Somon felt wretched. He knew he had done something terribly wrong. He thought and thought but he just did not know what to do about it. It had all started yesterday, at school during lunch break. He had gone into the school library to look for a stoy book when he found a small purse on the book shelf. He wondered who had left a purse there so he opened it and saw there was a hundred rupee note inside.
As Somon was wondering what to do, he suddenly heard his friends’ voices. They had been looking for him. He could hear them coming closer. He still had the purse in one hand and the money in another. With out thinking, he dropped the purse right there and crammed the money into is pocket. Suddenly he was no longer in the mood to look for the story book. Giving up the idea, he went up to his friends and quickly walked out of the library with them. He thought of telling them about the money he had found but he was still not sure about what he should do about it so he decided to keep quiet about it.
His friends wanted to go the canteen so he followed them there. On the sour of the moment he decided to treat them all to ice –cream. They were delighted and thanked him for his generosity. But he felt uneasy and did not really enjoy his ice-cream. After brake, he went to his Maths class but even in class he could not concentrate. He kept making mistakes and his teacher scolded him for not paying attention.
Later, when it was time to go some, Somon felt even more terrible. As he was waiting at the school gate for his mother to pick him up after school, he saw a girl holding the empty purse he had dropped in the library. She was crying as her mother scolded her for her carelessness. Form their conversation he gathered that her mother had given her the money to buy new exercise books from the school bookshop. When Somon heard this he froze. He could not get himself to move away until his mother came looking for him.
Somon really wished he had not been tempted to spend the money. He wanted to go to her and return it. But he had only 50 Rupees left. How could he explain to her mother that he had spent her money on ice –creams? He just had to keep quiet but he felt miserable.
When Somon reached home, he put the 50 Rupees in his drawer. He knew he could not spend any more of that money. All night he could not sleep. He kept tossing and funning in his bed. He kept thinking of how that girl was crying and how she got a scolding just because of him. He felt really guilty. He did not know what would be the right thing for him to do. Should he tell his mother and ask her for help? What should he do?