LITTLE

Little Things Get Bigger With Time

Written by Donna L. Werge

When I was a little girl, I grew up in a little house

in a little town, on a mountain called Schooley's Mountain

I lived on a section of the mountain called ":Burke's Curve"

...they named the curve after my father, Larry Burke.

But that's another story.

We didn't have much money growing up.

We had no phone, and sometimes no electric

because Dad couldn't pay the bill.

My mom died when I was 9 so it was just me and my two sisters,

and my brother

Everywhere I wanted to go I had to walk.

I walked Schooley's Mountain everyday.

Down the mountain to the country store

and back Up the mountain to Burkes Curve.

One day on my journey an elderly man stopped me

and asked me if I would be so kind as to feed the fish

in the pond he had in the back yard.

He said he would pay me a dollar

if I would feed the fish everyday.

I was thrilled!!...I thought "WOW"..

I can make a dollar a week doing this.

Then came the hitch...the worst moment of my life,

I was going to die, I just knew it.

The old man asked for my phone number

so he could talk to my parents.

Oh nooo, I thought...how do I tell this man I dont' have a phone!

Or worse yet, that I don't have two parents!..

I gave the old man a fake phone number, took his dollar and left.

I dont' remember how old I was, all I remember

is from that day on, I ran past the old mans house

so he wouldnt' see me. As the years went by

I thought about the old man and the dollar all the time.

Its amazing how the smallest of things

follow you thru life and haunt you.

I didn't realize that you don't really need to feed pond fish,

that they feed themselves..

. I didn't realize that this man was teaching me a lesson

In honesty and character.

There are alot of things I didn't realize at that time.

All I knew was, I wanted that dollar.

Now...here I am, a woman in my late thirty's still thinking about

the man and the fish and the dollar.

Realizing that I failed that test back then,

has made me a better person today.

I 've learned that honesty is the best policy,

and that no matter where you come from,

or how much money you have,

you need to be proud of who you are.

Don't ever be ashamed because you dont'

have a phone, or nice clothes or a mom or a dad.

Those are all things that are beyond your control

when your just a little kid.

I can't give the old man his dollar

back, and I'm sure the fish have moved on

but the lessons I learned from that small incident

have followed me thru a lifetime

Page created by

ANGELSDO

12/29/98

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