Buying Time

It's 3:00 AM IST of Friday morning and I am about to wrap up after finishing a lengthy conversation with USA team. My 4 years old daughter woke up and seeing dim light in the living room, came and sat beside me. Her first question was "Papa, are you going to office now?". Before I said anything, she looked the darkness outside the window and said "But still its night". I nodded my head and asked her to go to bed as I had to clear my pending emails. While walking to her bedroom, she stopped for a moment near to fish tank and bounced another question "Papa, fish is also awake. When do they sleep?". She was waiting for answer. I did not have easy answer for her, so said "Could you please check if they (fish) are thirsty and need your help?". She left for her room...

I was going through my emails under "Read Later" folder and saw the below email forwarded by one of my old friend. It really touched my heart...
 
Buying Time:
 
A man came home from work late again, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.
 
"Daddy, may I ask you a question??"

"Yeah, sure, what is it?" replied the man.

"Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?"
"That's none of your business! What makes you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily.

"I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?" pleaded the little boy.

"If you must know, I make $20.00 an hour."

"Oh," the little boy replied, head bowed. Looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I borrow $10.00 please?"

The father was furious. "If the only reason you wanted to know how much money I make is just so you can borrow some to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. I work long, hard hours everyday and don't have time for such childish games."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even madder about the little boy's questioning. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money.

After an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.00, and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep son?" he asked.

"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.

"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the man. "It's been a long day and I took my aggravation out on you. Here's that $10.00 you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, beaming. "Oh, thank you daddy!" he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more crumpled up bills.

The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at the man.

"Why did you want more money if you already had some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Daddy, I have $20.00 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?"