The Noisiest Ninja's Birthday Surprise

8 pages · 5 min · ages 6+

It was Mum's birthday, and Kit had a mission. Breakfast in bed. Toast, orange juice and a flower, carried upstairs before anybody woke up. It had to be a surprise, and a surprise has to be silent. Kit tied her dressing-gown belt in a double knot, like a real ninja belt. She pulled her black socks up to her knees. She tucked Mr. Panda under her arm, because every ninja needs a back-up ninja. “Silent as a shadow,” whispered Kit.

Kit knew all about the stairs. Step seven squeaked. Step eight squeaked even louder. So this time, Kit didn't use the stairs at all. She climbed onto the banister and slid down it instead. Whoosh. She landed on the doormat without a sound. Mr. Panda would have given her a thumbs up, if pandas had thumbs. The kitchen was dark and still. The fridge hummed. Mission, part one: toast.

Kit put two slices of bread in the toaster and pushed the lever down. Then she remembered. When toast was ready, the toaster went BOING, like a jack-in-the-box, loud enough to wake the whole street. Kit stood beside it, very still, with both hands ready, like a goalkeeper. Tick. Tick. Tick. The toast jumped. BOI— Kit caught both slices in mid-air. The toaster never finished its boing. “Ninja,” whispered Kit, and she blew on her fingers, because the toast was hot.

Mission, part two: juice. Juice cartons go GLUG-GLUG-GLUG. Everybody knows that. So Kit tipped the carton very, very slowly, until the juice came out in a thin, quiet trickle. It took so long that the birds outside woke up and started singing. Silent juice. Then the flower. The only flower was a sunflower, in a tall glass by the window. Kit climbed on a chair to reach it. The chair didn't squeak. The flower didn't squeak. Kit almost squeaked with happiness.

Then she heard it. Crawl, crawl, crawl. Baby Sam was awake, and he was coming into the kitchen with his yellow singing duck. If he squeezed that duck, it would sing “The Wheels on the Bus” with trumpets, and the whole house would wake up. Kit dropped to the floor like a leaf. She slid under the table. And she held out her last piece of toast. Baby Sam looked at the toast. He looked at the duck. He looked at the toast again. He dropped the duck and took the toast. Munch.

Kit carried the tray up the stairs, very slowly. Toast. Juice. Sunflower. She stepped over step seven. She stepped over step eight. She pushed Mum's door open without a creak. Mum was fast asleep. Kit put the tray down on the bed. “Surprise,” she whispered. Mum didn't move. “Happy birthday,” Kit whispered. Mum snored. Kit waited. And waited. The toast went cold. Kit had been SO quiet, and SO good at being a ninja, that Mum hadn't woken up at all.

Kit thought hard. A ninja is silent. But a ninja also does whatever the mission needs. Kit tiptoed out. Then she came back with everything. She stood on step eight. EEEEEK! She squeezed Baby Sam's duck. “THE WHEELS ON THE BUS!” She banged two saucepan lids together. CLANG! And she did the loudest ninja shout in the history of ninjas. “HI-YAAAAH!”

Mum sat up so fast that her plait flew. She looked at the toast. She looked at the juice. She looked at the sunflower. Then she looked at the girl in the doorway, who was holding a duck, two saucepan lids and a panda. “Well,” said Mum, and her whole face smiled, “is that my noisiest ninja?” Kit bowed, very low, like a real ninja. It was the best birthday surprise Mum had ever had. Even if the toast was a bit cold.