The Old Woman and the Gift

Wenchie

The old woman was asked by her friend, "Tell me what you want for your birthday! Let's do something fun!"

The old woman replied, "Would you like to know what I really, actually, truly want?"

"Of course!" exclaimed the friend.

So the old woman said shyly, "The thing I would like most in the world is for someone to help me clean my kitchen. The cupboards are full of mismatched dishes and old cans of food, there's years of grease in the grout by the stove, and two inches of ice in the freezer -- I need to defrost it, but I have nowhere to put the food. I just can't face it! But if I had a friend sitting there and telling me what to do, and helping me do it... It really wouldn't take very long."

The friend laughed. "Oh, come on, that's no fun! I'm going to take you out for a massage! You'll love it!"

The old woman did not enjoy the massage for a single second. She hated it. And she felt hatred toward her friend.