A Christmas Story

A farmer had some fine hunting puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups at $300 and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post he felt a tug on his overalls and looked down into the eyes of a little boy. "Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies." "Well, these are some fine hunting pups and come from good parents and are expensive." The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then he reached into his pocket, he had a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. I’ve got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look? "Sure," said the farmer.

With that he let out a whistle. "Here Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another ball of fur appeared, this one was small and wobbled and fell down as it slide down the ramp. Then in an awkward manner the little pup began hobbling towards the others, doing it’s best to catch up.

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing at the crippled runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy’s side and said, "Son, you don’t want that puppy, he will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down and began rolling up a pant leg to expose a steel brace running down both sides of his leg, attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don’t run so fast myself and the puppy will need someone who understands." Two friends for thirty-nine cents is quite a deal. Now that is a Christmas gift.

Unknown Author