THE BEGINNING by Amjad Prawej

Enter Husband and his pregnant Wife.  The Husband is carrying shopping bags.

Husband: Careful now. (Makes her sit) There you go. Shall we? One more time? Please.

Wife: Raj!!

Husband: I know, I know, we just bought them. But I am too excited. I am going to be a Dad.

Wife: Ehm..

Husband: And you will be a Mom of course. (Pointing the shopping bags) So... Shall we? Please!

Wife: OK.

Husband: (Takes out a little pink outfit) Look at that.

Wife: Aww.

Husband: (Painting a picture) Imagine, pink curtains, light pink walls and a medium pink cradle. And our little angel in this beautiful pink outfit. What do you think?

Wife: It will be fantastic. And when she is a little older, we should get her a little bed with soft pillows and floral bedsheets.

Husband: (Takes out a Barbie from the shopping bag) And then she can play with her Barbie! Do you think she will like it?

Wife: Of course she will. Girls love Barbie. I had a barbie myself when I was a kid. She can wash her clothes, comb her hair and feed her too.

Husband: We will get her a doll house, even better,  I will build one!

Wife: With your office and work, when will you have time to build one? We should buy one.

Husband: You are right. We should buy one. I can't wait to see her play with it. Decorating all those tiny rooms with cute little furniture and dolls. It'll be so exciting!

Wife: Yes. And we should get her a tea party set as well.

Husband: The ceramic one. I think I saw one at the Central. It comes with a pink attache case.

Wife: Perfect. And when she is old enough I shall teach her everything I know. Sewing... stitching...

Husband: And that embroidery stuff. You are so good at it you know. I think you should teach her

that as well.

Wife: Of course I will. She will learn everything a girl should know. She will be a perfect girl. (The baby kicks) She kicked! She kicked.

Husband: (Feels the belly) She did it again. Hmmm, maybe I should teach her how to kick football.

Wife: What? Hello! She is a girl. Girls don't play football. At the most you can teach her how to play Badminton. That's all. I don't want her becoming a tomboy or something, do you?

Husband: No, of course not. I want her to be a cute little Princess.

Wife: Yes, our Princess. We should send her to dance classes for sure.

Husband: Ballet, that's for girl right?

Wife: Definitely.

Husband: Singing?

Wife: Yup.

Husband: Art classes.

Wife: O yes. She should certainly learn drawing, painting and sketching.

Husband: And cooking classes!

Wife: What? No!

Husband: (Confused) No?

Wife: Certainly not. I will teach her myself. I can teach her better than any cooking class. Don't you like the food I cook?

Husband: Sure I do. You are the best. No matter where I am, I always think about your food.

Wife: You do?

Husband: Of course. I think it is the best if she learned cooking from you. What is important is that she learns it.

Wife: And she will. She will learn all my secret recipes. I will teach her exactly the way my mom taught me. And she will teach her daughters.

Husband: A tradition! (Sits by her side) I am so lucky to have you. My perfect wife.

(She rests her head on his shoulder. He Giggles. Giggles again.)

Wife: What?

Husband: (Realizing) Oh, it's the phone on vibrating mode. (Answers) Hello? Yes... Oh... OK... I see... No problem... Thank you. (Disconnects) That was Dr. Kumar's office. They made a mistake. It's actually a Boy...

Wife: A boy? (Pause) I knew it. Those kicks were too strong for a girl. My strong boy.

Husband: (Standing up) OK, we have to go shopping again. Everything needs to change, the curtains, the cradle, the outfits, the doll...

Wife: (Getting up) Definitely. Boys can't play with Barbie Dolls. Let's go.

Husband: Now I can teach him to play football...

Wife: You can teach him everything to toughen him up.

Husband: Well, there won't be Ballet for sure. (Both exit.)

The End.