The man came home from work late again, tired and irritated,
to find his five-year-old son waiting for him at the door.
"Daddy, may I ask you a question?"
"Yeah, sure, what is it?" replied the man.
"Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?"
"That's none of your business! What makes you ask such a
thing?" the man said angrily.
"I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make
an hour?" pleaded the little boy.
"If you must know, I make $20.00 an hour."
"Oh," the little boy replied, head bowed. Looking up, he
said, "Daddy, may I borrow $10 please?"
The father was furious. "If the only reason you wanted to
know how much money I make is just so you can borrow some to
buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself
straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you're
being so selfish. I work long, hard hours everyday and don't
have time for such childish games."
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even madder about the
little boy's questioning. How dare he ask such questions only
to get some money.
After an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started
thinking he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe
there was something he really needed to buy with that $10, and
he really didn't ask for money very often.
The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened
the door. "Are you asleep, Son?" he asked.
"No, Daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.
"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,"
said the man. "It's been a long day and I took my aggravation
out on you. Here's that $10 you asked for."
The little boy sat straight up, beaming. "Oh, thank you, Daddy!"
he yelled. Then, he reached under his pillow and pulled out
some more crumpled up bills. The man, seeing the boy already
had money, started to get angry again.
The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at
the man.
"Why did you want more money if you already had some?" the
father grumbled.
"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy
replied. "Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your
time?"
Unknown