An elementary school boy learns a valuable lesson about the difference between asking for something he wants and getting what he needs…
Danny sat down at the kitchen table to eat his breakfast before scampering off to school. Mom, humming happily, hung a new calendar on the pantry door.
“1954 is going to be a great year!” She exclaimed as she did every year before, jubilantly drawing a big “X” through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the first three days of that year their family just enjoyed over the weekend.
It was over the very same weekend Danny came across the perfect birthday gift – a shiny red bicycle with all the accouterments any boy could want: front and rear fenders, hand brakes, balloon tires, and three whole speeds to choose from. Suddenly, he realized he had just three short months to convince his parents to buy him this super-nifty bike for his 10th birthday. After all, it would be absolutely perfect for his upcoming paper route.
Immediately, Danny imagined himself riding down the street, tossing newspapers onto driveways, earning real money all the time as he joyfully pedaled around the neighborhood.
“So, Danny Boy, have you thought about what you want for your tenth birthday?” Mom asked, as her son still looked off into the distance, daydreaming about the ultimate gift. But, he savvily hesitated to blurt out his deepest wish, because it came with a steep price tag. Still, he couldn’t help but eventually answer with a snappy “Yes!”
Danny told his mom all about the bicycle and how the red color was his favorite. Unsurprisingly, she said such a purchase would probably be “too expensive,” and “perhaps, ‘undeserved, given what happened with the last two.’” But, she ended with, “Maybe, the third time’s a charm?” and a wink. The same little jester he had seen countless times before, assuring him that the two-wheeler was all but his in just twelve weeks. So, he gobbled down his breakfast, gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, and hurried out the door, eager to tell his friends about the new bike.
On the way to school that morning, that’s precisely what he did, “It’s got front and back fenders, these super neat tires, brakes on the handle, and three speeds. It’s the best one on the market, and I’m getting it for my birthday!”
But his friends didn’t share his enthusiasm. In fact, one of them pointed out, “You sure about that Danny? I mean, come on man, you’ve already lost two others and your parents were really upset about that.” His other friends nodded in agreement.
“It’s not like I carelessly lost them, they were stolen!” Danny said as they walked into their school.
When the final bell rang at 3 o’clock, Danny was out the door as quickly as he could walk. He wanted to get his homework and his chores done before his dad came home. Then, he could bring up the subject at dinner while they were all sitting around at the table. Even though his little sister, who was half his age, would probably bring up the exact same objection as his friends did earlier that day.
As Danny predicted, when he made mention of the bike as the ideal birthday gift, little Charlotte said, “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, given how irresponsible you were with your last two bikes,” mimicking what she had heard her parents say at least a few times before.
“Oh, shut up, you can’t even ride a bike yet!” Danny snidely said to his kid sister. “Besides, it’s not like I let someone take them. They were stolen!”
“But, son, you didn’t exercise good responsibility. You didn’t lock them up and that’s why they were stolen,” his dad reminded him.
“I know, I know. I’ve learned my lesson and I promise I will always lock up my new bike,” Danny pleaded.
“See that Mary, Danny boy already thinks he’s getting a new bike. I wonder just where he got such a notion?!” His father said to his mother with a smirk on his face. “I don’t know, Ray.” And that smirk was enough to convince Danny he would indeed get his birthday wish. Now, he thought to himself he only had to stay out of trouble for the next couple of months and he’d be riding a new bike soon. Then, he could take over his neighbor’s newspaper route after their family moved away at the end of March.
After dinner, while his parents tuned into their favorite radio show, Danny quietly snuck into his father’s office. He carefully pulled out his dad’s prized baseball card collection and flipped through everyone. “He still hasn’t found it. But someday, I will.”
The missing card proved very elusive. It was rare because there were few issues of that particular class of players. Being the early 1950s, with the Korean war underway, some athletes thought it their duty to enlist. Willie Burton was among them. He was a long-time friend of Danny’s father, being a schoolmate from elementary right through high school. Willie even received a scholarship to college and made his way into the majors as a rookie, called up from the minors after only a season. But, he never got to make a name for himself as a professional baseball player because he was killed in action. Danny’s father always thought his card collection incomplete without a copy of Willie’s rookie card.
Danny quietly put the collection back exactly where he found it so his dad wouldn’t know anyone had touched it. Danny slipped into the kitchen and picked up the phone. “Hello, Operator?” he whispered. “Could you connect me with the sports memorabilia shop in Centretown?” After a brief conversation, he was no closer to finding Willie’s rookie card. But, he would keep looking. After all, there’s just got to be a copy out there somewhere.
That night, Danny had trouble going to sleep, as his mind raced with visions of riding a brand-new bike down the street, to and from school, and along his upcoming paper route.
The very next day, everything changed. Danny went to school and dutifully finished his homework and chores. As normal, he read comic books until he heard his dad pull into the driveway. But, when Danny peered out the window, he immediately knew something was wrong — his father’s unusually slumped shoulders and a distressed expression told him so.
Listening carefully from his room, he could hear his parents speaking. It was the very first time Danny heard the term “office politics.” Although he didn’t quite know what that meant exactly, he understood somehow it cost his father’s job.
Dinner that night was a somber affair, his father not uttering a word, barely eating anything on his plate. After dinner, his dad pulled a rocks glass out of a cabinet and then, a bottle from the pantry he rarely touched. Throwing a couple of cubes of ice into the glass, his dad poured a drink and sat to sulk in his comfortable chair. There he would stay for the next hour, with Mary sitting in a nearby chair, reading a magazine. They never turned on the radio as they had every night before — just whispered back and forth, eventually retiring upstairs for the evening.
When morning came, Danny’s father was up, sharply dressed, cleanly shaven, eating breakfast at the kitchen table. “Ready for school, eh Danny boy?”
Danny nodded, sat at the table, and ate his breakfast before going about his daily routine. School drug slowly by that day. Each period seemed to last forever. When the last bell rang, Danny went straight home to do his homework and chores. As he finished, he didn’t feel like reading comics. So, he asked his mother if there was anything else he could do around the house.
She gave him a couple of more little things to do around the house. Danny was happy to oblige because it helped to pass the time, but not enough. It still took so long for his dad to arrive. When the car pulled into the driveway, Danny and his little sister Charlotte both anxiously looked out the window to be pleasantly surprised by a smile on their father’s face.
They looked back at their mother, smiling themselves. The expressions of joy made their mother feel happy and she awaited good news. Though, little was to come. While her husband Ray explained he had some decent prospects, he didn’t land a job. Nor did he get a new job the next day, or the day after. Weeks went by and still, no employment. Tension began to mount in the household and worry was a constant emotion. Danny’s hope of getting a new bicycle for his birthday faded as finances became extraordinarily tight.
Danny’s mother, Mary, did what she could, giving piano lessons and clipping every coupon, passing on everything that wasn’t essential. She also began to take some groceries from their church’s food pantry from time to time. After nearly two months, the family’s savings had run out and they fell behind in their mortgage. Danny earned a few bucks here and there mowing lawns and helping neighbors with different chores.
“I’m signing up for government assistance tomorrow,” Ray told his wife one night after Danny and his sister went to bed. “Certainly isn’t something to be proud of, but we don’t have any choice.” He said, then turned on the radio and sat down in his chair. While the music played, he gazed out the window, wondering how his luck turned so very bad. Mary walked over and kissed his head, then cleaned up a bit before they both went to bed.
It was one of the most difficult, most humiliating things Ray had ever done in his life. As he stood in the public assistance line, he simply couldn’t come to terms with his family’s predicament. Each minute felt like an hour and he tortured himself with memories of happier times. His graduation from college, the first in his family to earn a degree. It got him into a top firm where he rose up the ranks and became an executive. But, it wasn’t enough to save him from changing times. Now, he’d become a relic of the recent past with an extraordinarily uncertain future.
The following few days were exceptionally grim. Without a job to go to, Ray tried to keep himself busy, getting ready every morning and dressing in professional attire as he usually would. He walked into one building after another, but it soon became apparent that if he could find anything, it certainly wouldn’t be at the same salary. He would have to completely start over, which only further dampened his spirits.
One morning, while visiting some more companies, he ran into a college classmate. They chatted for a moment, speaking about how long it had been since they’d last seen one another.
“I see you’re still a big shot, huh?” his friend said, pointing to Ray’s coat and tie and briefcase.
“Actually, I’m out looking for a job,” Ray replied, lowering his head toward the ground. “Been without work for several weeks now and just can’t seem to find anything. It’s just unbelievable.”
“Well, that’s probably because you’ve been looking in all the wrong places. Left the corporate world a few years ago myself. I couldn’t stand those office politics any longer. So, I started my own business in retail and it’s been doing pretty well. In fact, I’m on my way back to the store. Why don’t you come by and check it out?”
Ray was reluctant, yet hopeful. Perhaps this peculiar but genuine opportunity he didn’t think to seek — an alternative to his long-held perception of what it meant to be successful. Not exactly unorthodox, just an unexpected career path to entrepreneurship. Ray struck a deal to take a small salary in order to gain part ownership so a second location could open in the future.
The next couple of weeks brought slow but significant change to Danny’s household. The luxuries previously enjoyed didn’t return and he began to realize just how important his father’s previous job was to the family at-large. His parents would quietly whisper about the next set of sacrifices but were always thankful for Ray’s new retail prospects.
Turns out, it was an experience Ray truly needed. He felt more in control of his future, though the money certainly was not in any way on par with his previous position. Still, it did provide a decent living and was projected to bring his income back in full within the next few years. The sense of pride in his new venture instilled hope. Sure, he wasn’t earning as much as before. But, it did adequately provide for his family’s basic needs — just not anything above that.
By now, Danny’s expectations for a new bike were beginning to rise. His dad’s part ownership appeared to bring things around the house nearly back to normal. Sure, there were a few perks missing. But overall, a positive attitude permeated throughout the household and it gave him real hope he would indeed get his birthday wish. In fact, it inspired Danny to visit the bike at the local department store one weekend. Looking over every single detail on the shiny red frame, he felt excited about receiving it as a gift very soon.
It was only days until Danny’s birthday. While his anticipation grew to a fevered pitch over the impending gift, he also felt disappointed there wasn’t any real progress in finding Willie Burton’s rookie baseball card. That put a real damper on his mood because he knew just how much finding it would mean to his dad. A man who never gave up and lived his convictions day in and day out.
Then, walking home from school one afternoon, Danny saw a big moving truck. At first, he thought it might have something to do with his family’s situation. But quickly realized that it was his neighbors’ time to move away. “The paper route!” Danny blurted out loud. He rushed over to confirm the agreement. His neighbor wasn’t a close friend because he was a few years older and they never had much in common. But, their parents did speak sometimes and that’s how Danny got the paper route.
As he strolled up to the moving van, men were carrying boxes out of the house and loading them into the back. The neighbor boy approached Danny and offered to give his younger acquaintance anything he wanted. “Where’s your bike?” Danny asked. “Oh, that old thing? Retired it in favor of a skateboard,” his neighbor explained.
The older boy again offered to part with anything. Since his family was moving, the less stuff, the better. Danny took notice of an open box on the sidewalk. It was a catchall for odds and ends but it piqued his interest because it contained a few shiny objects. “Go ahead, take a closer look,” the neighbor boy said.
Danny replied with an enthusiastic “Thanks,” and immediately began going through the contents. “Are you sure I can have these? There are some really valuable cards here. I mean, you’re all right with letting these go?” Danny asked.
His neighbor nodded and patted his younger acquaintance on the back. He even gave Danny an empty box to carry the items back to his own house just down the block. Once home, Danny poured the box out onto his bedroom floor only to discover several more baseball cards were among the contents and, few were fairly obscure, in the same class as Willie Burton.
But to his chagrin, his dad already had these players’ cards in his collection, save for one he could swap out as a replacement because that particular card was in such bad shape. Still, the one Danny really wanted, because his father needed it to complete his collection, was still yet to be found.
Danny carefully went through each item, separating the various cards into different categories. Once finished, he was the new owner of a well-worn baseball glove, some Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys, jacks, and even a new sonic ray gun. But, it was the baseball cards that most gripped his attention. Unfortunately, though some of his peers were present, Willie’s card wasn’t among them. The good news for Danny was there were several highly sought-after cards in the bunch. These would help to complete Danny’s own proud collection — something that had taken the last couple of years to put together.
After his mother read him a short story and tucked him into bed, Danny lay awake, fighting off the sandman as he awaited some sign of his ultimate birthday gift. About an hour later, after his parents turned off the radio in the living room, he could hear his parents softly speaking with one another. Moments later, the familiar sound of the side door in the kitchen opening and then gently closing, with it, came the faint, yet unmistakable tick, tick, tick sound wheel spokes make when in motion. Now, all he had to do is get through one night’s sleep, with a very early rise, of course.
It was a somewhat restless night for Danny, who managed to get at least a few solid hours of sack time in my 5:00 a.m., he would start counting down the minutes until dawn. If he got out of bed any earlier than sunrise, he knew he would disturb his parents, and the last thing he wanted to do at this point was to be inconsiderate. The moment the sun began to peek over the horizon, Danny flew out of bed and down the stairs. In the silhouetted living room, he could clearly see the outline of a boy’s bicycle. The ambient light wasn’t enough to clearly see it for all its glory, but he just knew precisely what it was.
At that very moment, both of his parents appeared from the kitchen, dressed in their robes and each holding a hot cup of coffee, Charlotte hiding in plain sight, right behind them. “We could hear you stirring in your room for the last hour, so we decided to come down and wish you a happy birthday,” his mother said, with a very chipper voice. Danny wasted no time, running over and flipping on the living room light. When he spun around, he saw a very familiar sight. It wasn’t the shiny red ride he had wanted so badly, but his older neighbor’s bike. Though, it did look distinctly different. The two-wheeler had clearly been entirely refurbished, with new tires, a brand new seat and side saddles, and a completely redone paint job on the frame.
“I couldn’t afford to buy you a brand new one,” his father said, “so, I decided at the very least, to give you something special.”
Seeing her son brimming with bewilderment and excitement, Danny’s mother’s eyes began to well up with tears. She grabbed her husband’s arm and pulled him close to thank him with a hug. She felt so happy for both her son and husband.
“You did all of this for me?” Danny asked his father.
“Yup. Spent every single lunch break at the store over the last few weeks fixing it up for you. I even managed to change out the single gear for a three-speed combination. I hope you like it,” his father said, with a strong expression of insufficiency.
“Are you kidding? I love it! I still can’t believe you did all this! It’s amazing!”
Danny carefully looked over every inch of his customized gift, caressing the metal frame and soft seat with his hands. It was truly wonderful.
“By the way, I’ve been working on something for you too, Dad.” Danny scampered upstairs as his parents watched, curious to know what he was doing. Only moments later, Danny walked back down the stairs, “Here Dad,” Danny said, handing his father some baseball cards.
“Well, what do we have here?” His father replied as he shuffled through the cards, one by one, seeing familiar faces.
“I tried my best, even offered my premium cards in trade, but just couldn’t find Willie Burton’s. Although, I did come across this one…it’s in mint condition and a perfect replacement for the one that’s so beat up.” Danny retorted, hanging his head in mild disappointment because he felt bad for coming up short.
“That’s okay, son. I’m proud of you for trying so hard.”
“Still, I just wish I could have found it for you. After all, your collection isn’t complete. I know how much you want it, how much you need it.”
Danny’s father put down his cup of coffee, along with the cards, stepped over to his son, and embraced him by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. Then said something that’s stuck with Danny ever since, “Son, the biggest difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’ is often contentment. And, I couldn’t be any more grateful, for you, your mother, your sister, my new career, and our lives together, than I am right now.”
“Me too, Dad, me too!”
