The man came home from work late again, tired and irritated,

to find his 5 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 $10.00 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

to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe

there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.00,

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 $10.00 you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, beaming. “Oh, thank you daddy!”

he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some

more crumpled up bills. The man, since 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 $20.00 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?”

– John Andrew Holmes