THE BROKEN GLASS

Both the brothers were sitting in their well furnished room. The elder brother Sheeran was reading a book and his younger brother was asking him frequent questions, not letting him concentrate on his book.

“Can you stay silent?” asked the elder one.

“Hey! Do you know that silent contains the same letters as listen” replied Rizwan not paying any attention to what his brother has said.

Rizwan was an odd boy. He loved reading short stories, long stories and novels. Detective fictions were his favorite. Foot ball was his favorite game and he was very good at it. He chooses his friends after examining them carefully.

It was late in the evening when Sheeran heard the call from the mosque. After about five minutes both the brothers were making for the mosque. There they offered the final prayer of the day and returned home after having a long chat with their friend Badar and Sani outside the mosque. After having their supper they went to their beds and were soon fast asleep.

Sheeran and Rizwan were walking down the streets of Bun-Doda. Sheeran frequently punching the wall in order to check his power.

“Will it rain tomorrow or is it gonna be sunny?” asked the little fellow.

“In my opinion it will be neither rainy nor sunny” replied Sheeran confidently after examining the great blue expanse over their heads. “But Allah knows best” he added.

When they had reached the far end of the street, it seemed that they were being pulled downwards with great force. It was like a black hole pulling them. When all this ended they found themselves on some strange land. The terrain seemed to be harder than that of the earth. And there was not a vestige of vegetation on that foreign land. Both of them got on their nearly at the same time. They looked around themselves. Nobody was in sight except a red colored strange looking car. They helped themselves to it.

There were four silencers fitted in all the four directions. And it was open on the top. Both of them comforted themselves in the luxurious inside of the car. There was no gear or clutch. Rizwan pressed the black button on which ‘FLY’ was written in embossed letters. On pressing the flying button they were taken straight up in the air and when Rizwan accelerated the car it starts flying at 140kmph. When they had covered a long distance and were enjoying over a river. The car stopped in its place and started to fell downwards. Rizwan tried to accelerate but all his efforts were fruitless. And the car bumped onto the rocks and into the river.

Rizwan woke up with a loud cry of ‘Nooo” from his dreaming world. He was shaking from head to toe. In his hands was a note-book which he was using as the steering of the car. He put it aside and then he realized that he was on the floor. Then bed was not in its real position as well. Because he was trying to accelerate the car by kicking the foreleg of the bed. He helped himself onto the bed and unfolded the blanket over his body. Soon again he was fast asleep.

The next day Sheeran obviously woke up early than his brother. He knocked at Rizwan’s door and went in to wake him up. Rizwan opened his eyes reluctantly and stretched his arm to their full length.

“Wake up and get ready. We are going for a picnic” said Sheeran.

After nearly an hour everybody was ready. When they were just leaving Sheeran kicked the foot ball for Rizwan. He was unable to stop it. So, it hit the pole and then the window pane.

“Look what you done” said Rizwan.

“Nothing to worry about just a small crack at the corner” answered Sheeran.

“Alright, now come on”

Everybody got inside the car. Rizwan remembered the peculiar car he had seen in his dream. After a drive of an hour they reached Patnitop. Everybody enjoyed a lot. At dusk they packed their things once more and started driving home. Nobody was hungry. So, they went to their beds.

The next day Rizwan’s sister came out of her room squeling.

“Both of my golden chains are missing” she cried.

“And my rings too” informed her mother astounded.

“What!” said all the family members in unison.

“So, there had been a theft in our house. At last a mystery for me to overcome” said Rizwan.

He always wanted himself to be a detective. He had tried to solve mysteries, but have never been successful.

“Leave it to me. I will find the thief” he added trying to comfort everyone.

“What! You are going to find the thief” said Sheeran and he broke into a fit of laughter.

“I think we should give him a chance. Because child is the father of man” said his father.

All of them were going to Mudassir’s marriage. Mudassir was Rizwan’s cousin. Everybody got ready but Rizwan was still sitting on the sofa thinking about something.

“Aren’t you coming” Sheeran questioned Rizwan.

“No, I will look into the matter” answered Rizwan.

Everybody went to marriage and Rizwan was now alone in the house.

“Nobody to bother now” said Rizwan to himself.

Many questions about theft flashed through his mind which he as always was unable to answer. He got up and started to examine all the rooms minutely.

He thought about how the thief had entered the house. Everything was locked. Nothing was disturbed inside the house. The keys of the lockers were also in their proper positions. It means that the thief knew the location of the keys. He made use of them and then dropped them back to their position. But who was the thief and how did he got in and escaped.

Rizwan examined each room carefully looking for clues. But found none. At last he went to check his room. Firstly he examined the floor bending on his knees.

“Oh! What is this, pieces of broken glass” exclaimed Rizwan.

On the floor near the window were small pieces of a shattered glass. Rizwan remembered that the window-pane of his room was hit by the foot ball yesterday. And the window pane was cracked at the corner. He got up on his feet and looked at the pane.

“Oh!” exclaimed Rizwan looking shocked.

The window pane was no more cracked. Many things passed through his mind. He thought that the thief may have entered through this window pane. The thief may have brought with him a window pane same as the cracked one. Then he broke the window pane not knowing that it was cracked. Then he entered the house with the new pane. The thief then fitted the new pane in place of the old broken one. He collected the shattered pieces of the glass, putted them in a bag or something like that and pocketed them. But in haste he didn’t collect all the pieces. Rizwan thought about all those things. But he wasn’t sure about any of them.

“If the thief had entered through this pane then how did he escaped?” he questioned to himself.

He took a closer look at the window pane. He was amazed to see that the pane was resting in its place without any support from the nails. Every pane in the house was supported by nails. But amazingly there were none in this pane. Rizwan opened his eyes wider and took a careful look at the corners. There was some sticky substance at the corners of the pane. So, the sticky substance was doing the role of the nails and holding it in its position. Therefore the thief had fitted the pane after coming out of the house, thought Rizwan.

“Now mystery of entering and escaping has been solved at last” he said looking gay. “For the first time in my life I am rewarded for my hard-work” he added.

But the most important part of the mystery still remained a mystery. Who is the thief? Rizwan searched his room once more for more clues but was unsuccessful. Rizwan went to the garden. Because the window of his room was facing towards it. He carefully searched the whole garden. He checked outside the window from where as it seemed the thief had entered and escaped cleverly.

“What is this?” he whispered on seeing a red colored thing on the ground near the window. He picked it up.

“A sim-card” he said changing its position in his hand. The sim card looked new.

“So, the identity of the thief lies inside the sim” said Rizwan cheering up.

Rizwan hag got two mobiles. So, he put the sim in one of them and switched on the mobile. He was very nervous. Using the thief’s sim he typed his own number and made a call. His other mobile rang. And on the screen was the number which Rizwan, on seen, was dumbfounded. He placed himself on the ground shocked.

Late in the evening everybody returned from the marriage.

“Have you found the thief?” everybody questioned.

“Take your seats” said Rizwan.

“Aren’t these chain yours?” he asked taking out two golden chains out of his pocket and pointing them towards his sister.

“Yes! They are mine. But how did you find them?” asked his sister looking amazed.

“And what do you think about these rings” Rizwan asked his mother.

“They are mine!” exclaimed his mother.

“Then what are you waiting for take them and put them back in your lockers” Rizwan said to both of them.

Sheeran’s eyes can’t believe that the mystery had been solved.

“But who was the thief?” asked his family members.

“Don’t ask” replied Rizwan. “You both got your lost things back. Now why do you want the thief” he added.

“He must be taught a lesson. So that he will never ever do this again” cried his father nearly losing his temper.

“I have taught him a good lesson. And I believe that he will never do this again” said Rizwan.

So, everybody retired to their rooms except Rizwan with the same question in their minds. Who is the thief? Sleep refused to pay them visit and all of them tossed restlessly on their beds. Rizwan saw his reflection in the mirror, and retired to his room. For the first time in his life he was so much happy. He thought that this was the best day of his life. He stretched himself on the bed and had a sound sleep. The mystery was solved for him. But for others, the question that who was the thief? Kept rolling in their minds.

After two years when Sheeran was twenty years old. Rizwan went to Delhi to keep on his studies there. One day Sheeran went to Rizwan’s room to have some rest. There he searched for some detective fiction novels. But there instead of novels he found a diary. On its outer front side ‘Rizwan’ was written in beautiful letters. He started to turn its pages until he came to a page dated 26^th of august 2011. It was titled as ‘THE THEFT’. Sheeran opened his eyes wide and started to read it.

It went as.

Assaamualikum. This is the best day of my life. For the first time in my life I have solved a mystery. I always wanted to be a detective. But today I realized that I am worthy to become one. Today is solved the mystery with this sim card. Please don’t take it out. It is at bottom of them page. The thief was very clever. But unfortunately he left the sim card outside my window while fitting the new pane. I don’t tell my family the name of the thief because it will destroy his reputation. You know that if health is lost nothing is lost, if wealth is lost nothing is lost but if character lost everything is lost. I know that he has done a big mistake. At last I want to say that the thief was 9916378707, Dad’s best friend.

Sheeran closed the diary and put it aside taking a deep breath. The next day he informed everybody about the thief. It wasn’t so smart of him. The news was a great shock to them. It seemed that their hearts had come to their mouths, but they managed to gulp it back.

Rizwan came back home in summer vacations. Everyone was changed for him. His brother no more mocked him. Rizwan also was changed. He wasn’t a boy now, he was a grown up person. After offering the final prayer of the day, everybody had their supper and retired for their rooms. After sometime everybody was fast asleep.