Buying Some Time...

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 son, 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 him 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," he said to his son. "Maybe I was too hard
on you earlier. 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 little boy slowly counted out his money, then
looked up at the man.

The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get
angry again. "Why did you want more money if you already had
some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough yet," he said, "but now I do."

"Daddy, I have $20.00 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?"

-- Author Unknown