Once upon a time, there was a big boy called Aaron. He was tall and strong, he had beautiful eyes, and he was really talented. He was able to remember everything that he had ever heard or read about. If you think about this, you will realise that very few people are capable of this, so Aaron’s talent was envied by many.

In fact, there was someone in particular who was really jealous of Aaron’s gift: the Forgetful Figure.

The Forgetful Figure was also a gifted person: he was invisible, he could slide through walls, he was able to mess up other people’s life without them realising that they were victims of him. But he had one serious drawback: he kept forgetting everything.

As soon as the Forgetful Figure heard about Aaron’s gift, famous all over the world, he decided to catch Aaron and enslave him so that Aaron would serve him and help him with his dirty business.

Of course, Aaron had no idea about the Forgetful Figure’s evil plot.

One day, Aaron had his birthday party and a lot of people were invited. They all came to celebrate Aaron and they were all happy to be with him. But there was someone at the party who was certainly not invited. I am sure you have already guessed: it was the Forgetful Figure.

He slid through the living room wall and sat invisibly on the armrest of an armchair in which a lovely old lady was sitting unsuspectingly sipping her tea.

The old lady was Aaron’s favourite guest so he sat close to her and listened to her endless stories attentively. In the meantime, the Forgetful Figure examined Aaron carefully.

‘What a pity’, he thought to himself, ‘that such an irritating boy has this special gift of remembering everything and not me! Isn’t it a shame! Look at him: listening to that boring old crone! What for?’

The Forgetful Figure worked himself up so much that he had to do something, forgetting that he was there at the party in incognito, that would make him happy. So he did: he pushed the old lady’s hand holding her cup and the hot tea spilled everywhere: on the old lady’s lovely dress, on the armchair and even on Aaron’s lap who was leaning forward to hear the old lady’s weak voice better.

Aaron cried out, the old lady’s eyes filled with tears, you see, the tea was really hot indeed, and the Forgetful Figure was finally happy: he managed to mess up something.

Aaron’s Mummy run there from the other side of the room to help the old lady. Other guests came closer to offer their tissues and condolences.

Aaron ran into the bathroom to pour cold water on his burnt knee. He closed the bathroom door, pulled up his trousers and tried to fit his knee under the tap. Of course, the Forgetful Figure followed him and kept laughing to himself sitting on the edge of the bath tub watching Aaron’s painful efforts to cool his injury.

‘That’s what you deserve, Aaron’, laughed the Forgetful Figure. ‘Should it be me having your wonderful talent, I could conquer the world! But don’t worry, you shall be my slave soon enough and I will rule the world for good!’

Aaron put a plaster on his burnt knee and went back to the living room to see how the old lady was doing. Of course, the Forgetful Figure followed him invisible.

The old lady was all right, considering, and Mummy decided to divert the guests' attention by bringing the birthday cake in.

‘Happy birthday, Aaron!’, cried the guests as one when Aaron blew out the candles.

The Forgetful Figure hissed to himself: ‘Unhappy slavery, rather’, and he lit the candles again.

Aaron was a bit taken aback but blew the candles again, and the guests cheered.

The Forgetful Figure lit the candles again.

Everybody was astonished: ‘What’s happening?’, they wondered.

Aaron blew out the candles and watched them closely as they lit up again and again and again.

‘Well’, said Mummy somewhat nervously, ‘I shall take the candles out now, darling, if you don’t mind.’

Daddy nodded and accompanied Mummy into the kitcken with the cake in her hands, candles burning, no matter how many times she blew them out.

The Forgetful Figure was really enjoying himself now. He followed Mummy into the kitchen, forgetting that his main target was actually Aaron, and made sure that Mummy burnt her finger when putting the candles in a bowl filled with water.

Daddy took Mummy into the bathroom and took care of her burn. They were both puzzled about what has just happened.

‘Time for presents’, announced Daddy when they came back to the guests.

One of Aaron’s friend brought an enourmous package, and now, she stepped forward and gave it to Aaron.

‘Happy birthday!’, she said.

‘Thank you’, said Aaron and opened the package excitedly.

There was a pinata in it. Daddy hang it up in the garden and Aaron started hitting it with a bat.

But the Forgetful Figure decided to hold the pinata together, so no matter how hard Aaron hit it, it never opened up.

In the end, Daddy needed to open it with a knife, and the Forgetful Figure made sure that he cut his hand during the process.

The Forgetful Figure had a whale of a time: he kept spilling the guests' drinks, especially the hot ones, he kept making people drop their plates, especially when they had a lot of cream on them, he kept annoying everyone in every possible way he could think of. And he had completely forgotten about his plot against Aaron.

Aaron enjoyed his party very much, especially the old lady’s tales.

When Aaron, Mummy and Daddy said goodbye to the guests who went home, the Forgetful Figure suddenly realised that he did not reach his goal because he had completely forgotten about it.

As Mummy and Daddy went into the kitchen to do the washing up, Aaron saw that the old lady had left her handbag next to the armchair in which she was sitting.

Of course, Aaron remembered where the old lady lived: in an Old People’s Home not far from their house. So he told Mummy and Daddy that he would go and take the handbag back to the old lady. Mummy and Daddy thought that it would do good for Aaron to have some fresh air after his party, and they were really proud of him that he was always ready to help old people.

So Aaron left the house, and the Forgetful Figure followed him panicking that he might lose his chance to capture Aaron.

Aaron walked to the Old People’s Home where the old lady lived. He greeted the receptionist cheerfully who wished him happy birthday because she knew from the old lady that it was Aaron’s birthday on that day.

Aaron found the old lady’s room easily because he remembered exactly where it was in the huge building. The Forgetful Figure kept following him, invisible, panicking that he would not find his way back in that labyrinth of corridors.

Aaron reached the old lady’s door and was about to knock on it, but he stopped. Aaron could hear that the old lady was crying inside. Aaron got worried so knocked and entered hastily.

‘What’s the matter?’, asked Aaron.

The old lady looked up at Aaron, wiped her eyes with an ancient hankerchief, and started laughing.

‘I should not have to worry’, she said, ‘You are my guardian angel, Aaron!’

Aaron was puzzled.

‘What?’, he asked.

‘You have it in your hand.’

Aaron looked down at his hand: he was holding the old lady’s handbag.

‘My handbag’, explained the old lady, ‘I could not recall where I had left it. Thank you, Aaron.’

‘You are welcome’, answered Aaron somewhat surprised.

‘You know’, said the old lady, ‘my handbag and everything in it have no value whatsoever. Except for a letter that my first love wrote to me. He died in the Great War, you know. I treasure that letter, and I keep it in my handbag at all times. I would have been really upset if I lost it, you know. I am so grateful to you, Aaron.’

‘Don’t mention it’, said Aaron.

‘You know what?’, said the old lady, ‘I would like to give you a little present to show my gratitute.’

Aaron was puzzled: ‘You’ve already given me that wonderful book today for my birthday.’

‘I know I did’, said the old lady, ‘but now I would like to give you one more little thing.’

‘All right then’, said Aaron a bit confused.

‘Would you be so kind to get me my treasure box from the safe room, Aaron?’, asked the old lady.

‘I would love to’, said Aaron because he knew that the old lady’s treasure box was full of objects that reminded the old lady of stories to tell him.

So Aaron went to the safe room, and the Forgetful Figure followed him invisible. The safe room had a code that opened it. It was a nine digit number but Aaron, of course, remembered it since the old lady had once mentioned it to him. So he typed the code in and opened the thick metal door.

The Forgetful Figure knew how important the code was so he looked at Aaron’s hand carefully when he typed it in, and he kept repeating the numbers in his head. For about a half minute when he actually forgot all about the code and its importance.

You see, the safe room contained all the treasured properties of the old people who lived in the Old People’s Home. There were China figurines, silver cutlery, bundles of letters tied up with faded ribbons, some jewellery, old clocks and watches, so much treasure there. The Forgetful Figure immediately forgot all about his plan against Aaron and started to wander around the safe room.

Aaron remembered where the old lady kept her treasure box, so he took it quickly, went out and closed the door of the safe room behind him.

The old lady caressed her box and opened it carefully. She took a tiny sand glass out with sparkly golden sand in it.

‘This is for you, Aaron’, she said. ‘You know, when I was young like you, I kept forgetting everything. One day, my mother gave me this little sand glass and she said: ‘If you feel like you forgot something, you just turn this sand glass, and before the last of the sand falls down, you shall remember what you have forgotten.’ So I started using this sand glass, and it worked miracles. After a while, I realised that I stopped forgetting things, and I could remember everything I wanted. So I put the little sand glass in my treasure box.’

‘Well’, said Aaron, ‘in that case I do not need it: I can remember everything.’

The old lady laughed: ‘Oh, I know that, Aaron’, she said. ‘I am giving this to you for if you do not want to remember something anymore and you cannot forget, just turn this little sand glass, and before the last of the sand falls down, you shall forget what you wanted to forget.’

‘Oh’, said Aaron puzzled.

‘You see’, said the old lady, ‘it is not always good to remember everything. Some things are best to be forgotten.’

‘I see’, Aaron said unconvinced.

‘I know you don’t’, laughed the old lady, ‘but when you will be at my age, you certainly will.’

Aaron thanked her and walked home deep in his thoughts.

The Forgetful Figure spent the rest of his life in the safe room of the Old People’s Home. He kept forgetting the treasure he had already examined, so every time he looked at something, he thought he saw it at the first time. This way he was happy for the rest of his life and he completely forgot all about his evil plot to conquer the whole world.

Aaron went home and took the sand glass in his hand. He thought and thought about what he possibly wanted to forget, but he could not think about any such thing. So he put his sand glass in his own treasure box.

But of course, decades and decades later, when he needed it, he remembered it.