A Birthday Present

RoboHen's heart was heavy. His mom had asked him to find the perfect present for his best friend, RoboPeacock, for her birthday, and he did not think he would succeed. Dear reader, she just had everything a peacock could want. Her grannie spoiled her, buying her golden feather clips and silver doodads, and RoboHen didn't think he could compete at that level of luxury.

There was nothing to do but get out his present-making machine. It had thirteen different settings, and it could make more than fifteen hundred presents in all. RoboHen felt his breathing steady as he made his selections. First, he chose a pleasant color he knew she would like - peacock blue. The next feature he selected was "fuzzy," and he smiled as he pushed that button. He gave the last button, which was very large, a healthy press, as he read the words "cold season" that ran across it. (It had been an extremely icy winter on the eastern side of the U.S., and this was not easy to forget.) RoboHen was very excited indeed to see the result.

The machine began to hum and whir and thump. The humming increased, and suddenly the machine shot out an interesting-looking product. It was a fuzzy peacock-blue sweater with leather patches on the elbows. It was beautiful, but RoboHen wanted one more present so RoboPeacock's birthday would be extra special, so he repeated the process and pressed the buttons again. Out came a gorgeous hat! When he gave it to his friend, all the people in the room gasped at its beauty, and RoboHen gained freedom from his own doubts and worries. He had thought he would be defeated by this task, but it took on new meaning for him as he started to think about what his friend would truly love.

Moral: When we think of others instead of ourselves, sometimes a difficult task becomes easy.