Sneaky & Smart – Prompt

This short story came to me based on a challenge from The Haunted Wordsmith.   The challenge was to write something based on the prompts:  boy, wrapper, unexpected.

Below is my contribution

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The boy considered himself to be sneaky.  Smart even.  He was strategic, a problem solver.  And tonight he would be put to the test.

He double checked to make sure his parents were both asleep.  He could hear his father’s snores echoing through the house.  That was the easy part.  Mom was a bit harder to confirm.  He snuck to their door and could see his mother lying with her arms thrown above her head, her legs propped up with a pillow under her knees and her chest rising and falling in a gentle rhythm.  The fact that she was not telling his father to roll over was another good indication that the coast was clear.

The boy tiptoed down the hall to the closet where he knew his mother was hiding the presents.  His presents!  He slowly opened the door so it would not creak and give him away.   As light from the bathroom shone into the closet, he saw the wrapper on the largest present sparkle and shine.

He quietly pulled out the box and sat down on the floor with it between his legs.  He carefully started to peel away the tape from the wrapper.  He was smart and patient.  It took him some time, but he finally peeled back the final piece and carefully set aside the wrapper so he could get a good look at the box.

It was plain and brown.  No markings to give away the surprise inside.  He took a deep breath and slowly lifted the flap on the box so he could peek inside.  It was exactly what he wanted and had asked for!!  He was so excited that a small squeal escaped from his mouth.  He looked around, not to confirm nobody had woken, but to share his excitement with someone else.  But he realized there was nobody else there for him to share this feeling with. They were all soundly sleeping just as he had wanted.  The disappointment was unexpected.

After a moment the boy re-wrapped the box and put it back in the closet where he had found it.  They would never know he had peeked.  He was a smart and sneaky boy after all.

The next day he sat at his kitchen table while his parents sang to him.  After they placed the shiny box in front of him.  It was time for presents.

He took the wrapper off the box and tried to act as excited as he had felt the night before.  He tried to act surprised.  It worked because he was a smart and sneaky boy.  They were so happy they had surprised him.  It was exactly what they had expected.

He was a smart and sneaky boy, a problem solver – they never saw the unexpected disappointment he felt when he had to put on the act.

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My hubby does not get this – but I REFUSE to look at presents in advance because I love the surprise and excitement of opening a present.  I love to watch others open presents as well and see the reactions they have when doing so.

When we were first married he bought me a present for Christmas, put it in a bag with tissue paper and then left it in the middle of our living room floor.  The living room floor of our tiny 480 sq ft apartment.  I refused to even pick it up to put it under the tree because I was afraid I might be able to guess what it was based on how heavy it was.  After about 3 days he finally put it under the tree so we no longer had to step around it.  And in the end, he knew me pretty well because he had weighted down the present (with boxes of shotgun shells) just in case I had caved.  He can be sweet at times!