There comes a time in every childs life when he or she learns the value of a days work. For some children, this awareness comes with the first lemonade stand or at a family yard sale, at which a few of those piled-up Happy-Meal toys may be redeemed for cold cash.
For a certain boy named Bradley, age 8, this awareness arrived one morning just before breakfast. Somehow, he managed to slip under his mothers plate a folded piece of paper. It was a bill. Scrawled in crayon were these words: Mother owes Bradley: for running errands, 25 cents, for being good, 10 cents, for taking piano lessons, 15 cents; for extras, 5 cents. Total, 55 cents.
Bradleys mother smiled when she saw the note, but said not a word. As he returned for lunch, Bradley discovered to his delight that at his place was a little pile of coins: 55 cents. He discovered something else, as well: another folded piece of paper. Opening it, he read, in his mothers handwriting, these words: Bradley owes Mother, for nursing him through the chicken pox, nothing; for being good to him, nothing; for clothes, shoes and playthings, nothing; for his playroom, nothing; for his meals, nothing. Total, nothing.