My Charitable Son

I was up at 5.45 am to prepare my son for school. After nearly 5 minutes of wheedling, he finally awoke and of course griped about not getting enough sleep and he had an ache in his arms…he would need an arm sling to go to school. (Yesterday it was his left leg and had requested a crutch!). After mustering every atom of my strength to pull him out of bed, he nagged his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth and bathe, whilst I prepared his breakfast of Nutella on toast. I had to pack an “extra” meal for him as he often comes back home with hardly a ringgit on him, and usually offering his lunch to every kid in school I guess.

He had came home from school yesterday and handed me a ringgit of his pocket money. His dad had given him RM4 in the morning before sending him off to school with Zul. After inquiring for the rest, he nonchalantly told me….,

Son: I had given the money to my friend, mama
Me: Why?
Son: Oh, because he had no money to eat.
Me: Yeah, but you guys were already heading back home, why dial nak duit lagi?
Son: Mmmmm….donno….?? He said..nak 1 ringgit, so I give lah.. (smiling fretfully…)After nagging and telling him about the dangers of handing your money to strangers, he had agreed to not do it again. Fine.

His father came home and asked him what he did with the pocket money Uncle Zul had given him this morning. Confused, I queried…Zul had given him money too?

Yes, he said, RM4 from me and another RM4 from Zul. He had RM8 on him this morning. I could see my son pale faced and was stoic as a rock….creeping slowly, unnoticed while singing “All Star” all the way to the bedroom.

EZANE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cried out to my firstborn.

Son : Actually, I was doing sommersaults in school and the money fell out. I lost it all. And mama, I bought Ben 10 jigsaw puzzle from the book shop, a Solivite, keropok lekor, and ice cream..and my friend “pau’ed” a ringgit from me.
Me :Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? What happened to the rest of the money, Zane?
Son: Donno. I forgot lah!!!!
My son.