✦An original fictional family story
The Celebration with Extra Chairs
Arun wants the family’s garden gathering to look perfect. Grandma helps him make a plan that has room for the people who are coming.
A story to read together
The Celebration with Extra Chairs
Take your time. Let the story unfold.
Every year, Arun’s family held a small garden gathering to share pictures and stories from the past months. This time, Arun wanted to arrange it himself. He drew a perfect circle of chairs with a decoration in the middle. “Everyone will have the same lovely view,” he told Grandma. She admired the bright paper flowers on his plan. Then she asked who would be sitting in the chairs. Arun began writing names around the circle.
The people in the plan
As the names grew, Grandma suggested asking a few guests what would help them enjoy the afternoon. One neighbour preferred a firm chair near the path. Two younger cousins wanted a table where they could draw between stories. An uncle hoped to sit where he could hear the speakers clearly. None of these requests appeared in Arun’s beautiful circle. At first, he felt that every answer was spoiling the arrangement. Grandma asked him to draw the people’s needs beside their names before changing the chairs.
A different shape
Arun made a wider opening in the circle and kept the path clear. He placed a small drawing table nearby and chose a quieter seat at the edge for anyone wanting a break. The picture-story table stayed easy to reach. Grandma helped check which chairs were sturdy and comfortable. The arrangement was no longer a perfect shape from above. From the seats themselves, however, it began to make more sense. Arun tried sitting in several places, noticing what he could see and hear from each one.
A story that arrived late
On the day of the gathering, a neighbour arrived after the first story had begun. Arun brought an extra chair without stopping everyone to explain the whole plan. Later, a cousin moved from drawing to listening, then back again. Grandma shared a small memory, and another guest added a detail she had forgotten. The afternoon had pauses, changes, and a little friendly confusion. Nobody followed Arun’s first picture exactly. He was too busy noticing what people contributed to mind very much.
The picture he kept
Afterwards, Arun drew the gathering as it had really looked: an open circle, an extra chair, and a trail of paper flowers leading towards the drawing table. He kept his first plan beside it. Grandma asked which picture felt more like the celebration. Arun chose the second. It included the people who had helped make the afternoon special. Next year, he still wanted to plan the decorations. He would begin with names and questions, though, before deciding where every chair should stand.
The end
After the final page
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
What did Arun’s first plan overlook?
How did asking guests change the arrangement?
Why did the second drawing feel more like the celebration?
Make something: Plan an imaginary story gathering with an adult. Draw a clear path, a listening area, and an optional quiet place, then ask someone what they would change.
