Saturday morning news

Several years ago our family moved to Boone so my
husband could go to graduate school at Appalachian State University. We had three young children at the time and lived in university housing on campus. Every Saturday morning it became a ritual for my husband to walk down the hill from our apartment to a newspaper stand outside the business building, taking our three sons along with him to get the Saturday Winston-Salem Journal. It was about 200 yards away but visible from our home.

One Saturday, our 8-year-old asked if he could go get the paper “all by myself.” My husband thought a moment then gave his permission to go ahead. He gave Josh the quarter and told him to be careful. We watched as our son went off, feeling a little apprehensive but knowing we needed to start letting him grow up some.

We watched him the whole way. He walked down to the newspaper stand, stood there a few moments, then came back. When he got back to us he had no paper. My husband asked where the paper was, and Josh replied that they were out.

“Then where’s my quarter?” asked my husband.
Josh said, “I put it in the machine.”

My husband then asked why he put in a quarter if the machine was empty. Josh said that he did not know it was
empty until he opened it up and there were no papers inside.

His dad then asked why he didn’t see through the glass
that it was empty. Josh replied, “There was a paper in the way.”

Rise Harris
Dobson
Surry-Yadkin EMC

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