Truth be Told Pranker

I look to see for whats its worth when he called out to me," Aunty! Aunty!"

Maldo is always pranking the adults in the house so we all got used to him. I remember one afternoon while his mom was at the back of the yard roasting breadfruit on the outside coal stove, Maldo ran up to her hysterically screaming "oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Mommy there's a lizard on the back of your shirt! His mom being afraid of lizards, frantically jumped up and stepped into the burning coal fire where the breadfruit was being roasted and hurt herself.

Of course, this was one of Maldo's prank which caused a great deal of panic and anger that afternoon. He seemed remorseful and penitent at the time; however, that was short lived. He seemed to enjoy every moment of his pranks never mind the frustration they caused.

There were 8 of us living in the family house. Our mom and dad, my sister and her family of four. Maldo was my nephew the second of two kids for my sister. He was 10 years old and weighed about 98 lbs. He was funny, witty and had a great sense of humor. He wore a wide grin every time you saw him as if his cheeks were frozen in time. His older sister Anna is usually annoyed with his pranks as she said he was just rude.

One morning as they were getting ready for school Maldo threw a rubbery looking toy that looked exactly like a frog at her while she was in the bathroom. She ran out of the bathroom screaming and Maldo just went into a fit of laughter. He thought it was funny but Anna on the other hand scolded him and thought he was mischievous and rude. My sister was upset at first and scolded him, but laughed at how Anna ran out of the bathroom screaming.

Because of the nature of him to prank, the family second guesses every truth he tells. When Maldo, shouted Aunty, Aunty! I just never paid much attention. Truth be told, I thought he was just trying to get off with another prank.

I closed the door behind me and there he was buckling to the floor bawling as I walked away from him saying 'not this time buddy'. But he continued with such agony, that I turned back to repeat myself. When I went over to him he looked up at me bawling with bulging teary eyes and snorty nose. Oh my God! You're actually crying! What's wrong with you now? He rolled over and cried even harder and muttered in pain - "my finger got caught in the door when you were closing it". How did that happen? He continued to bawl without reply.

I stooped, reached out and pulled his hands from underneath his buckle of pain. I looked at his fingers bruised from the obvious squeeze in the door. I felt sorry for him. This was not a prank it was real.

I got up quickly and went to kitchen and grabbed a cup of ice and straightway placed his fingers in. He slowly stopped the bawling and held on to my arm. After some time had passed he turned to me and said , thank you Aunty. You're welcome sweetheart! and I'm sorry for what happen to you.

Maldo confessed that he was actually creeping up behind me to throw one of his rubbery insect toys on my shoulder to frighten me as I opened the door. Unfortunately, as I closed the door he held on to it and got squashed.

I smiled when he told me and he smiled back with a wide grin.

"Do unto others as you would want them do to you"