Mr Tanker, the baker, was fed up. Mrs Cole, who ran the general shop and post office, was fed up. Even James, the gardener, was fed up. Every time Bobby came anywhere near their shop or garden, something went missing!
Mr Tanker lost muffins and cookies and even cookie-cutters. Mrs Cole found that odd things like dog collars, funnels or tins of jam vanished from her shelves! As for James, he kept a careful eye on Bobby so that he might not take a spade or a hoe or a pair of shears.
Bobby was ten years old and the whole village knew him as That Blessed Bobby! He would pick up just anything he saw, whether he needed it or not.
“I can understand his eating things,” said Mr Tanker, “but what is he going to do with a funnel or dog collars or a spade?”
It was a real mystery to everyone. Then a new teacher came to the village school to teach art and craft. Miss Georgina was very gentle and the children loved her. She taught the children how to paint all kinds of pictures and even taught them how to make different things like finger and glove puppets and dresses of dolls and furniture!
Bobby began to enjoy Miss Georgina’s classes. She had heard nothing but complaints about Bobby from everyone in the school and the village. She decided to put Bobby’s habit to use. One day, she announced in the class, “I am sure each of you loves to collect something – stamps, match boxes, bottle caps, many more things. Please bring whatever you have collected to the class tomorrow.”
The next day, the students brought all kinds of things to the class. Miss Georgina showed them how to make pictures and collages out of them. The most interesting collection
was Bobby’s. There were odd things like dog collars, a cup, teaspoons, a broken penknife, some old comics, nails and nuts, a screwdriver, a spade, a funnel and empty tins.
Mrs Georgina looked at them and told him that they would make a sculpture out of these things. She and Bobby made a creature using all the stuff. Soon the other children joined in too. The strange sculpture was ready finally.
Suddenly, Bobby had found his hobby. He loved making things! Miss Georgina asked him to make something new and said that the whole class would bring things that were being thrown away in their homes. Everyone noticed that Bobby stopped being a menace. He was known to be the most creative student in school!
Moral: If you try, a weakness can be made creative.
