A story about a boy, a cupboard and lots of hidden things

Transcription

1 A story about a boy, a cupboard and lots of hidden things by Anita Bekker 1

2 Nicholas was a very bad little boy. You would not think it to look at him, because outside Nicholas was a very nice-looking little boy. However, inside he was very bad indeed! He was always hiding away. When it was time to bath, Nicholas could not be found. When it was time to go to bed, no one knew where Nicholas was. He was a very hiding-sort of little boy. He had learned that he could hide his bad things out of sight. Nicholas lived with his Daddy and Mummy, and brother and sister and Granny in an up-stairsdown-stairs house. At the bottom of the stairs going up, there stood a large, old cupboard, which no one ever used. 2

3 In fact, everyone had forgotten about the old cupboard even being there, except Nicholas. One day Nicholas decided to open the door and look inside, and to his great surprise and delight, he found it quite empty, and big enough to hold him! So he climbed inside and shut the door behind him. At first, it seemed too dark inside there to suit Nicholas, but the longer he stayed there, the more he liked it, and after a short while the darkness didn t bother Nicholas at all. In fact, he rather liked it! While he was sitting there thinking what to do next, Mummy called out, Nicholas! Where are you? But Nicholas kept perfectly still and very quiet, and Mummy soon went away, never knowing where he was! He thought to himself, What a very clever boy I am, to have found such a good hiding place! 3

4 (Was he clever? Oh, no! It is a very foolish thing to do to climb into a cupboard and close the door behind you, for you may never get out again!) But Nicholas was a hiding sort of little boy, and he liked being there, all shut up in the dark, where no one could find him. When he came out at last, Mummy asked him where on earth he had been, but Nicholas did not tell her. He pretended that he could not remember a thing about it! He was very bad! One day Nicholas was playing with Martin s telescope. Martin was Nicholas big brother, and he didn t allow Nicholas to play with it, but Nicholas had waited until Martin was gone, and then took it! Well, Nicholas was very careless, as a rule, and of course, he broke it! And of course he did not go straight away to Martin to tell him what had happened, as he should have. No, Nicholas decided to hide it away instead. But where? Of course! His cupboard! That was just the right sort of hiding place for it, he thought, and he ran there quickly and hid the telescope in the cupboard where no one would ever think to look for it. Poor Martin was terribly unhappy! 4

5 Martin hunted high and low for the telescope, but couldn t find it anywhere! Everyone thought that a thief might have taken it through the open window. It was a mystery to all, except Nicholas, who kept quiet. Another time, Karen, his little sister, wouldn t play with him she was too busy with her new doll to have time for Nicholas. He got really fed up with Karen, and when she went to take her bath, Nicholas took her doll and hid it in the cupboard! Now let her try to play with the silly thing! said Nicholas crossly. She ll never find it there! And she never did! Poor Karen was heartbroken. She hunted high and low for her dear dolly, but in the end, Daddy said she might have left it outside, and perhaps the dog from next door had gotten hold of it. Karen cried for days. 5

6 Well, things continued to go missing in the house. Daddy s brand new rake disappeared - Nicholas didn t like having to sweep up all the leaves in the yard on Saturday. Granny lost her spectacles- Nicholas didn t like the way Granny would look over the tops of them at him with her piercing eyes and ask, Nicholas, have you been a good boy today? Mummy s wooden spoon went missing, too - Nicholas didn t like it when Mommy paddled him for being naughty! 6

7 He even hid his peas! He didn t like peas, and he d hide them in his serviette at dinner, and then go and deposit them in his cupboard later. Once, a whole batch of muffins went missing. Mummy had baked them for Aunty Mabel s visit, and Nicholas loved muffins. So he took them and left them in the cupboard for later, but when he went into the cupboard to enjoy them, he could never find them again! It was terribly dark in the cupboard when the door was shut and, try as he may, he just could not lay hold of them. Nicholas hid everything in his cupboard. His new track shoes that pinched him went in. His friend s new soccer ball went in. Broken things went in, for Nicholas would never own up when he d broken something and simply say, Sorry. 7

8 Things that got on his nerves went in there. He was the most hiding sort of little boy imaginable! And soon the cupboard became uncomfortably full, almost too full for Nicholas to fit in, too! But he would squeeze inside, and wriggle around, until he got in. It was rather dark and stuffy now, what with all those moldy peas and rotten muffins. And the things that were on top kept falling down and hitting him on the head! And the things on the bottom kept poking him, so that he was rather afraid to put his feet anywhere, and he had to be very careful about the rake - he did not want to find that again with his tail-end! 8

9 Once when he was hiding there, he d accidently sat down on the rake, and it had left his end aching, so much so, that he couldn t sit still at dinner, and Granny had looked at him and said, Whatever is the matter with you, my boy? Do sit still at once! Granny couldn t stand any fidgeting at all! To top it all, Nicholas had started to have nightmares about the cupboard. He dreamed that he was running down the street in the dark and the cupboard was chasing him, trying to catch him and lock him away forever! When Aunty Mabel said she was coming for a visit again, Nicholas decided he d have to go back into the cupboard. Mummy had baked a fresh batch of delicious, golden donuts, and Nicholas knew he d have to take several into the cupboard with him before Aunty Mabel arrived, otherwise he d miss out on the donuts, as he in any case would be inside the cupboard hiding from his aunty. But this time when he thought of the cupboard, his heart sank! 9

10 The smell! The dark! The falling -down-and-poking-up-things! But then he thought of the donuts, and the more he thought of the donuts, the less he minded the cupboard! When he heard Aunty Mabel s knock at the door, he quickly filled his pockets and dived into the cupboard, just before Mummy came around the corner to answer the door. Nicholas! called Mummy, Where are you? Nicholas? 10

11 Nicholas kept quiet and bit into a donut. He could hear Mummy opening the door, and he sat back to enjoy his mouthful of warm, crispy donut. Just as the front door opened, and Aunty Mabel stepped in, the cupboard door flew open and Nicholas tumbled out with a blood-curdling shriek! He d forgotten all about the rake, and had sat down on it again! And not only did Nicholas come tumbling out of the cupboard, but every hidden thing came tumbling with him, including a family of mice that had decided to move into the cupboard, too! And where should the whole tumbling mess land but right at Aunty Mabel s feet! There lay Nicholas with all his hidden-ness around him - the telescope, the spectacles, the soccer ball, the wooden spoon, the moldy peas, the rotten muffins, the lost dolly, and on top of the lot, Daddy s rake! 11

12 12

13 NICHOLAS! murmured Mabel. NICHOLAS! moaned Mummy. NICHOLAS! muttered Martin. NICHOLAS! cried Karen. NICHOLAS! gasped Granny. 13

14 NICHOLAS! demanded Daddy, You had better come along with me! All Nicholas hiding-ness had come out into the open. His cupboard was just too full and couldn t take another thing, not even a donut with a hole in the middle! Nicholas dragged himself up out of the mess with the help of Daddy s firm hand on his shoulder. It was time for a Conference with Daddy, he knew, and his already aching end - for remember it was due to the rake that Nicholas was there in the first place - was sure to ache some more before too long! 14

15 After all was said and done (and there was a lot said and done that day), Daddy told Nicholas that he would have to clean up the mess, and sort everything out with everyone he had ever stolen and hidden from. That took Nicholas a good long time, because you will remember that Nicholas cupboard was rather a large one, and he had hidden a lot in it there over time. No one was very happy with him, but in the end Nicholas learned a very good lesson that we find in the Bible: THINGS CANNOT STAY HIDDEN FOREVER! The verse says: Be sure your sin will find you out! (Numbers 32:23). How true! 15

16 The cupboard went to Aunty Mabel, who had a good use for it. Empty cupboards always become a problem if they are not filled quickly with good things. Nicholas was glad to see it go - he d had enough of hiding places. He had decided that he was not going to be a hiding sort of little boy any longer, and from that day on, Nicholas never hid himself or anything else away in the dark again! 16

17 17