Leo was an 17-year-old teenager who lived next door to Mr. Oliver. He was a middle-aged single glass painter. He was a proud artist.
Leo always thought of what it would be like to be an artist, but he never seriously considered becoming one. He had a deep fear of not being good at something and not being enough. He was terrified of failing.
Mr. Oliver worked from home and had a little studio in his house. Leo saw him sometimes putting the painted glasses outside to work on them later.
One winter night, Leo was coming home from the cinema when he saw the painted glasses of Mr. Oliver. Leo was curious to see what was painted on those glasses and went into Mr. Oliver’s property because he wanted to take a closer look at them.
There were three painted glasses alongside each other, leaned to the wall and they didn't have a frame. One of them was a beautiful painting of a historical figure whom he did not recognize. He was not particularly sharp in history.
He wanted to see all of them. So, he was tempted to touch one of them to take a closer look, but when he did that, the glass was so sharp that it cut his finger. It fell on the ground, breaking down into pieces.
Leo ran as fast as he could and hid his bleeding finger from his family, but soon his mother figured it out, and he lied to her of how he cut his finger.
A few hours later, while they were having dinner, Mr. Oliver knocked on their door. Leo’s dad got up from the table and opened the door. After greetings, Leo’s dad invited Mr. Oliver inside. He accepted, but he did not sit down, he was just standing and went straight to the point.
“Someone came into my property and broke one of my painted glasses. Have you noticed anything suspicious? Have you seen someone?” Mr. Oliver asked Leo’s dad.
“No, we haven’t seen anything. I hope he didn’t take anything from your house?” Leo’s dad asked.
“No, nothing was stolen, thank goodness,” Mr. Oliver replied.
As they were talking, Mr. Oliver noticed the little suspicious look on Leo’s face. They looked at each other for a moment and then Mr. Oliver apologized for any inconvenience, said his goodbye and left their house.
The next morning, Leo got up to get ready to go to school, but he realized he had gotten a severe cold, and he can’t get out of bed. Getting a cold was inevitable since everyday one of his classmates got a cold and didn’t come to school. The weather outside was freezing, and it was convenient for him that he couldn’t go to school.
As he was laying in his bed and watching the snow falling from his window, he thought about how Mr. Oliver would react if he told him the broken glass was his doing. He must be devastated right now that all his hard work shattered into little pieces. Leo felt guilty, but soon brushed it off. He was mostly worried because he thought that his mother might tell his father about him cutting his finger, and his father might find out that it was actually him who broke Mr. Oliver’s painted glass. The cut was not that bad, it was healing fast. He got up to tell his mother not to tell his dad about his finger, but he was dizzy because of the medication he took, so he got back to his bed.
He realized that it is not a good thing to be stuck in bed. You can’t do anything!
His thoughts focused on what he did last night. He played it over and over in his head. This made him feel dizzier and his situation got worse and his family had to take him to the hospital for a few days.
He dreamt about Mr. Oliver at night when he was at the hospital. In his dreams, he saw Mr. Oliver angrily knocking on their door calling him names, knowing he did it. His father blamed him harshly. Mr. Oliver threatened to sue them, and his father was devastated and disappointed in him. He saw all this and more in his dreams. He would wake up sweating and terrified.
Leo’s family did not want Leo to be in trouble. He had trouble making friends at school because of that. He even had a crush on one of his classmates, but he was too shy to ask her to be his girlfriend. He was a true introvert.
After a few days, Leo was getting better, but his nightmares continued. He needed to put away his fear once and for all. He decided it was better to tell Mr. Oliver the truth when he fully recovered from the cold. Once he decided on that, he was released from the hospital two days earlier because his recovery was fast, and was no longer needed to be hospitalized.
He bought some flowers and went straight to Mr. Oliver’s house.
Mr. Oliver opened the door. Leo did not know what to expect because the expression on Mr. Oliver’s face was neutral.
“It was me who broke the painted glass, my curiosity to see your paintings led me to break one of them,” Leo thought it would be perfect to go straight to the point just like Mr. Oliver does.
“I knew it! When I came over to your house, I knew you might be involved. I suspected it was you from the terrified look on your face. But, I wish you had told me sooner. But, it’s okay. It’s really okay,” Mr. Oliver said.
“I know a lonely man when I see one,” Mr. Oliver continued, pointing to Leo to come inside his house.
“Aren’t you still curious to see those painted glasses?” Mr. Oliver said.
Leo was surprised of Mr. Oliver's reaction. He was happy that he didn't blame him. He welcomed Mr. Oliver’s invitation and went inside. They talked about art, school, and friendship. Leo could never talk to his dad like this, they were never that close. But with Mr. Oliver everything was different, he felt free and loved to talk about art and his life.
Mr. Oliver gave him good advice for finding and keeping a friend. And he showed him his studio and some art pieces. Leo looked at them and wished he could be as good as Mr. Oliver in drawing and painting.
When Leo left Mr. Oliver’s house, he felt he had found freedom. He was excited to be an artist, just like Mr. Oliver. He took classes and in a year he was excellent at drawing faces. Sometimes he would visit Mr. Oliver and get help from him. His suggestions to better his art were really helpful. His parents were proud of him and glad to see him have a new healthy passion.
One day, Leo was in class, and he decided to draw his long time crush Elizabeth. When he finished, he looked at the drawing and was proud to see how far he has come and how his art has progressed and improved. He drowned in his thoughts and did not notice one of his classmates watching him and his drawing. He snatched the drawing from his hand and showed it to all the class, and Elizabeth noticed Leo and his drawing. Elizabeth was really surprised to see the perfect drawing of her face and told Leo that he has talent and little by little she warmed up to Leo, and they became friends.
The drawing was handed over to their teacher.
“I did not know you were that good at drawing. This is really impressive. Would you be willing to teach the students your art in a class after school?” the teacher asked.
Leo gladly accepted the offer. When he told his parents, they were happy too because he earned some money for the art classes and had a responsibility, which they thought was good for him.
Leo started teaching drawing to other students at his school. He felt needed, and he was not alone anymore because he helped others learn art. He was friends with his students.