First Salary

I have been waiting for this day. Today is the day my son gets his first paycheck, and he told us there is a surprise for us. My husband may not know what that might be, but I know this mother is his favorite, so it is definitely a gift for me — or at least that’s what I thought. But after seeing it, I was really surprised. Before I tell you what the surprise is, I have to share a story first.

One day in 2010, my husband looked confused while checking his wallet. I could have asked him what happened, but back then, there was no Wi-Fi or smartphones, and I wasn’t interested in daily serials. Most women love them here, but not me.

So, I watched my husband count his little money over and over, and I figured out what had happened — 10 bucks were missing. My dim husband didn’t.

He put his wallet aside and forgot about it. The next day, he started counting, and this time he figured out that someone had been stealing 10 bucks every day. But he didn’t know who. Now, only our kids were suspects in the house. He’d better suspect only those two — if he suspected me, he would’ve starved for at least a week. He ate well that day since he didn’t doubt me.

For the next three days, my husband tried his hardest to catch the thief but couldn’t because he watched cricket more than his wallet — and lost 10 bucks each day. Since he couldn’t seem to catch the thief, he gave 10 bucks to both of my sons for the next three days, thinking if he gave it to them, they wouldn’t steal it. In the previous paragraph, I said my husband is dim for two reasons.

One, he thought giving money would stop the stealing, and that’s how he lost 30 bucks. Two, he thought I was stealing, and that’s how he lost good food.

My hungry husband used his mind to catch the thief and came up with a plan. One day, he gave money only to our eldest son, and 10 bucks were stolen. The next day, he gave money only to the youngest, but this time 20 bucks were stolen. That’s how my husband caught our eldest son stealing.

That day, my husband confronted our son and asked him in a loud voice, “Why did you steal it? I would have given it to you if you had asked me.” My son replied while crying, “No, you wouldn’t. You never spend money on yourself. You always spend it on us.” He went into his room, brought out a box with new footwear for his father, and gave it to him. He had bought the footwear for his father with the money he had been stealing because he couldn’t bear to see his father walk around in old, worn-out footwear in pain.

My husband was so happy that his son was worrying about him, but he didn’t show it. First, he told him that he would be even prouder when he bought him something with his hard-earned money and showed it by making him return those shoes. Today, my son bought his father a new pair of chappals, and my husband is so proud of him.

So, I’ll let them have this moment for now. But if my son doesn’t get me a gift next time, I’ll make them all starve for a week.

What did the youngest son do? (Not a continuation just a comment)

Written by

Arjun Sahasya

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Originally published Medium.