The Thief's Story
2.
The Thief's Story
• Ruskin Bond
A young boy makes friends with Anil.
Anil trusts him completely and employs
him. Does the boy betray his trust?
I was still a thief when I met Anil. And tough only 15. I was an experienced and fairly successful hand.
Anil was watching a wrestling match when I approached him. He was about 25-a tall, lean fellow-and he looked easy going, kind and simple enough for my purpose. I hand't had much luck of late and tought I might be able to get into the young man's confidence.
"You look a bitq of a wrestler yourself," I said. A little fattery helps in making friends.
"So do you," he replied, which put me off for a moment because at that time I was rather thim.
"Well" I said modestly, "I do wrestle a bit."
"What's your name?"
"Hari Singh, " I lied. I took a new name every month. That kept me ahead of the police and my former employers.
After this introduction. Anil talked about the well-liled wrestlers who were grunting, lifting and throwing each other about. I didn't have much to say. Anil walked away. I followed casually.
"Hello again, "he said.
I gave him my most appealing smile. "I want to work for you, " I said.
"But I can't pay you."
I thought that over for a minute. Perhaps I had misjudged my man. I asked, "Can you feed me"?
"Can cook, I lied again.
"It you can cok, then may be I can feed you."
He took me to his room over the Jumna Sweet Shop and told me I could sleep no the balcony. But the meal I cooked that night must have been terrible because Anil gave it to a stray dog and told me to be off. But I just hung around, smiling in my most appealing way, and he couldn't help laughing.
Later he patted me on the head and said never mind, he'd teach me to cook. He also taught me t write my name and said he would soon teah me to write whole sentences and to add numbers. I was grateful. I kenw that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve.
It was quite pleasant working for Anil. I made the tea in the norning and then would take my time buying the dat's supplies, usually making a profit of about a rupee a day. I think he knew I made a little money this way but he did not seem to mind.
Anil made noney by fits and starts. He would borrow one week, spent the next. He kept worrying about his next cheque, but as soon as it arrived he would go out and celebrate. It seems he wrote for magazines a queer way to make a living!
One evening he came home with a small bundle of notes, saying he had just sold a book to a publisher. At night, I saw him tuck the money under the mattress.
I had been working for Anil for almost a month and, apart from cheating on the shopping, had not done anything in my line of work. I had every opportunity for doing so, Anil had given me a key to the door, and I could come and go as I pleased. He was the most trusting person I had ever met.
And that is why it was so difficult fo fob him. It's easy to rob a greedy man, because he can afford to be fobbed; but it's difficult to rob a careless man-sometimes he doesn't even notice he's been robbed and that trakes all the pleasure out of the work.
Well, It's time I did some real work, I told myself; I'm out of practice. And if I don't take the noney,he'll only waste it, on his friends. After all he doesn't even pay me.
Anil was asleep. A beam of moonlight stepped over the balcony and fell on the bed. I sat up on the floor, considering the situation. If I took the money , I could catch the 10.30 Exoress to Lucknow. Slipping out of the blanket, I crept up to the bed. Anil was sleeping peacefully. His face was clear and unlined; even I had more narkson my face, though mine were mostly scars.
My hand slid under the mattress, searching for the notes. When I found them, I drew them out without a sound. Anil sighed in his sllep and turned on his side, towards me. I was startled and quickly crawled out of the room.
When I was on the road, I began to run. I had the notes at my waist, held there by the string of my pyjamas. I slowed down t a walk and counted the notes: 600 rupees in fifties! I could live like an oil rich Arab a week or two.
When I reached the station I did not stop at the ticket office (I had never bought a ricket in my life) but dashed straight to the platform. The train had still to pick up speed and I should have been able to jump into one of the carriages, but I hesitated-for some reason I can't explain-and I lost the chance to get away.
When the train had gone, I found myself standing alone on the deserted platform. I had no idea where to spend th night. I had no friends believing that friends were more trouble than help. And I did not want to make anyone curious by staying at one of the small hotels near the atation. The only person I knew really well was the man I had robbed. Leaving the station, I walked slowly through the bazaar.
In my short career as a thief, I had made a study of men's faces when they had lost their goods.The freedy man showed fear; the rich man showed anger; the poor man showed acceptance, But I knew that Anil's face, when he discovered the theft, would show only a touch of sadness. Not for the loss of money, but for th loss of trust.
I found myself in the maidam and sat down on a bench, Teh night was chilly-it was early November-and a light drizzle added to my discomfort. Soon it was raining quite heavily. My shirt and pyjamas stuck to my skin, and a cold wind blew the rain across my face.
I went back to the bazzar and sat down in the shelter of the clock tower. The clock showed midnight. I felt for the motes. They were damp from the rain.
Anil's money. In the morning he would probably have given me two of three rupees to go to the cinema. but now I had it all. I couldn't cook his meals. run to the bazzar or learn to write whole sentences any more.
I had forgotten about them in the excitement of the theft. Whole sentences I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. It was a simple matter to steal-and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else. I should go back to Anil, I told myself, if only to learn to read and write.
I hurried back to the room feeling very nervous, for it is much easier to steal something than to return it undetected. I opened the door quietly, then stood in the doorway, in clouded moonlight. Anil was stiil asleep. I crept to the head of the bed, and my hand came up with the notes. I felt his breath on my hand. I remained still for a minute. Then my hand found the edge of the mattress, and slipped under it with the notes.
I awoke late noxt morning to find that Anil had already made tha tea. He stretched out his hand towards me. There was a fifty-rupee note between his fingers. My heart sank. I thought I had been discovered.
"I made some money yesterday," he explained. "Now you'II be paid regularly.
My spirits rose. But when I took the note, I saw still wet from the night's rain.
"Today we'll start writing sentences." he said.
He knew.But neither his lips nor his eyes showed anything. I smiled at Anil in my most appealing way. And the smile came by itself without any effort.