Theme: Honesty
 
Found can be stolen
 
Tonico was hurrying toward his class, because the school signal was already about to hit. A few steps in front of him, also hurriedly carrying a lot of things, among his backpack, coat, notebooks and sheets, was his colleague Marcos.

When he turned right, in the hallway where his room was, Tonico saw no more Marcos. He had just entered. Tonico was coming in too when he realized that on the floor, just before the door, were two rolled up notes.

Tonico thought that the money should be from Marcos, since his friend had just come by. But the bell rang at that moment and he only had time to take the money, put it in his pocket, and enter in the class.

Sitting in his desk, Tonico was glad because he remembered the saying that "found is not stolen". He decided that he would buy a snack at the canteen with the money found.

At recess, Tonico came out happy. He chose the snack he wanted and then went to play with his friends, satisfied. When the signal hit indicating the end of the interval, Tonico went to his class like the other children.

He did not notice, but Marcos did not go playing. He was sitting in his desk, sad.

- Didn’t you leave, Marcos? - Tonico asked his friend.

- No - said the boy dryly.

- Why? - Tonico insisted.

Because someone stole my money. I looked for a long time and did not find it. And besides losing all the time in the park, I couldn’t eat.

Tonico froze. He could not speak. He wanted to explain that he had found the money, but thought his friend would be angry with him.

When he found the money, Tonico knew that Marcos's chances were great. But the idea of ​​buying the snack was so cool that he did not even try to figure out if it was. He preferred to take advantage of the "luck" he had, forgetting that his luck was his friend's bad luck.

The teacher asked everyone to sit down, because there was something very serious about talking to the class. 

She told them that Marcos's money was gone and started talking about how wrong it is to mess with others' things and how honesty matters. They were thinking the money had been stolen. Tonico did not dare say anything, but he felt very bad about that situation.

When he got home, his mother soon realized that he was not well. She asked her son what had happened at school, but he did not want to tell. She went to his backpack to see if she had any messages from the teacher. Then she noticed that the snack she had prepared for her son was still there, intact.

- Son, do you want to eat something? Are you hungry? - she asked.

- No, Mama, not now. I'll eat later. - Tonico answered.

- Then you must have eaten the whole lunch. Was it tasty? - she continued.

- Yes - Tonico answered, not wanting to extend on the subject.

- But what good snack did you eat? - Asked the mother, pointing to the lunch box. - Yours is all here!

Tonico tried to think fast about some excuse, but he couldn’t. He started crying, putting out all the pressure and sadness he was feeling. Then, calmer, he told everything that had happened.

Talking to his mother, he felt better because she believed he did not steal it, but found the money. Even so, the mother taught:

- Son, when we find something that is not ours, we must try to know who it belongs to and give it back. If, after trying to find the owner, in every possible way, we don’t, then we can take what we have found, but then we will have a clear conscience.

Tonico did not like to hear that. That was precisely the problem, his conscience was not at all calm. His mother realizing the situation said:

- All right, dear. Will be all right! I'm going to help you.

- Help? how? I do not want anyone to know! - Tonico said, frightened.

- Son, even if no one knows, you know. And God too! If you don’t return the money to Marcos, you will always feel bad when you remember that.

And she went on:

- Let's do it like this, I'm going to prepare a delicious snack with cake, juice and bread stuffed for you and him. And you are going to take two notes from your piggy bank, as the same ones you used, to give back to him.

- But mother… will it work? - asked the boy, afraid.

Confident, she replied:

- I think so. If you explain it right, apologize, say that you now want to repair the mistake by offering him a snack and returning the money, I believe he will understand and be your friend even more, by seeing you acting honestly and sincerely. Sometimes it takes courage to be able to do what is right. But you will.

Listening to his mother speak this way, Tonico was convinced that it was the best thing to do. The next day, as soon as he hit the sign, announcing the beginning of the recess, he went straight to Marcos. He said that he had brought a snack to him and started conversation.

He arrived home that day, quite differently from the day before. Cheerful, chatty...

- Mother, Marcos asked if he can come and play here at home on Saturday. And if you can make more chocolate cake for us - said, as he played with Duke, his dog.

She smiled and said yes. The subject was closed and with a happy ending.

Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com

marcelapradacontato@gmail.com