Story: The Boy and the Shopkeeper

The book shop

(source: mynewmaster)

There one was a boy who lived in a little town on the outskirts of Seattle. The boy was merely eleven but he yearned for a place to work. He had always been an active child, and this need to work was something he had wanted for a while. He wanted to feel accomplished like he was truly doing something with his time.

One day, the boy went into town and stopped at the various shops. He went into the bakery, the post office, the bank, and the coffee shop. All of the shop owners said the same thing. He was much too young to work in their shop. The boy was about to give up and begin his walk home when he passed by an old book shop. The boy eagerly opened the door and made his way up to the front counter. There was an old man sitting there reading a copy of War and Peace.

"Excuse me, sir," peeped the boy.

"Oh, yes? What is it?" the man said as he peered up from his book.

"I was wondering if you might have any work for me to do."

"Well, I only have one other employee besides myself. He sweeps the floors and reorganizes the shelves at night. I supposed I could see what you could do. Come in early tomorrow morning and we can get started."

"Thank you, sir!"

The boy squealed as he ran home. He ate his dinner as fast as possible and got ready for bed as he knew that the next day would be very important.

The boy arrived an hour before the shop opened so he could show the shopkeeper he was punctual. The shopkeeper recognized this as he showed up in the morning to let the boy inside. Once inside, the two instantly got to work. The shopkeeper showed the boy the way the books were organized, how to sell the customers on a book, and how to work the cash register.

The boy picked up on these traits quickly and his first day at work was a complete success. The boy sold almost fifty books to people of the town that day. The shopkeeper was very impressed with his work. He told the boy that he could not afford to pay him much, but he did appreciate the strong work ethic of the boy. He handed the boy his pay and let him off for the evening. The boy was walking down an alley on the way home when a older boy approached him.

"That's a nice hunk of cash you got there," said the bully.

"Oh, yes! I just earned it from my first day of work!"

"Well then, you won't mind if I take it!"

The bully was much larger and stronger than the boy so he sadly handed the bully his money. This happened every day after work. The boy would walk home and the bully would take this money. It didn't matter if the boy took a different route home as the bully always found him.

One day in the shop, the shopkeeper asked the boy what he had purchased with his first few payments. The boy told him that he had not bought anything as there was a bully that would take his money after work every day. The shopkeeper was appalled by this and demanded that the boy take him on his walk home tonight. The boy did just this as the two walked to the boy's home. Just like always, the bully found the two. Only this time, the bully's eyes grew wide with fear. The shopkeeper's jaw almost hit the ground.

"Is this the bully that is taking your money?" the shopkeeper said.

"Yes!" the boy replied.

"This so called "bully" is my sweeper at the store. I told you about him the first day you came in and asked for a job."

The shopkeeper was disappointed in his sweeper's behavior. He fired him immediately as he would not tolerate such evil behavior.

It seems to be clear that the bully truly learned his lesson that day as he was never seen again on the boy's walk home from work.

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Author's note: This story was inspired by a Jataka tale called the mouse and the farmer. In this story, the farmer paid the mouse for his services in the payment of meat. The farmer's cat would steal the meat from the mouse each time. The farmer learned of this and gave the mouse something that would ultimately kill the cat. In my story, I made all the characters into humans as I feel like I write my best stories when it involves humans. Their behaviors are much more predictable and understandable than animals, so I find comfort in using humans as my characters over animals. One of the main things that I wanted to twist with this story was that no death came to the bully. A lot of my previous stories have involved death or some sort of destruction. The bully was simply fired and I like to think that this will teach him a lesson as he moves on in life. I liked the small twist that I added. In the beginning of my story, the shopkeeper mentions that he has a sweeper, but that is all we here of it until the shopkeeper reveals him to be the bully. I thought it was subtle enough to be on the readers' mind without being overly obvious with my intentions.

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Bibliography: Rouse's Giant Crab
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