When I reached my classroom in the morning, there were too much ruckus. For a second, I thought someone knew about Mr. Aiyappan and my red bicycle. I braced myself for further ridicule. But nothing happened. No one laughed at me. Everyone was laughing and mocking at Alice. Did her mother too pay money to Mr. Aiyappan? I wondered.
“What happened?” I asked Jessy
“Look, the pandi is here to save her robber friend”. Jessy announced to the whole class.
I saw Alice sitting down in her seat and crying.
“What happened Alice? Why are you crying?”
She didn’t say anything. Her face was red and swollen after crying so much.
“Will you stop crying and tell me what happened?”
“I will tell you what happened, She stole Jasmine’s brand new pink eraser.” Jessy spoke
“How do you know she stole it?”I asked her
“Because I saw it.”
“No Nina, I didn’t steal anything”. Alice was crying
“Oh really, if you didn’t steal anything, then why did you quickly hide what was in your hand like a thief when I walked in to the class? I saw you hiding something in your bag and I saw Jasmine’s bag was opened. Jasmine checked her bag and her eraser is missing”
“I didn’t steal her eraser” Alice said again
“Then show us your bag, let us see what you have in your bag”
“No” Alice screamed
“I am going to tell Mrs. Mathew. My father works and earn the money to buy me things, not for some fatherless kids!. Your father is dead because he is a bad person. That is why someone murdered him. Infact my mother wrote to the headmistress complaining about you. We don’t want any murder victim’s daughter studying in our school. This is a good school, meant for children from good families!”
“My father is not a bad person”. Alice was sobbing
“If he was good, then why did someone stabhim? You are just like your father. A thief.” Jasmine spoke
I didn’t know what to say or do. I didn’t know exactly how Alice’s father died until now. She never told me that her father was stabbed to death. I also didn’t know why she refused to show anyone what was in her bag. If she had nothing to hide, then she should just show what is in her school bag!. I didn’t want to befriend a thief.
“Nina, tell them I am not a thief, that I never steal anything.”
I wanted to side my best friend. But I was also angry with her for not telling me the truth about her father all these while. What other lies has she told me? Is she the one who stole my sharpener my uncle got from America? I can still remember the amount of beatings Amma gave me when I lost it. I thought of all the things I have lost in the last one year. My flora pencil that I used only for a week, my silver colour sharpener, the 10 paise balance I got after buying the Malayalam work book. Now It all made sense, Alice sit next to me at school. When I go to wash my hand after lunch, she could have taken all my stuff.
‘Oh my goodness!I trusted my best friend’. I was so mad at Alice.
I grabbed her bag from the desk and gave it to Jessy.
“Check and see if the eraser is inside”
“No” Alice tried to grab the bag from Jessy’s hand.
“What is all the noise about?”
The class quietend immediately. Mrs Joseph, our principal walked inside the classroom, holding a long cane in her hand.
‘Aha! Alice is going to get caned today. She deserves it. She stole my stuff and made me get beaten at home.’ I was just so glad to see Mrs. Joseph.
Jessy explained the whole situation to Mrs. Joseph.
“Alice, Did you take Jasmine’s eraser?”Mrs Joseph asked
“No teacher. I didn’t”
“Bring her bag here” Mrs Joseph ordered
Jessy carried the bag like a trophy and gave it to Mrs. Joseph.
Everyone crowded around Mrs. Joseph, waiting with bated breath to see the evidence of such a heinous crime.
I watched Mrs. Joseph taking out the text books, then the work books, Alice’s pencil case and then her lunch box. She checked all the pockets. Then she opened Alices’s pencil case. She took out a red eraser.
“Is it your eraser?” she asked Jasmine
“No, teacher, mine is Pink colour”
“That is my eraser teacher, my mother bought me that last year” Alice replied.
Mrs Joseph checked the bag and its contents again. There was no sign of a pink eraser. The only thing that was left to check was Alice’s lunch box. I was sure she hid the stolen eraser inside her lunch box. If it wasn’t in the bag, it sure was in the lunch box.
I waited anxiously for Mrs. Joseph to open the lunch box. Alice had a round steel lunch box. The lid was very hard to open. I usually helped her to open it, by hitting it against the desk corner. Mrs. Joseph tried to open the lid using her finger nails.
“Ouch” This lid is tight” She exclaimed
“Please give it to me teacher. I will open it” I volunteered.
I took the lunch box from her hand and my classmates parted to create a room for me to walk to my desk. I felt like Moses parting the sea. Like a professional,. I hit the lid on the corner of the desk and opened the lid.
Everyone rushed forward to look inside the lunch box.
There was no pink eraser. There was only a half eaten boiled banana inside.
I didn’t know what to say or do.
I, Nina Thomas, grand daughter of famous Methran Thambi doubted my best friend!.
“Who said Alice stole Jasmine’s eraser? Mrs joseph roared
There was no sound. No one answered.
“Jasmine, how did you know that Alice stole your eraser?”
“Jessy told me teacher.”
“”How did you know Alice stole Jasmines’ eraser? “Mrs Joseph asked Jessy
Jessy started to cry,”Sorry teacher, When I came in to the class this morning, Alice was alone. When she saw me, she quickly put something in her bag and closed it. I saw that Jasmine’s bag was opened. So I asked Jasmine to check if anything of hers is missing. She said her pink eraser is missing”
“Come here both of you. Do you know ‘false witness’ is a crime? You both suspected an innocent person and called her a thief. You need to be punished. Extend your hand.” Mrs. Joseph commanded
I watched Mrs. Joseph raising the cane and striking both Jessy and Jasmine on their palm. I watched them wincing in pain. I looked at Alice. She looked solemn
I wished Mrs. Joseph would cane me as well. There is no crime bigger than suspecting one’s own best friend.
>>There is no crime bigger than >>suspecting one’s own best friend.
Amen!
Sarah..I was so engrossed reading this post, I did not even hear my door bell.I could not stop. Ieverything was so vivid, you openeing the lunch box and everyone peeking inside. How true we are all guilty of coming to conclusions even without the evidence to support it. I think Alice must have been really sad that you being her best friend thought she had stole the eraser. But I am sure she made up and you two were best friends again.Sarah I wish you would publish a book. so many lessons to be learned .
poor alice,, may be she also has stories like you to tell..
Nice post ! Poor Alice !
So we come back to the point again.
“Ippozhum vanchi thirunakkara thanne”.
What has happened to the pink eraser ?
True. Really good naration of snippets from your life.
There’s no bigger crime …
There’s no bigger crime …
How vulnerable v all are to all relationships! V tend to easily suspect our most loved ones.
That was a really touching story! And very sad. I have been similarly guilty and I was not even that young! Felt really repentent!
I could literally see myself as one of your classmates…
“There is no crime bigger than suspecting one’s own best friend”
I agree.
You only thought such coz’ you had to endure beatings yourself.. youwere hurt, physically and emotionally..
.. and you were just a kid.
At least you felt that you needed the hit yourself..
this is true???
awesome.
but where’s the friggin eraser?????
peace..!!
\m/
beautiful post.. touching..
Sarah i used to always read about Ammachi in your food posts,with Yesterday and today I read your entire posts about your life experience.I am so touched and amased how honestly you share everything with people you dont even know!
I want to share a quote…
“We all go through the same things,its all just a different knid of the same thing”
– Susan Glaspell
Sarah..was the eraser ever found.and who had it?
Y do things magically disappear when we are in school?
oh that was horrible.i would have died of guilt.
poor Alice!she had to hear such horrible things.I feel sad when such paavan children are subjected to needless torture and shame.
You write well..probably the understatement of the year…;-)
how do u rem all these incidents so clearly ?
the narration style is also excellent and keeps the reader fully engrossed..
came to u’r blog from silverine’s..
Vinodh
ps: probably geographically closest to you…me in seattle.
please Sarah, publish a book at the end of it all .
u were young u didnt know better
are u still in contact with alice
curious to know what happened of her
Ullas: It is soooo true
Starry: I have learned never to judge anyone…
Rocksea: oh yes..she does
Jac: Posted the rest already!
Silverine: Thank you
Rose: Because of that, I learned few good lessons…Stand by my friend is the first one…
Has to be: It took only a second to mistrust someone… a life time to remember how low i sunk
Strictly for my friends: I have apologized, still the pain never goes away…
Neihal: Thank you
Geetha: I probably would have felt better, if i too got caned.. but I felt i got away…and tht still haunts me
Manic: Yes it is true and the eraser was very much where jasmine left earlier
Hope and love: thank you
Sumitha: Thank you for the lovely comment.. am touched
Starry: yes it was found
Thanu: I forever lost stuff in school and Mother forever was pinching and hitting me.. I never understood why anyone wanted a used
ruler/pencil/eraser…etc
Maya: Children learn from adults.. they just imitate..and they don’t know where to draw the fine line between nice and cruelty..
Vinodh: Thank you for visiting my blog… and yes geographically u r abt an hr drive from here..
remembering things.. unfortunately it is not always good to have a good memory.. certain things, much as I want to forget, it keeps playing over and over in my head
Suemama: I will
Visithra: I lost contact with her after i left India..
I love Mrs Joseph! I love her!
“Mrs. Joseph” Excellent Teacher!!!! Knows how to judge people….. Without asking a word to Alice, she found she was not Guilty!!!! I liked Mrs. Joseph’s Character in this blog the most.
inji: She was a nice teacher
Anoop:.. I am not sure if you read this… “Alice, Did you take Jasmine’s eraser?”Mrs Joseph asked..