“The Richest Kids in Town”
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 rich.
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.
