A Reward for Honesty

Ria was sitting at a small old coffee shop by the hillside on the Mussourie mall road, savouring her favourite Crackling Brownie and sipping some freshly brewed Cappuccino while enjoying the breath taking view outside the window. 

Suddenly, a young boy banged hard onto the coffee shop door and barged inside. He must be about ten years old. He looked famished and impoverished. Ria was intrigued to know his intention so she turned around and started staring at him. He took out some money from his pocket and asked the old man at the counter to give him a sandwich. 

As the old man stretched his old shivering hands to take the money, the note flew away. The old man bent down to look for the note under his counter and found a hundred rupee note. He asked the boy politely, what else would he like to order with the sandwich. The boy replied, what else can I get for the money I paid besides the sandwich. The old man said, "You gave me a hundred rupee note which I found under the counter table. So you could buy a pastry, something to drink and a sandwich." The boy's eyes shone with excitement and then quickly dimmed down. He said, "A hundred rupee note! No! No! No! That doesn't belong to me!"

The old man looked at him disbelievingly. But he bent down again to look for more money and to his surprise he found another note of fifty rupees there. So, he again asked the boy politely, what else would he like to order with the sandwich. The boy was confused so he said, "I thought I could only get a sandwich for the twenty rupees I paid you, so why do you keep asking me what else I want?"

The old man was stunned. A twenty rupee note is what you gave me but I found a hundred rupee note and also a fifty rupee note. The boy thought that the old man wasn't going to give him anything seeing his poor condition and was simply making excuses. He was about to leave the shop when Ria decided to intervene. Ria said that she had just seen a twenty rupee note fly by and getting stuck to the window she was sitting next to. She handed over the twenty rupee note to the shopkeeper and asked him to give the boy the sandwich he wanted. The boy looked elated and was about to leave the shop when Ria stopped him. 

She was curious to know as to why the boy didn't accept the shopkeeper's offer of getting a pastry and a drink along with the sandwich for the hundred rupees the old man found under his counter. The boy replied confidently, "That money didn't belong to me. I may be poor but I am not a thief or a liar. I couldn't take what was not mine". Ria was flabbergasted by his reply and so was the old man. 

The old man quickly packed a box of pastries and handed it over to the boy and asked him to share it with his family. The boy was reluctant but the old man insisted and said, "My dear boy, I am impressed with your honesty. Moreover, you helped me find some of my lost money so consider this as 'A Reward of Honesty' from me to you. God bless you!"

Childhood and old age teach us the best lessons in life! A young child taught us that 'Honesty is still the best policy' and the old man taught us that 'Generosity truly makes us rich'.