Mortification

A recent conversation about children and gifts brought back to me an experience from when I must have been about six. I went to the birthday party of a friend of mine, at the conclusion of which presents were given to all. I watched other children unwrapping exciting toys and games and then my present was handed to me. I eagerly tore off the paper to find - a wooden clothes hanger, painted pink, with a little picture of a robin on it. This was about as big a let-down as it was possible to have at that age. Even today I cannot imagine who thought that a six-year-old boy would be glad to get a clothes hanger (I mean, hanging up clothes at all was a completely alien concept to me), let alone one that was pink. The scars remain to this day.