The Big Fat Pencil

The letters R and F were neatly cut into one of the sides of the biggest pencils you had ever seen. It was too fat to be held between a child’s short stubby fingers. But when held there, firmly lodged between thumb and forefinger, it extended way beyond the child’s elbow.

But R and F !! Were they the initials of the owner? If yes, then there were four contenders ......Rosemarie, Ryan, Rebecca and Ronald, siblings who all shared the Fernandes name. Well, that certainly helps! Now who did the pencil really belong to?

It belonged to all four of them. They were co-owners of the beloved pencil. How the pencil in question came into the household is not important but the fact was that there was only one pencil and there were four claimants for ownership. Sharing, inevitably led to squabbles, until Mom would intervene and confiscate the big fat pencil. Then it would be out of circulation for sometime, hidden away in her cupboard. It would be brought out again when one of the four children needed to be rewarded for a good deed.

This went on for some time. But with the joint ownership, none of the four RF’s felt particularly happy. They weren’t able to take it to school to show off to friends because that would mean getting permission from the other three. It was always a NO.

One of the four children hit upon a brilliant idea. This idea must have been inspired by the constant drumming of words by Mom that ‘Sharing is important’. And so it happened that three of the co-owners presented the Big Fat Pencil to the lucky fourth one on his birthday in May.
 “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” they chorused, extending the long, slender,brown paper wrapped package to the beaming birthday boy.

There were no prizes for guessing what the gift was but even after the birthday boy opened the gift, he ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ and thanked his siblings for such a wonderful gift.

Pleasures were simple in those days.

The gift in question came with some preconditions.
a) It was to be presented back to the sibling who had a birthday coming up next and
b) On no account was it to be used or sharpened to such an extent that there was nothing left for presenting.

The birthday boy accepted without question, happy that the big fat pencil was his from May to August. And thus the pact was sealed amongst the siblings.

Come August and the big fat pencil was once again wrapped in brown paper and fastened with rubber bands. Three smiling young children wished their elder sister a Happy Birthday. She accepted the gift with a blush and a smile.

Then came the October birthday and the whole happily planned event was repeated on the morning of the birthday. This was the birthday of the brother who loved to draw and sketch. So he was dutifully reminded by the other three that he mustn’t sharpen or use it too much. There wasn’t much chance of that however, because the next birthday followed immediately in November.

It was mine. 

I waited with excitement and anticipation the night before. I knew what my gift would be and that’s what made it so special.

On the morning of my birthday, I thanked my siblings and opened the brown paper wrapping with such wonder in my eyes that anyone would think it was the first time I set eyes upon the big fat pencil.

I was the luckiest because I got to keep the pencil the longest. It would be with me till May of the next year when the whole process of gifting would begin anew.

Years have passed and we have only memories that remain now. But the big fat pencil wrote such a strong bond amongst the siblings that even today a mention of it brings a smile to their faces. Surprisingly the pencil always remained big and fat. It never became a small stub. It was never sharpened unnecessarily.

As time passed and they grew up, the big fat pencil was forgotten. But the memory of those birthday mornings remains strong.
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