Date: 2009-03-05 12:23 Subject: The boy, the man, and the barn full of manure. Security: Public Tags: change, hope, humor, politics

Once upon a time there was a Boy who Wanted a Pony.

He really, really, really wanted a pony.

His neighbor, a curmudgeonly stingy old bastard who had very little good to say about anyone, but who did, once he'd given it, keep his word, overheard the boy talking one day, and said, "Come clean out my barn, and I'll give you a pony."

Well.

Everyone knew this man kept his word. And there were witnesses. So, that weekend, the boy's mother packed him a lunch, and he walked over the fields into the rising sun to the man's barn.

The man greeted him with a shovel, said, "I'll be up to check on you at noon," and opened the barn doors.


This barn. This barn was full of manure.

Side to side. Front to back. Floor to ceiling. Full of manure.

The boy sighed, pushed his hat off his brow, and set to work. The man went back to his house, certain he would get some of his barn cleaned out, and not have to satisfy his end of the bargain.

At noon, he came up with a glass of lemonade (a gift of pity from his wife), and found the boy leaning on his shovel, wiping his face with his kerchief.

Next to the barn was a HUGE pile of manure. HUGE.

"My God, sonny," the man said, handing him the lemonade. "This barn's half empty!"

The boy took the lemonade, saying "Thank you." He took a long, slow drink.

Then, with a straight face, he answered the man. "Well, Mister- With all this shit, there's got to be a pony in there somewhere."

Especially for thenotorious04, because- well, because there has to be a pony in here somewhere.

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