Zephyr

'Hello. There
Is No Alternative.' These were the exact words with which my niece
greeted me. I was baffled. What was she trying to say? 'So whats your
name sweety?' 'I already told you.', was the prompt reply. 'Sorry love
I did not get you.', I offered. 'Tina. It means There Is No
Alternative.' I was lost for words. Tina was my cousin's daughter. My
cousin and his wife had left on a business trip. Tina who had no school
at the moment was to remain in my care. She was just four years old and
had started school quite recently. Her parents had told me she was
naughty. That would be no problem I had told them. I am a school
teacher. Dealing with children is my job. And Tina looked really tiny.
Not someone you would associate with pranks. She is a girl I told
myself. Girls are quiet and peaceful. I believe I am a little out of
tune with the times.

The next morning I woke a little late. It was a Sunday. I had
reckoned that Tina would be asleep. I was wrong. She was at the dining
table having breakfast. The maid had helped her prepare the food. I
greeted her, 'Hello Tina!'. She shot back, 'Good morning, sleepyhead.'
When I was her age I could not have imagined saying what she had just
uttered. Nevertheless I asked her, 'So what do you want to do today?'
She was very prompt. 'I want to paint.' Thank goodness for that. I love
buying colours of alll kinds. I could offer her scented crayons, colour
pencils, water colours, oil paints anything. However she expressed a
desire to draw on a slate using chalk. I had that too. So Tina
commenced with her art. In fifteen minutes she came back to me and said
she was bored. I asked her to do whatever she pleased. She nodded and
went away. After about an hour the maid came running to me. She was
saying something that could not be deciphered. But I followed her to
the drawing room. And there it was. Tina had used sketch pens to draw
all kinds of things on the spotless walls of the cleanest room in my
house. She was about to draw a mountain above the sideboard when I
snatched the pen from her. 'Maybe you can go and play in the lawn.', I
advised. There was an empty perfume bottle at hand. Tina asked if she
could take it. I saw no harm in allowing her to play with it.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I should have known
better. Fifteen minutes later I got a call from my neighbour Mr Sen.
What he told me was unbelievable. Tina had used the perfume spray to
pour colour on her Dalmatian. The black-and-white dog was rainbow
coloured. Of course how Tina got the colour into the perfume bottle is
quite a mystery. She was so small I was afraid of even scolding her. So
I spent the rest of the day watching television with her. I was
thinking of going to work the next day. It suddenly occurred to me that
tomorrow was a holiday too. I was not sure that I was pleased. I spoke
to Tina. 'You like dolls?' 'No,', she replied, 'Teddy Bears.' I was
amazed by the clarity of the little girl's mind. I spoke to Mrs Sen.
Next morning she was only too pleased to lend Tina some of her adult
son's childhood teddy bears. They looked a little ancient but were
classy nevertheless. Tina seemed pleased to have them. She played with
them all morning. 
In the afternoon I took her to the zoo. She quietly
surveyed all the animals. However there was unexpected trouble. When
she arrived near the bear's enclosure she seemed stupefied. Then she
started wailing. She protested that the bear within was her teddy and
that she would take it home with her. I tried to explain that the bear
lived in the jungle and had been brought to the zoo from there. But
Tina could not be reasoned with. She wanted the bear and she wanted it
at any cost. In the end everyone began to think I was torturing the
little girl. It was the greatest embarrassment of my whole life.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The next day I called
Jon. Jon was an expert juggler and amateur magician. I thought he would
keep Tina humoured. I requested him to never let Tina go out of sight.
When I returned I found that Jon had made remarkable progress. Tina was
fast learning how to juggle. The juggling lessons went on for some
time. Seven days into her stay Tina decided that the cricket-balls that
she was now juggling were not good enough. She asked me to take her to
the nearby park. Once there we purchased ten balloons each of which
were as big as five watermelons. Back  home in the evening she was happy
juggling  with
ten balloons at one go. Man, what a megalomaniac.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Outer space is dark.
It has always been so. There are nine planets with their attendant
satellites. And there was Tina. Standing still in the vacuum of space.
But her eyes were intensely concentrated above her head. SHE WAS
JUGGLING. The most magnificent fit of juggling ever seen. She was
juggling no not with balls or balloons. Four year old Tina was juggling
the nine planets-Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto. And where was I ? Why was I not feeling tossed.
Before I could answer these questions my eyes suddenly opened. Little
Tina was sleeping peacefully on her cot. It was a nightmare after
all.