It's safe to say there's not a kid alive today that
wouldn't like to be rich. Not when he's grown up - when
he's a kid and can still really enjoy it. This week's
story is about two young boys who made an interesting
discovery and truly believed they would soon be the
richest kids in town.
When I was seven years old by best friend in the world
was Kerry Wages. We were inseparable. We did everything
together. And one thing we really liked to do was to
dig. One summer we dug a swimming pool. Once we set out
to dig an underground cave, but we ran into solid rock.
I think our parents knew that would happen.
Then one day as we dug in a
small patch of woods next to Kerry's house, we
noticed something. The dirt was wet. We dug a
little further then each of us scooped up a pile
of that dirt and rolled it around in our hands.
It was wet all right, but not from water. Our
hands were black, and we knew what that meant.
We had discovered oil.
For a minute we just sat
there, looking at each other. Then we began to
scream, jumping, dancing. We had struck it rich!
But just what were we going to do now? How would
we go about getting the oil out? And selling it?
How would we get our money? Most importantly,
what could we do to keep someone from jumping
our claim? We quickly covered the hole back up
so nobody could see and we each made a solemn
oath that we wouldn't tell anybody, even our
parents, until we figured out just what to do.
That night I tossed and
turned as I tried to sleep, imagining just what
I was going to do with my part of the money; a
new Cadillac for my dad, a new kitchen for my
mom, a swimming pool, basketball nets, bicycles,
ponies. It was going to be so much fun being
right.
That next day at school
every time I saw Kerry he looked just like the
proverbial cat that had swallowed the canary. We
had the biggest secret in town and couldn't tell
anybody. We were about to explode.
After a little research we
realized that we couldn't get the oil out
without someone's help so we decided that night
to tell our parents. They would be so happy.
When I sat my parents down
that night I excitedly told them we were all
rich. Kerry and I had struck oil. My parents
were surprisingly calm. My mother asked, "did
you say you found this oil on Kerry's property?"
"Yes Ma'am". " You know that's Kerry's mom and
dad's property". She said. "why do you think
they'll give half of the oil to you?" This
wasn't the response I had expected. "Kerry and I
are best friends. Don't worry. We've already
worked all that out".
Then, the doorbell rang. It was probably Kerry
and his parents coming to celebrate. When I
opened the door, it was Kerry all right, but he
didn't look so good. "what's going on"? "we're
not millionaires", he said.
"what"!?
"we're not millionaires".
We sat down outside on my
porch. That's when he explained. When he told
his parents about our discovery they asked him
to show just where he had dug. When he did, his
dad explained that just a few days before our
digging he had changed the oil in his car and
had dumped the old oil in the woods - right
where we were digging. We had found oil all
right, about five quarts of old motor oil.
We were sick. All our
plans, all our dreams, all those new cars and
bicycles and ponies, all just flying away. For
the next couple of days we moped around a
little. But, it must not have been too hard on
us, because before we knew it, we were back in
the woods again digging.
"hey look, I just found a fossil. No, It's just
a rock".
As we sat there in the
dirt, digging and talking and just being friends
we knew we would not be rich - at least not that
day. But, someone once said that "true riches
cannot be measured by what you possess, but by
the kind of friends you have". And that "a true
friend, a loyal friend, is worth everything".
Little did we know, as we sat there in the dirt
digging, and for the years to come, we may not
have been millionaires, but we truly were the
richest kids in town.
See you again next week.
God bless you!
Jerry Stewart
