We got another one

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Every single morning, Abu, a young boy who lives only with his mother, goes up to a huge mango tree at the back of a neighbour's house.

He skillfully climbs it when no one is watching and steals just one mango from the same compound.

He did it religiously.

His idea was that, if he gets one for himself on Monday, the next one will be for his mother on Tuesday.

His mother asked the first time he did it, where he got the Mango from. He had to lie because he didn't want to disappoint his mother, telling her that he steals it from a neighbour's compound.

Not only is he skilled at climbing, or stealing in a way that no one in the house could find out, he also got good at picking the ripest ones. He had done it for a long time so he knows the difference by experience.

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He sat down one evening after dinner, and wondered to himself; "Am I good at this or are people just not telling on me?"

Nobody ever chased him, and it wouldn't make sense to think people are ignoring him when he's taking the ripest of them all.

So he thought he was clever.

On a beautiful Saturday weekend afternoon, he tried his luck with two mangoes this time around. Before he could get the second one, he slipped and fell right inside the yard.

Not only did the fall make a noticeable sound, the tree leaves because of "action and reaction physics law, pushed back and made the sound it makes when a strong wind blows against it".

But that could have been anything, however, what made matters worse and made it even more noticeable was that Abu screamed "OUCH!!!".

It was Saturday, so the entire family had gone out except for the mother of the house, a gentle woman.

Upon hearing the sound, she opened the door immediately.

Abu turned immediately towards her direction and Abu's plan was always to run like hell if he ever gets caught. But that was not an option when he saw he had injured his left foot. It wasn't that bad, just bad enough to not be able to get up that quickly to sprint.

Instead of shouting, the woman said; “Ah!!! Abu, you’re early today.”

Abu froze, with his eyes wide open in shock.

The woman pointed straight at the blue bucket sitting under the tree and said; "Put it there".

Abu tried to get up, and had to limp a little to the bucket. Getting a bit closer to the bucket the woman said; "The small ones fall on their own anyways"

Not only was Abu confused about the entire situation, he decided to comply. Besides, what choice did he have? If he ran away, he's been caught, and apparently the one who caught him was not only aware of him but aware of how long he had been doing that.

• He chose to obey every instruction.

The woman had Abu sit on a chair and she took a first aid kit to treat the wound and massage his foot.

Abu was speechless and the woman knowing he was stunned both physically and emotionally, decided to take it easy on poor little boy.

She was singing a famous old village song while fixing Abu's foot.

When she finished she said "There We Go, We're all set now" ...

Abu looked at her like a cat would look at its owner for food and attention, and she said "Don't give me those cute eyes Abu"

Then she helped him get up to go home safely with the two mangoes in a net sack.

The next morning, Abu's foot was very ok. He was done with his house chores and the temptation to get more Mangoes came because it was that time of the day.

He had thoughts.

He had the white angel on one shoulder and the red demon on the other talking to him.

The good thoughts said to him, "she already knows, she's too kind for you to keep doing this to her. The bad thoughts said to him "she already knows, it's okay to keep doing this".

He decided to test the waters and try going for another mango.

When he got to the house, he looked at the blue bucket and it was surprisingly already full of mangoes, placed neatly.

There was no one outside, he got close to the tree and he saw a note tied to it.

"Stop risking your neck. Just Ask"

He went straight to the door to knock. No one responded. He saw another note on the very chair he sat on yesterday for the gentle woman to fix his injured foot.

"The ones in the blue bucket are for you "

Abu had the biggest smile on his face. He grabbed the bucket and realized it was heavy, but as a young boy full of energy, he was able to carry it.

Abu sent it straight to his mom and had to tell her what had happened. The mother said, why don't you trade with them rather than finishing all of these and looking for another one again.

He set up a table, neatly arranged the Mangoes and guess who his first customer was. The gentle woman who has a tree full of them. She bought something she could easily pluck from the Mango tree. It was literally the same Mangoes she gave that she paid for.

Abu asked "Are you an angel?" She smiled and looked at the innocent face of Abu and said "From one angel to another, I wish your business well".

She brought more Mangoes and taught Abu how to make Mango juice to sell. Abu used the same enthusiasm he had when stealing, to make an honest trade. He grew up so successful in business and always gave gifts to the gentle woman.

Another boy in the village stole his first Mango right when Abu had visited the gentle woman. They both looked, laughed and the woman said to Abu "We got another one".