Grandmother’s Lesson.

Grandma came back outside after 10 minutes, and she said that we would now have story-time. I was confused when she said this because I was expecting Jake to apologise after what he had done, but grandma assured me that everything would be clear after the story-time.

We sat around the fire and ate our snacks, and that’s when grandma told us a story about stealing. In the story, a teenage boy kept stealing everything he wanted but didn’t have. He stole money, clothes, toys, shoes, and anything he envied. He would steal all those things from his parents, friends, family, classmates, neighbours and shops. He would sometimes get caught, but he would then lie to avoid trouble. One day, the boy started his own company, became rich, and bought a house in the suburbs. It was his dream house and he had designed parts of it himself, and after getting it, he bought his dream car. He had already quit stealing at the time and was successfully making an honest living.

About a month after the boy had gotten the house and car, while he was at work, he received a phone call. There was a break-in at his house, and they had stolen everything, including the furniture, cars, and the savings he kept in the safe. Because of this, the boy had to buy a new house and try to replace all the things they had stolen from him. He ended up overspending and landed up in debt. His accounts were frozen and his business started failing, and soon after that, all his assets were seized and he had to shut down the business. He ended up with nowhere to live, and no food, money or clothes. He couldn’t go home because his parents had not forgiven him for leaving them bankrupt, and he had no friends to turn to because he had stolen from them all. He ended up living in the streets, begging for food and barely surviving.

Throughout the story, Jake kept looking bored and rolling his eyes every now and then. It was clear that he wasn’t listening and that he was not interested in what grandma was saying.

“Jake, stealing is wrong,” Grandma said, shaking Jake out of his thoughts. “You take things that people worked hard to get, and that’s very wrong. You’d feel horrible if it happened to you, and it also has serious repercussions. You could end up in jail or like the person in the story. I hope you’ve learnt your lesson.”

“Yes grandma, I have,” Jake said with a smile faker than my nails. “I now realise why stealing is so wrong and I will never steal again.”

“I’m glad you learnt your lesson my boy” Grandma said with a soft smile. “Now, apologise to your sister for what you did.”

“I’m very sorry Maya. I hope you can forgive me. I never meant to hurt you and I’m never going to do what I did again,” Jake said, looking at me with eyes that had no glimpse of regret in them.

“It’s okay Jake,” I said just to please grandma. Even as I said this, though, I could see that Jake didn’t mean his apology. He had said it for show, and I somehow knew that it wouldn’t be the last time Jake stole something. I had a feeling that it was going to be a recurring thing, but I chose to let it go because I could have been wrong.

Tell us: Do you think Jake learned his lesson and he will never steal again?