and snacks with them and Santa
convinced Uh-Oh to start a Lego club for the kids and teach them the many
tricks he had figured out. The kids were thrilled and shouted hurray in
unison.

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