{"id":490,"date":"2016-10-27T23:30:56","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T03:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=490"},"modified":"2016-10-28T00:01:55","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T04:01:55","slug":"the-richest-man-in-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=490","title":{"rendered":"THE RICHEST MAN IN TOWN"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"img_0675\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Benjamin about 14 years old
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My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction, awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction,\u00a0 and awarded the 2016 Frank Yerby Award for Fiction.\u00a0 Available at: NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazon<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n


My husband, Benjamin,\u00a0 went to work young.\u00a0 He started delivering newspapers at age thirteen.\u00a0 And right from the beginning, he was saving for when he could go to Auburn.\u00a0 His father was a teacher and his mother a stay-at-home mom.\u00a0 He knew at a young age that if he wanted to go to college, he had to save for it.\u00a0 Some days he was out late, pedaling his bike from house to house.\u00a0 In the winter, it was a bone-chilling job.\u00a0 Summers could be bad too, with the heat and the mosquitoes.\u00a0 Then there were those early Sunday morning deliveries, when he had to begin by seven o\u2019clock.\u00a0 Sometimes his father helped him, especially when it was very cold or stormy.\u00a0 Then there was the matter of getting paid.\u00a0 Most, thankfully, paid when due, in full.\u00a0 But some were always in arrears, and a few never paid.<\/strong>

Soon, Benjamin began mowing yards with a push mower\u2014and word spread fast that he did a good job\u2014so he bought a gasoline powered mower and cut lots of yards around Coffeeville.\u00a0 Most were small yards that didn\u2019t require an undue amount of time, or fuel.\u00a0 His savings mounted.\u00a0 Then one day the richest man in town sent word that he wanted his yard mowed.\u00a0 The man had the finest house in Coffeeville, and he had a huge yard.\u00a0 To save money, he didn\u2019t bother to hire a yard man until it resembled a hayfield.\u00a0 The expanse of waving grass was broken by clusters of shrubs and flower beds that required extra attention.\u00a0 Benjamin\u2019s boyish dreams took flight with the amount this job would likely add to his savings.<\/strong>

Bright and early on the appointed Saturday, Benjamin arrived at the house of \u201cMidas.\u201d\u00a0 The old man stressed that he wanted a first class job.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t going to pay for sloppy work. \u00a0<\/strong>

As kids would say today, \u201cDuh!\u201d\u00a0 Benjamin was determined to do such a good job that the man would pay him a bonus.\u00a0 Such an excellent job that the man would never want anyone else to cut his grass.\u00a0 Hour after hour, Benjamin ran the mower back and forth across the grass.\u00a0 Hardly breaking for fast gulps of water from the jug he\u2019d brought from home, he pushed and pushed.\u00a0 He filled and refilled the gas tank of the mower, turning it off only to unclog the blades from time to time.\u00a0 He edged around shrubs and flower beds, each and every one, \u00a0<\/strong>

Finally, late that afternoon, when Benjamin was sweeping the sidewalk and the front steps, the old man came out.\u00a0 \u201cI reckon it\u2019ll do,\u201d he declared.\u00a0 \u201cHow much do I owe you?\u201d<\/strong>

Benjamin looked at the huge expanse of grass and replied, \u201cHow much do you think it\u2019s worth?\u201d<\/strong>

\u201cHow about fifty cents?\u201d\u00a0 the old miser said, holding out two quarters.<\/strong>

When my husband told me this story years ago, I felt like crying at the thought of an adult treating a child that way.\u00a0 At this point in my life I feel sorry for the man.\u00a0 He\u2019s long dead now.\u00a0 If he\u2019d paid a fair amount\u2014or, better\u2014been generous, he would have been remembered forever in a kindly light.\u00a0 Instead, be became a lesson for my husband\u2014a lesson in how to treat others, especially those too young to fight back.<\/strong>

In what matters, the richest man in town might be the poorest.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Benjamin about 14 years old My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction, awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction,\u00a0 and awarded the 2016 Frank Yerby Award for Fiction.\u00a0 Available at: NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}