The Plasticine Men

Diane made a cup of tea for herself while she waited for her grandson to arrive. Her children were all grown up now and they had children of their own. She looked after Ben while his mother went to work, but she was just enjoying a few quiet moments before he came.

He was late and she was beginning to wonder whether he was coming today. Then the knock on the door came. The fun usually began from that very moment. She would open the door and he would hide and she would close the door as if there was no one there. Very quickly after the door closed he would peep through the letter box and call out, "It's me Nanna, open the door, didn't you see me, I've been here all the time!"

"That's funny," she would say, "I'm sure no one was there." Ben usually enjoyed going to his Nanna's to play, but on this particular morning things were different. When she opened the door and saw his face it looked as though he had lost his best friend. He ran into the house and hid behind a chair in the lounge.

His mummy called, "Bye, bye Ben, see you later." No response, Ben stayed quiet and hidden. Diane was very wise where children were concerned and knew exactly how to handle this little boy, who was usually so happy and full of life. She went into the kitchen with some plasticine and sat at the table. She began moulding the plasticine into different shapes. They were all different kinds of people, some tall, some short, some fat some thin. But what was special about them was their faces. Some looked sad, some looked happy, some angry, some peaceful, some strong some weak. So involved with what she was doing she did not notice little Ben sneak in and sit on the chair next to her.

He was only two and still learning to talk and sometimes missed a few words here and there or got them mixed up. It was often very difficult not to laugh. For instance, when they had fish and chips and he asked for the "vigenar," instead of vinegar, or when they were on the bus and he told the conductor he wanted to go to the "ternimus," instead of "terminus."

As he was beginning to feel more comfortable he could not resist. "What doin Nanna? Why has that man got a sad face? He looks like he's going to cry! Oh! look at this one, this is my favrite, he looks happy."

"Well you see Ben, all of these plasticine men are copies of people and they show very well how people are feeling. When they are angry you can tell by the frown on the face. When they hurt inside, their faces look sad. They all have names, this one is Mr Happy, this one Mr Grumpy, this one Mr Snoozy, this one Mr Sad. Today, Ben is Mr Sad, what made him sad this morning?"

"My mummy was crying cos daddy shouted at her."

"I see," said his Nanna, "and do you think if you become sad it will help your Mummy to be happy?"

"I don't know, but I thought if mummy was sad I should be sad too."

"So, if you are sad, perhaps I should be sad," replied his Nanna.

"No, no, no, please Nanna, exclaimed Ben.

"You see Ben, it doesn't help to be like that. Do you like to see Mr Sad? Wouldn't you rather see Mr Happy?"

"Oh, yes!" said Ben smiling when he looked at Mr Happy.

"If you had tried very hard to stay happy and been kind to your mummy she probably would have felt a lot better when she went to work. Now she has gone to work feeling hurt because someone hurt her and she feels even worse because she has also made you hurt. Do you know how you can make your mummy happy again?"

"Yes, yes," he shouted excitedly, I'll be like Mr Happy."

"Exactly," said his Nanna.

Later that day they went shopping together. In the Post Office there were lots of people, it was always busy and they had to wait in the queue. As they were waiting Diane could see little Ben looking at the people, and their faces in particular.

Suddenly he shouted out, "Look, Nanna, there is Mr Grumpy." If Diana could have found somewhere to hide at that moment she would have done. All eyes turned on her and the little boy. He was pointing at the man behind them in the queue who was complaining to someone about how long he had been waiting to be served. He could not help but hear what the boy said and turned on him straight away.

"How dare you be so rude, I don't know, children have no manners today!"

"Excuse me," Diana exclaimed, "he only spoke the truth and because you didn't like it, you became angry, perhaps if you smiled you would be able to be happy. Probably for the first time in his life the man was speechless and remained quiet for the rest of the time he was waiting there.

When they got home Ben asked all sorts of questions, why was the man so angry, why did he look so grumpy etc, etc, just like little children do. His Nanna knew how important it was to take the time to explain these things to him.

"You see Ben that's how we learn. We watch other people and we decide we either want to be like that or we don't. People make all sorts of excuses for being bad, did you know there is a song called "It's easy to be bad, it's hard to be good." Well, it's not true, we can be good if we want to be or we can be bad.

For the rest of the afternoon Ben played happily and when his mummy came to collect him he ran to the door jumped up into her arms and gave her a big hug. "I luv you mummy," he said. They went to the car happy and as they were going away Ben glanced back at his Nanna and gave her a big smile. As little as that little boy was, he learned a big lesson for it was as if he was saying, "Thank you Nanna I understand now."