hedeservedthetoffee

He deserved the toffee

January 22, 2006

His father had promised him a toffee today. That was, of course, not the only motivation. A 12 year old does not need to be motivated to play football, but his father wanted him to play good football and hence the toffee. With his usual concentration and a prize on top of it, he played exceptionally well and the audiences were all praises for the little boy. As promised, his father bought him the toffee and patted on his back in appreciation.

A good boy as he was, he took out the toffee and kept the wrapper in his pocket to be disposed off later in the dustbin. Earlier it would have taken a stern scolding from his father for him to resist the temptation of throwing the wrapper just there. But today he was going to be sincere. Just when he was thinking about being good all day, the toffee slipped from his hands and fell down. He felt sad. He had played well and had deserved the prize. In fact, he even got the prize, but could not taste it. For a moment he felt like crying, the next moment he wanted to ask his father for another toffee, he knew his father would never say no, but he did neither. He just silently walked home alongside his father. His father was speaking about the match but his mind was still lingering about the toffee.

After reaching home, he promptly threw away the wrapper and that made him feel worse. Still, he would have not cried had it not for his father asking, “How was the toffee, my boy?” He immediately embraced his father and started crying. His father was surprised, “What’s the matter?” The boy replied, “My toffee fell down. I could not eat it.” His father asked, “Then why did you not let me know, we could have bought another one!” To this the boy replied, “Father, you gave me the prize I deserved. I was not careful enough and lost it. I have now made it a point to be more careful in using anything that I have earned. I learnt a lesson and so I did not ask for another toffee. I wanted to wait for my next chance.” “Then why are you crying?” his father asked. “Because I cannot answer your question about the toffee!”

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Ashutosh Dhekne