Equality Matters

• Sanjana Naresh, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2019

A lonely man named Sunil was rushing past everyone to open his shop.
When he arrived there, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It was that old beggar man who’d always slept outside his shop and scared away customers.
So, Sunil did what he always did every day. He filled a bucket with ice-cold water and mercilessly tipped it over the beggar.
The beggar also did what he did every day. He woke up shivering, took his belongings and walked away. But he’d always return later without Sunil noticing.
Unfortunately, today was different. Business wasn’t happening like it used to.
Frustrated, Sunil finally came to a decision. Before opening his shop, the next morning, he brutally bashed up the beggar, making him run away.
Sunil slept well that night, satisfied the beggar wouldn’t return.
But he was surprised to find the police near his shop next morning. And even further shocked when he found out the beggar had been stabbed and murdered. At first, Sunil felt guilty about the day before. But later, he realised it didn’t matter.
So, he had another good night. Happy the beggar wouldn’t bother him ever again.
But when Sunil returned to his shop on the next day, he was shocked again. Someone had robbed him, destroyed his shop and taken all his money!
Very soon, the media and police were there on the crime scene. The police investigated and took a copy of the CCTV footage before heading back.
Sunil had a bad night. But he felt more hopeful when the police had called him over to the station.
When he arrived, he saw the officer fiddling on the computer. He watched as the officer opened up Sunil’s CCTV footage.
Sunil saw a weaker version of the beggar outside his shop. He then saw himself pouring water over the beggar. And the beggar walked away but returned once Sunil went inside. Then the beggar hid when Sunil came outside to trash his food scraps. But once Sunil was out of sight, the beggar ran to the bin and began eating the scraps.
The officer then fast forwarded to different days, where the beggar was still eating Sunil’s food scraps out of the bin.
Then, the officer played the footage from the night of the beggar’s death.
He was confronted by a gang of armed thieves who’d came to rob the shop. As the beggar fiercely defended the shop of the man who had given him food, Sunil watched in astonishment. Suddenly, red and blue lights were visible on the screen.
One of the thieves stabbed the loyal beggar and ran away.
Then, in the next day’s footage, the same gang of thieves had appeared and broke into Sunil’s shop, stealing all his money.
The officer turned off the computer and turned to face a regretful and upset Sunil.