A Candy

Little Priya was fond of chocolate candy. The old man who loved the baby always gave her one whenever she asked for a candy. The relationship between the two was very close. They used to go for walks in the park, play games and spend a lot of time together. They were very happy in each other’s company. One day one of the neighbors told Priya’s mother that sugar candy was bad for the kids. It spoils the teeth and gives birth to worms in the intestines of the children. That day the simple mother who hailed from the hills decided to stop Priya from eating a candy.
As usual Priya asked for a candy after school but her mother told the old man, ‘don’t give her one. It is bad for her health’. The old man tried to convince her that there was no harm if Priya ate a single candy in a day but she would not accept his word for this. In the meantime Priya felt bad and cried and cried. This gave a very uneasy feeling to the old man who told the mother that he was giving a candy to the child just for ‘today’ as she might fall ill by crying too much. In the end the mother agreed.
By then Priya had cried so much that she had fallen asleep on the bare floor. When the candy was given to her she just held it in her sleepy hand and looked at it for a long time, then flung it away and went back to sleep. The old man who saw it all felt very bad, two big tears rolled down his eyes.