Malik Monk walked to his locker in the visitor’s locker room and was surprised to see a single, gift-wrapped present sitting on his chair. “Aw, you guys didn’t have to get me anything,” he said sheepishly, touched that his teammates had thought of him on his birthday.
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t get you anything,” Cody Zeller said from the next locker. “Marvin, we were all chipping in on a gift for this guy and nobody told me?”
Marvin looked over from across the room with a confused expression. “What gift? Malik got a gift?”
“Wait, so nobody knows who got me this?” Malik asked to the room. Most of his teammates looked over from their pregame preparations and shook their heads in the negative. His curiosity now piqued by the mystery gift, he rattled it to see if he could tell what was inside. It felt like a box, but it didn’t make any noise when shaken. Then again, if it was a fancy watch or something like that, it would be packed securely enough in the box to be immobile.
Unable to wait any longer, Malik started ripping off the colorful wrapping paper. Indeed, underneath the paper was a plain brown cardboard box. Malik opened this as well, but was disappointed by what he found.
“It’s just a card,” he said aloud to the few teammates who were uninterestedly observing the gift-opening spectacle. “Why would you pack a card in a box? Why wouldn’t you just put it in an envelope?”
“What’s the card say?” Cody asked.
Malik opened the card, which had a generic nature scene on the front, and began to read:
“Dear Malik,
Enclosed you will find a coupon that entitles you to play thirty minutes in a game. You may redeem it with me before tipoff of any game you choose. God knows that I wouldn’t ever play your sorry ass thirty minutes in a game if I could help it, but Kupchak wanted me to give this to you so you wouldn’t become a locker-room cancer.
Just so you know, I still hate you and every day I beg Kupchak to trade you. Having to give you minutes physically makes me sick.
Hatefully,
-James Borrego”
Malik took a look at the handmade coupon that had fallen out of the envelope and onto the floor. Indeed, on it was written: “This coupon entitles the bearer to thirty minutes of game time in any game of his/her choosing. Not valid with any other offers or promotions.”
As he read those words, a tear came to his eye and he clutched the card to his chest. It was the nicest thing his coach had ever said to him. A perfect birthday present.