PSLE: A lesson learnt

3 Pictures

Shelves of merchandise

A chocolate bar

A security guard

Have you been embarrassed before? I have and it has definitely been a lesson learned for me. It happened like this…

I was at the supermarket with my grandmother doing grocery shopping. The place was crowded with busy shoppers as it was a weekend. Merchandise was on promotion everywhere and many trolleys were filled to the brim. The cold air blasting from the air-conditioner made my grandmother and I shivered a little as we meandered along the shopping aisles.

“Grandma, can we buy this?” I grabbed a bar of Mars chocolate and showed it to my grandmother with adorable puppy eyes.

“No, we don’t need this,” she replied firmly and shot me a stern look. Her thin wrinkled face with all the age spots was enough to shut me off. I hung my head low in disappointment and tagged behind quietly.

The desire to have a chocolate bar was just too overwhelming. I love chocolate but my stingy grandmother would never buy me one. However, the whole rows of chocolate were beckoning me to eat them! How could I resist such temptation?

An idea struck me! Why not open one straightaway and eat it on the spot secretly? I was sure no one would know, wouldn’t it?

Without Grandmother’s notice, I surreptitiously nicked one from the shelf and quietly tore open the wrapper. Seeing the coast was clear, I shoved it into my mouth and savoured it. Wow! It was “superlicious”! For a while, I looked like a chipmunk with my cheeks puffed with nuts. I felt like I was in seventh heaven!

Hmm! How could one be enough? How about one more? Just one more? Seeing that there was not even a single soul around, I plucked up my courage and took one bar of Twister this time! Rip! The dark brown creamy chocolate peeped from the opening of the wrapper. I flashed a wide grin, showing my chocolate- stained teeth.

Chomp, chomp, chomp! The taste of heavenly milky chocolate exploded in my mouth. Such pleasure! Wow, I thought I was in paradise!

Unfortunately, before I could finish my last bite, there was a tap on my shoulder. Was it Grandmother looking for me? I hoped not. I turned and saw a security guard with a huge turban on his head and a curly dark moustache.

With a frown on his face, he asked in a typical Indian accent, his head shaking from side to side, “What are you doing, boy? Why is there a chocolate bar in your hand? And the wrapper on the floor?”

My eyes grew huge like saucers. Oh, what bad luck! I was caught red-handed for eating chocolate without paying. My knees started trembling and my face turned ashen. I stammered hesitantly, “I… I… I was …”

For a moment, I fumbled for words. I could not justify my act. What should I say? I froze momentarily and I pleaded for mercy with my palms clasped together. “Please give me another chance! I have learned my lesson! I promise I won’t do it again!” I asked earnestly.

As if that was not enough, my grandmother walked past and saw the security guard talking to me. The burly man then told my grandmother what had happened.

My grandmother’s face turned red in fury. Twisting my ears which grew as red as chilli padi, she blasted, “How dare you steal? I am going to tell your parents and you will be in deep trouble!”

With that, she apologised to the security guard profusely and dragged me by the ear to the cashier to pay for the chocolates. It was so embarrassing.

That night, I got the biggest beating ever. My parents almost killed me! Well, I have definitely learnt the most embarrassing lesson in my life. Well, never be greedy to take what does not belong to me, no matter how much I want it. Sigh.