Everyone gathered around me with eager eyes. They all wanted to know who stole the medal. Before the truth was revealed, the school gardener stepped into the library, he was soaked from the heavy rain that led him to be in an extremely bad mood.
“Mrs Tan, what is your basketball medal doing in the koi pond?” he groaned as he took a shiny and familiar medal out of his rubbish bag.
“Someone one must have placed the medal there, it is certainly one of these children, Alan, Chris or Jane. Thank you for finding the medal, Mr Loh,” Mrs Tan quipped as she grabbed the basketball medal from Mr Loh.
Mr Loh, who simply did not care, walked out of the library. “Who was that person who took the medal? It must be you Jane, your uniform is all wet, you must have been caught in the rain while trying to hide the basketball medal!”Sean bellowed at Jane, his arms crossed.
I was simply disgusted at Sean`s impulsivity. How could he blame Jane without having any evidence? I then explained to the rest that I had earlier been to the koi pond with Sean, I commented to him that that the paint that decorated the coloured pebbles was of inferior quality as the colour was running. The culprit must have had some paint on their bodies.
All eyes fell on each other and soon after, everybody`s eyes seemed to have fallen on Mrs Tan as she had paint on her sleeves and the side of her shoes. That paint on her was coincidentally of the same colour as the coloured pebbles. Sean, as usual, jumped into conclusion, saying that Mrs Tan was the thief.
“Mrs Tan, can you please explained how the side of your shoes and the sleeves of your shirt has paint that were the same that decorated the pebbles at the koi pond?” I asked politely.
There was not a single word that came out of Mrs Tan`s mouth, but the others had something to say.
“Mrs Tan must not have done it, she is a teacher, “Alan whispered softly, trying to defend Mrs Tan.
“Mrs Tan must have done it! She should be ashamed of herself, she should be the one in detention, not me!” Chris bellowed
“Come on guys, I agree with Alan. Mrs Tan is a teacher and besides, she has the basketball medal to herself everyday in the library, why would she need it at all? Am I right Mrs Tan?” Jane quipped.
“Mrs Tan, was it for Peter?” I asked, hoping for an answer. Everyone gathered around me once again, wondering who Peter was. I then explained that Peter, who was Mrs Tan`s son was my neighbours. Peter had a strong passion for basketball, he would practise every day and he became so good. So good that he represented White Sands Primary school in basketball and reached the finals of league, the opposing team was our school and we all know that they lost.
To make matters worse, he later discovered he had cancer and could not play basketball anymore. That totally shattered his dreams of being a professional basketball player.
Mrs Tan lips quivered, her eyes turned red, knees became wobbly and collapsed onto the chair. As tears slowly streamed down her cheeks, she let out a scream, “Yes, I admit, I was the one who took the basketball medal and hid it in the koi pond! Ali, you were right, it was the only way to honour my dying son`s last wish! He wished that he could just touch the shiny surface of that medal. I planned my theft and when the school was empty, I hid the basketball medal into the koi pond and ran back to the library. The rest you all know. I am so sorry you three, I should not have misused my power over you.”
There was a complete silence for a whole minute. Jane then put her arms over the tearing Mrs Tan. Chris and Sean were totally unsympathetic, Alan just wanted to go home while I went over with Jane and console Mrs Tan
Mrs Tan then told everyone that she knew she had done something wrong. She said she needed to inform the principal/.She collected her heavy body with her remaining energy and quietly left the library.
Mrs Tan was not seen on the next few days of school. Nobody knew or breathe a word about this incident. Obituary than reported that peter died. We attended the funeral where we met Mrs Tan. She seemed well but full of grief after the death of her precious son.
She explained that the principal told her to take few days of leave. She would be going back to school soon.
