It all started when a new teacher arrived at the school. His name was Mr. Levi, and he had dark hair and blue eyes. As soon as he arrived, all the students were very curious. He was very quiet and always wore a long black shirt. Every day during breaks he always preferred to sit alone at the teacher’s desk in the classroom rather than in the teachers’ lounge and he would go to the abandoned backyard!
Daniel, a curious, brave, and sociable eighth grader, noticed that the new teacher was acting very strangely and not talking to anyone. He decided to investigate the mysterious teacher. He noticed that Mr. Levi always entered the last classroom at the end of the corridor and closed the door behind him. It was the art room. But there hade been no art classes at school for many years. And no one ever went in there! One day during lunch break, Daniel saw Mr. Levi enter that same classroom.
Daniel decided to peek through the keyhole. He saw Mr. Levi wandering around the room, gazing at the old art supplies, then looking carefully at his hands. Daniel realized that the teacher was hiding something. He told his two best friends what he had seen. They were also intrigued by the strange teacher, and the three of them decided to investigate the teacher.
After a week, the group met after school and decided to follow Mr. Levi. They followed him on the road until they reached the municipal library. There, he didn’t look at any book but went straight to get a small ladder. He climbed the ladder to reach a thick book with a brown color; he looked at it for a few minutes and then left the library. The next day, they followed him again, and he did the exact same thing! After Mr. Levi left the library, the children took the book. They were a bit disappointed to discover it was just an old, boring 400-page book, but they didn’t give up because they wanted to find out what Mr. Levi was hiding from them. They read the entire book, but they couldn’t understand what was so important about it. The book talked about a detective going through adventures all around the world. He finds a treasure and hides it. But when they reached the last page of the book, they realized they had read the whole thing for nothing! Because on the last page of the book, they found an old letter that the teacher was always looking at! The letter was written in beautiful handwriting. It talked about a treasure chest buried in their school’s abandoned backyard, a treasure that had been hidden there by a teacher who had taught at that school many years ago and who had also written this book. At the end of the letter, it mentioned that the treasure was an inheritance for the author’s grandson, and only him. That’s how they understood that the author of the book was Mr. Levi’s grandfather, who loved adventures. And had made a very special adventure for his grandchild. This was why Mr. Levi was going to the backyard: to look for the treasure!
The next day at school, the three of them quietly went, without anyone noticing, to the backyard that everyone called “the forbidden yard.” It was simply full of dirt, with nothing on it, and it was quite large. A shovel was leaning against a wall. “I bet you that Mr. Levi uses this shovel to look for the treasure!” Daniel said, and the other two agreed. They realized it would probably take them a long time to dig to find the treasure, and indeed it did. For a week, the group dug and searched during every break in the yard, until one day they found an old wooden box covered in sand. It was very heavy. They opened it and saw that the entire box was filled with gold coins! Suddenly, they noticed words carved on the box: “For my grandson.”
When the three of them returned to their classroom, they found Mr. Levi sitting at his desk as usual, grading tests and assignments. They showed him the box with the money.
Mr. Levi was overwhelmed, thanked them, and decided to tell them everything. He said that he never really wanted to be a teacher. “I only came to work here hoping to find the treasure.” Instead, he wanted to fulfill his dream of becoming a famous painter! But the problem was that he hadn’t worked for many years, so he didn’t have enough money. In addition, he told them that he went to the city library every day and read the letter his grandfather had left him many years ago. to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, because he hadn’t yet found the treasure, the inheritance his grandfather had left him. He continued, telling them that he went to the art room during breaks to imagine himself using all those brushes and paints. “Whenever I have a free hour,” Mr. Levi said, “and everyone is in their classes, I sneak up to the art room…” Then he paused and thought for a second, and he started unbuttoning his shirt, When he took it off, the group saw an old, dirty white t-shirt stained with various paints, and Mr. Levi said: “And I paint on those old used canvases.” The kids were amazed by what they heard! “This is the moment I wait for all day long!” Mr. Levi added. In his mind, in a few years he’d be a famous painter, holding in his hands his many newly made artworks. And so, thanks to the three eighth-grade friends, Mr. Levi could finally fulfill his biggest dream.
Since then, Mr. Levi has become a very famous painter! He has even won several painting competitions. And always, at the end of each competition, he thanks the same three students who helped him to fulfill his dream.