The Prickly Boy

“The Prickly Boy” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Narayani Shankar, Sri Vijay Vidyashram New Campus Bagalur, India.

The Prickly Boy

There was a naughty boy named Carter who used to do a lot of mischief wherever he went. His mother was a gardener. She liked gardening so much. Whenever a sapling came, Carter used to pluck it. In school, he used to make jokes and would laugh just like a buffoon in a circus. He used to steal many things especially stationary items and disturb every pupil in the class. He was like a bandit who stole gold. He had a younger brother named Franklin who was just the opposite of him. Franklin’s teacher used to give a stamp every day since he was the best student in class. Carter and Franklin were studying in the same school. In their school, there was a rule that if you get thirty stamps, you will get to choose a gift from the treasure box. Franklin would get many gifts, but Carter would not even receive one. So, Carter would get anxious and used to squeal to his brother to give him a gift. First, Franklin would not agree to him, but his mother would tell him to adjust (as usual).

When Carter arrives home, he'll go to his mother's room and would lie that he was going to help his mother in watering plants, but instead he would be pluck out the plants. His mother told him almost a billion times to change his bad attitude, but he would never listen. So his mother wanted to teach him a nice lesson. That evening, when Carter came home, he put down his bag and settled on the sofa. Meanwhile, his mother planted some rose plants in the front of the garden, so Carter's attention would focus there. Carter stood up, yawned, stretched his body and went outside to look at the garden.

As Carter came out, his eyes were focused on the rose plant. As he went to touch the rose plant, his mother warned him, “Don't touch that plant, you will get poked”. But Carter thought that it was a prank. He went close to the rose plant and plucked it. The moment he touched it, he screamed with terror. His mother ran and asked him, “What happened? Why are you screaming? Are you okay?!” However, Carter did not open up his mouth, and was crying. His mother was terrified when she noticed the thorns in Carter's hand. His mother told him that she would remove the thorns. Carefully, she took out all the thorns. Then, Carter's mom said, “ I hope you have learned a nice lesson today”. “Yes, I have,”Carter said. “Thanks a lot, Mom.” He spoke in a true manner as all the bad melted and the good had returned.