Funny Children's Stories

The Handkerchief

I do not like to lie. My mom thinks that I never lie. Therefore, I never do lie. I do not even say things that are untrue. Because if my mom found out that I said something that was not true, it would be the end of the world. And I do not want it to be the end of the world.

But sometimes it is very difficult to tell the truth. Sometimes telling the truth is just impossible. But those are completely different things: to say something that is not true or not to tell the truth.

For example, yesterday Mom gave me money for school breakfast. And when she saw that I put the money into my pants’ pocket, she did not like it. She suggested putting the money into the pocket of my school jacket so that I would not lose it.

But I did not put my money into the pocket of my school jacket and just said that I would not lose the money, “Don’t worry, Mom.” And I went to school. Well, unfortunately, it so happened that I did lose my money. I think it happened because I had my handkerchief in the same pocket where I put my money. And it is most likely that I lost my money as I was taking out the handkerchief.

When I came home from school, Mom did not ask me whether I had lost my money or not. If she had asked me about it, I would never have lied to her. I would have certainly told her that I had lost the money. But it did not occur to Mom to ask me this question.

I also made it seem as though I was in a very good mood. Because if I had not been my usual self, Mom would have immediately asked me what was wrong. But I did not want Mom to ask me these kinds of questions.

In the evening, at dinner, Mom asked Dad whether he was late for work because he had left home later than usual. Dad said that he was not late for work. But he did get in later than usual and saw how people were running to the entrance gates. And Dad pitied them. Dad especially pitied the old women. They were barely able to run, but they were afraid to be late. So they ran. “However,” Dad said, “I hope that nowadays they will no longer send people to prison for being one minute late.”

And here Mom gave Dad THE look. It was supposed to mean that Dad should not have said this in front of me because I was still too young.

But in reality Mom does not object to Dad saying this in front of me. Because Mom knows that I am no longer little. If Mom really did not want Dad to say these things, Dad would not, under any circumstances, say anything. I cannot remember Dad ever doing anything that Mom did not like.

So I think that when Mom gives Dad this look, she does it just for my sake. To make sure that I understand that at my age I should not be hearing things like what Dad said. And if I, for whatever reason, did hear it, I should not talk about it anywhere.

Then Mom started to ask Dad what interesting things happened at work. And Dad said that nothing interesting had happened. Everything was as usual. And that all the tracing paper had been pilfered from the drafters again. And Mom said that she was not surprised. Because food could be properly wrapped only in tracing paper.

Then Dad complained that, for whatever reason, the standard menu for lunch suddenly had been changed and now they would be given jelly instead of dried-fruit compote.

And here I told my parents that my tooth hurt. I said this because I was worried that they might ask me about what I had eaten at school. Then I would have had to confess that I had not eaten anything because I had lost my money. And as soon as I said that my tooth hurt, I became sad. Because it turned out that I had lied. And this was even worse than when I pretended to be in a good mood.

But then I calmed down a little because my tooth actually did hurt. So it turned out that I had not lied.

And when Mom asked me how my tooth was, I said that it hurt only a little. And that was also true. And Mom suggested that I should not drink or eat anything hot or cold and we would see how I would feel then.

That evening, as I was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, I did not feel well. I did not feel well because of this whole story with the money and my tooth. And I tried to imagine what would have happened if I had told Mom that I had lost the money.

Probably, Mom would have immediately said that she knew I would lose my money. But this is what I do not like most of all. I really do not like when Mom tells me “I knew that.” Because it makes it seem like I am plain stupid. It is as though it was immediately clear to Mom that I could lose my money but it did not even cross my mind.

Actually, I also thought that I could lose the money if I put it into the same pocket as my handkerchief. I am not as stupid as Mom thinks I am. The problem was that my other pockets were even worse.

In my jacket, for example, in one pocket, I kept coins mixed in with mud, while in the other, I kept a copper wire. And this wire made a pretty big hole in that pocket. Well, of course, I did not tell Mom about this. I did not say anything about it because I was late to school and because in the morning my tongue does not want to move at all.

That was what I was thinking about as I was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep late last night. And I thought that if I had just told Mom that I had lost the money, I would not have had to deal with all these problems yesterday and maybe even the following day too. And with these thoughts, I fell asleep yesterday.

Today, when I woke up, I immediately recalled the whole story of what happened yesterday. And I also recalled the handkerchief, which caused me to lose my money. What was going on? It seems that I blew my nose, wrapped it up into the handkerchief, and put it all in my pocket. That was just ridiculous. Something was definitely wrong here. It should not be like this. Something was not right.