“This is bad. How many times have I told you not to waste your study time on these paints and brushes. Just put them back and do your homework,” said Ali’s mother.

Ali was a 13-year-old boy with an obsession of painting. He loved to draw and paint, but his parents didn’t like it. They thought it was waste of time. However, Ali managed to paint whenever he got time.

Ali was also a good-natured boy, responsible and well-mannered. He would always obey his parents and painted only when he found spare time, which he often did as he was organised and didn’t waste of a lot of time on frivolous activities.

Time flew. Ali had passed his eighth grade in flying colours. His parents were very happy and they thought of now allowing Ali to do painting whenever he got extra time.

As it was break from the school, Ali was free and so he spent most of his time in polishing his painting skills. One day, while Ali was reading a book, the cold and pleasant breeze from the window took Ali’s attention towards itself and he immediately had an idea.

‘Why not paint!’ he thought and looked out from the window. The weather was pleasant. There was an apple orchard at a distance from his house so Ali took his painting materials and went out. Ali set the canvas at his main gate, arranged his things and sat down to draw and paint the orchard.

He was engrossed in the details of the scene when something caught his attention — there were two strange people hanging around in the orchard. One was standing under a tree and the other was at a distance eating an apple. The scene was picturesque enough to be captured on the canvas and Ali drew all the details and started painting.

When it came to their dressing, he saw each man was wearing a large black coat but he couldn’t figure out their body shape, which looked awkward somehow due to the long coats.

Ali kept painting them while the men were busy picking apples and moving around the trees. Just before Maghreb prayers, Ali’s painting was done and the men were also gone. Ali carried all his stuff inside his house. Ali was too happy very pleased with himself as he had painted a beautiful scenery.

Suddenly, he heard the doorbell ring. At the door was uncle Rafique, their neighbour and the owner of the apple orchard. He looked worried and upon Ali’s inquiry, Uncle Rafique told that someone was plucking apples from his orchard for the last two days. As the orchard was quite close to their house, he wanted to know if Ali or his family had seen someone there.

Now, Ali understood the whole situation — those men, and their unique attire. Ali rushed to his room, took his painting and came back to uncle Rafique. Ali told uncle Rafique the whole situation and gave him his painting to see if it would help him catch the men. Uncle Rafique couldn’t believe his eyes, Ali has very clearly painted the men which made their face easy to identity. Uncle Rafique took the painting and went straight to the police station and soon the thieves were easily caught and put in the lock up.

Uncle Rafique praised Ali for having such a unique skill. He also presented him the finest set of brushes. This was the first time that Ali’s parents looked upon Ali’s painting skill with pride.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 11th, 2021