If only I’d focused on Moshe from the beginning, I could have made a great shalach manos already

T

he truth is that the idea itself isn’t so bad.

It’s actually kinda fun. Or it would be, if only I’d picked someone else. Sighing, I walk into the den with a jumbo bag of pretzels to try and get my creative juices flowing. It’s what I’m famous for. Creative ideas, that is. I take some more pretzels, hoping ideas will come.

“Hey Aharon, what’s up? How come you’re not outside playing? It’s a gorgeous day.”

“Well, I would be,” I reply in a huff, throwing a few pretzels in the air, trying to catch them in my mouth. The bright sunshine streaming in through the large double window winks at me, teasing. “But I have something important to do.”

“Practice catching pretzels in your mouth? I think you’re better at catching balls in a mitt,” my know-it-all sister Shoshi laughs.

“Ha,” I shoot back. Although, actually, maybe I could pick her brain.

“Shosh, maybe you can help. You’re good at this stuff.,” I add, before she has a chance to refuse.

“Oh, okay,” she smiles. There’s nothing know-it-all sisters like better than being in the know.

“It’s like this.” The words come out in a rush now. “Two weeks ago, Rebbi came into class and told us that this year we’re only allowed to give one shalach manos. It has to be a nice one, and it should be as imaginative as we can make it. The catch is that we had to pick a name from a hat, well, actually, it was from a Purim mask, and we have to keep who we got a secret. Then, in two weeks, which is actually two days from now, we have to bring the shalach manos into class, and everyone is going to guess which shalach manos is for which boy.”

“Sounds pretty much like what most classes do,” Shoshi says.