“Okay, so, where do we go and play football?” Nora asked Emily. “Hmm, maybe we should play in my garden. Come on!” Emily led the way to her garden.

The sun looked like a halo and the clouds were as fluffy marshmallows. It was quite windy and the grass was dancing, propelled by the wind.

“I go first!” Nora uttered as she kicked the ball towards Emily.

“Is that all you got? Watch me, the champion, hit the ball. It will travel off to infinity!”

For a fleeting second, Emily ran like the wind to the ball and kicked it so hard that it flew over the fence of her garden and into the neighbour’s house. There was a sharp cracking sound.

“Uh oh... what did you do?” Nora spoke, feeling afraid. Her face was as white as a slice of bread.

“I ... I do not know. Oh no! I think I broke my neighbour’s window,” Emily cried in dismay as she dashed across her garden and hid behind some cherry bushes. Nora faded into thin air.

Terror was written all over Emily’s face. She saw the neighbour, Mr Mason, pick up the pieces of razor-sharp glass. There was anger, as well as panic, on his face. His face was grave. Emily ran away as far as she could into a nearby park, puffing for breath. She dare not return home anytime soon.

The sun was setting and the sky was stretched out with hues of tangerines and blossoms. Emily was well aware that it was not secure for her to stay out so late. But it was better late than getting the scoulding she feared. But, eventually, as the light faded, she returned home, keeping her eyes wide open for the neighbour.

What if Mr Mason was at her house? What if he knew it was her? Will she go to jail? Her heart was shaking as she cautiously arrived home.

Her mother saw the sweat on her face. She knew, her daughter had done something wrong. Mother sat next to Emily on the comfortable, azure sofa in the lounge and then spoke.

“Emily, are you okay? Is something wrong? I can help you solve your problems, my dear.”

Emily held her mother’s hands. Her eyes were wet with tears. “Mama, I did something bad, but it was unintentional. I broke Mr Mason’s window by hitting the football so hard that it flew out of our garden and it docked on Mr Mason’s window.”

Mother listened to her patiently as she soothed her and wiped her tears away. She did not press further, although she was not pleased that Emily did not say sorry to Mr Mason immediately. Then mother held a sharp-tipped pencil and began writing on a crisp, milky-white paper.

Emily watched her mother wrote a sentence on the paper then she erased and wrote something again. Questions raced in Emily’s mind, she was eager to know what her mother was up to. Eventually, her mother stopped and turned to her.

“Do you know why pencils have erasers?” mother asked, surprising Emily since she wasn’t expecting such a question.

Emily replied, “To erase our mistakes, whenever we write something wrong.”

Mum was gratified to hear this response from Emily, and answered, “Exactly! You see, I made a mistake when writing on the paper. But I can undoubtedly remove it with this eraser and write the correct sentence. Now my sentence is no longer incorrect.

“Thus, when we make mistakes in life, we can and should fix them immediately. Then it is no longer a mistake. No one is perfect but that does not mean that no one can do the right thing after doing a wrong.”

Emily dipped her head and realised what her mother wanted to say. “Mama, you are right. Although it is quite embarrassing, saying sorry is the only way I can make up for my mistake.” Saying this, Emily got up and went out of the house, and her mother also followed at a distance.

Emily walked up to neighbour’s front door with weak legs. Her heart was pounding and mother’s words were buzzing across her mind. She did not count on something good happening until it had happened.

Emily knocked on the door. She stared lifelessly as Mr Mason opened it with his grouchy face, as usual.

“Mr Mason. I am sorry that I smashed your window with my football. Yes, it was me, but I was too afraid to say it, so I hid immediately. But I have realised my mistake and I am very sorry.”

Mr Mason saw her shoulders drop down as if affected by gravity. He had a little bit of anger leaping from his face, but then, a smile arced on his lips.

“Emily, I appreciate that you have gathered enough courage to came here to say sorry. I know I am a bit hot in the head, but every time someone says sorry and is honest, my temper freezes like popsicles. Speaking of popsicles, would you like some? I have made some extras one. What would you like — strawberry, mango and blueberry?”

Emily was taken aback to hear this from Mr Mason. She realised that her mother was right, as always. If Emily had not spoken the truth, she would have been under stress for a long time and Mr Mason would have remained angry, even if he had not known who the culprit was.

She tinkled with laughter and eagerly said, “Yes, I would love to have the blueberry one!”

So friends, correcting your mistakes can save you from needless suffering.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 13th, 2021