A story about a boy, a cupboard

and lots of hidden things

by Anita Bekker
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Nicholas was a very bad little

boy. You would not think it to look
at him, because outside Nicholas
was a very nice-looking little boy.
However, inside he was very bad
indeed!
He was always hiding away.
When it was time to bath, Nicholas could not be found. When it
was time to go to bed, no one knew
where Nicholas was. He was a very
hiding-sort of little boy.
He had learned that he could hide
his bad things out of sight.
Nicholas lived with his
Daddy and Mummy, and brother and
sister and Granny in an up-stairsdown-stairs house. At the bottom
of the stairs going up, there stood a
large, old cupboard, which no one
ever used.
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In fact, everyone had forgotten about the old cupboard

even being there, except
Nicholas. One day Nicholas decided to open the door and look
inside, and to his great surprise
and delight, he found it quite
empty, and big enough to hold
him! So he climbed inside and
shut the door behind him.
At first, it seemed too
dark inside there to suit Nicholas, but the longer he stayed there, the more he liked
it, and after a short while the darkness didnt bother
Nicholas at all. In fact, he rather liked it!
While he was sitting
there thinking what to do
next, Mummy called out,
Nicholas! Where are you?
But Nicholas kept perfectly
still and very quiet, and
Mummy soon went away,
never knowing where he was!
He thought to himself,

What a very clever boy I

am, to have found such a
good hiding place!
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(Was he clever? Oh, no! It is a very foolish thing to do to climb into a cupboard
and close the door behind you, for you
may never get out again!)

But Nicholas was a hiding sort of little boy, and

he liked being there, all shut up in the dark, where no
one could find him. When he came out at last, Mummy
asked him where on earth he had been, but Nicholas
did not tell her. He pretended that he could not remember a thing about it! He was very bad!
One day Nicholas was playing with Martins telescope. Martin was Nicholas big brother, and he didnt
allow Nicholas to play with it, but Nicholas had waited
until Martin was gone, and then took it! Well, Nicholas
was very careless, as a rule, and of course, he broke
it! And of course he did not go straight away to Martin to tell him what had happened, as he should have.
No, Nicholas decided to hide it
away instead.
But where?
Of course! His cupboard! That
was just the right sort of hiding
place for it, he thought, and he ran
there quickly and hid the telescope
in the cupboard where no one would
ever think to look for it. Poor Martin was terribly unhappy!
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Martin hunted high and low for the telescope, but

couldnt find it anywhere! Everyone thought that a
thief might have taken it through the open window. It
was a mystery to all, except Nicholas, who kept quiet.
Another time, Karen, his little sister, wouldnt
play with him she was too busy with her new doll to
have time for Nicholas. He got really fed up with
Karen, and when she went to take her bath, Nicholas
took her doll and hid it in the cupboard!
Now let her try to play with the silly thing! said
Nicholas crossly. Shell never find it there!
And she never did! Poor Karen was heartbroken.
She hunted high and low for her dear dolly, but in the
end, Daddy said she might have left it outside, and
perhaps the dog from next door had gotten hold of it.
Karen cried for days.

Well, things continued to

go missing in the house.

Daddys brand new rake disappeared - Nicholas didnt like having to sweep up all the leaves in
the yard on Saturday.
Mummys wooden spoon went
missing, too - Nicholas didnt
like it when Mommy paddled
him for being naughty!
Granny lost her spectaclesNicholas didnt like the way
Granny would look over the tops
of them at him with her piercing
eyes and ask, Nicholas, have you
been a good boy today?
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He even hid his peas! He didnt like

peas, and hed hide them in his serviette
at dinner, and then go and deposit them
in his cupboard later.

Once, a whole batch of muffins went missing.

Mummy had baked them for Aunty Mabels visit, and
Nicholas loved muffins. So he took them and left
them in the cupboard for later, but when he went into
the cupboard to enjoy
them, he could never
find them again! It
was terribly dark in
the cupboard when the door was shut and, try as he
may, he just could not lay hold of them. Nicholas hid
everything in his cupboard.
His new track shoes that pinched
him went in.
His friends new soccer ball went in.
Broken things went in, for Nicholas
would never own up when hed broken
something and simply say, Sorry.
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Things that got on his nerves went in there. He

was the most hiding sort of little boy imaginable! And
soon the cupboard became uncomfortably full, almost
too full for Nicholas to fit in, too! But he would
squeeze inside, and wriggle around, until he got in. It
was rather dark and stuffy now, what with all those
moldy peas and rotten muffins. And the things that
were on top kept falling down and hitting him on the
head! And the things on the bottom kept poking him,
so that he was rather afraid to put his feet anywhere,
and he had to be very careful about the rake - he did
not want to find that again with his tail-end!
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Once when he was hiding there,

hed accidently sat down on the rake,
and it had left his end aching, so much
so, that he couldnt sit still at dinner,
and Granny had looked at him and said,
Whatever is the matter with you, my boy? Do sit still
at once! Granny couldnt stand any fidgeting at all!
To top it all, Nicholas had started to have nightmares about the cupboard. He dreamed that he was
running down the street in the dark and the cupboard
was chasing him, trying to catch him and lock him away
forever!
When Aunty Mabel said she was coming for a visit
again, Nicholas decided hed have to go back into the
cupboard. Mummy had baked a fresh batch of delicious, golden donuts, and Nicholas knew hed have to
take several into the cupboard with him before Aunty
Mabel arrived, otherwise hed
miss out on the donuts, as he
in any case would be inside
the cupboard hiding from his
aunty. But this time when he
thought of the cupboard, his
heart sank!

The smell! The dark! The falling

-down-and-poking-up-things!
But then he thought of the
donuts, and the more he thought of
the donuts, the less he minded the
cupboard!

When he heard Aunty Mabels knock at the door,

he quickly filled his pockets and dived into the cupboard, just before Mummy came around the corner to
answer the door.
Nicholas! called Mummy, Where are you?
Nicholas?

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Nicholas kept quiet and bit into a

donut. He could hear Mummy opening the
door, and he sat back to enjoy his mouthful of warm, crispy donut.
Just as the front door opened, and Aunty Mabel
stepped in, the cupboard door flew open and Nicholas
tumbled out with a blood-curdling shriek!
Hed forgotten all about the rake, and had sat
down on it again! And not only did Nicholas come tumbling out of the cupboard, but every hidden thing
came tumbling with him, including a family of mice
that had decided to move into the cupboard, too! And
where should the whole tumbling mess land but right
at Aunty Mabels feet!
There lay Nicholas with all his hidden-ness around
him - the telescope, the spectacles, the soccer ball,
the wooden spoon, the moldy peas, the rotten muffins,
the lost dolly, and on top of the lot, Daddys rake!

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NICHOLAS! murmured Mabel.

NICHOLAS! moaned Mummy.

NICHOLAS! muttered Martin.

NICHOLAS! cried Karen.

NICHOLAS! gasped Granny.

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NICHOLAS! demanded Daddy,

You had better come along with me!
All Nicholas hiding-ness had come
out into the open. His cupboard was
just too full and couldnt take another
thing, not even a donut with a hole in
the middle! Nicholas dragged himself
up out of the mess with the help of
Daddys firm hand on his shoulder.

It was time for a Conference with

Daddy, he knew, and his already aching
end - for remember it was due to the
rake that Nicholas was there in the
first place - was sure to ache some
more before too long!

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After all was said and done (and there was a lot
said and done that day), Daddy told Nicholas that he
would have to clean up the mess, and sort everything
out with everyone he had ever stolen and hidden from.
That took Nicholas a good long time, because you will
remember that Nicholas cupboard was rather a large
one, and he had hidden a lot in it there over time. No
one was very happy with him, but in the end Nicholas
learned a very good lesson that we find in the Bible:
THINGS CANNOT
STAY HIDDEN FOREVER!
The verse says: Be sure your sin will find you
out! (Numbers 32:23). How true!

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The cupboard went to Aunty Mabel, who had a

good use for it. Empty cupboards always become a
problem if they are not filled quickly with good things.
Nicholas was glad to see it go - hed had enough of
hiding places. He had decided that he was not going
to be a hiding sort of little boy any longer, and from
that day on, Nicholas never hid himself or anything
else away in the dark again!

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