A Choice for Audi

Adiana was excited. She could hardly wait to tell everyone the news.

“Guess what?” she shouted when Granny stepped in the door. “I’m earning a new pair of shoes! I get one penny for every weed I pull, and I already pulled 100 weeds yesterday.”

“Well, well,” said Granny. “I suppose you have quite a few more weeds to pull to get those shoes?”

“Yes, a whole lot,” Adiana agreed. “They cost $9.99.”

“Nine hundred and ninety-nine? Well, Audi, it sounds like you have a lot of work to do!” Granny said, with a smile.

“Yes, and I’m going to pull more weeds right now!” Audi said. With a bang the door was shut and Audi was off to dig in the front flower bed.

“101, 102, 103,” she counted. “If I fill the bucket, Mom says I can get an extra nickel.” For being eight-years-old, she felt quite pleased with herself. How many other kids her age were earning money for their own shoes?

The next morning Miss Jane came over. “I’m pulling weeds to buy new shoes!” Audi told her, and brought out the shiny white shoes to show her.

“What a good idea,” Miss Jane said. “I was going to help plant some flowers today, but we’ll need to get all the weeds out first. Is that your weed bucket?”

“Yes,” Audi said. “I’ve already pulled 147 weeds. I have to get 999 to buy my shoes.”

“Then let’s get busy!” Miss Jane said, pulling on her garden gloves. Soon the two were chopping and digging all along the front walk. They took a break, then began weeding again.

The sun beat down and Adiana felt hot. Her back ached. Miss Jane kept on digging.

“I want to stop and count my weeds now,” Audi said, laying down her trowel.

“I know it is hot, but let’s keep working for 15 more minutes,” Miss Jane said. She gave Audi a smile. “Remember how many more weeds you need to earn those shoes!”

Slowly Adiana picked up her trowel. She jabbed it into the ground besides a clump of grass. The grass didn’t budge. Audi tried a smaller plant, and after a couple tugs, it came loose. She dropped it into her bucket and sighed loudly.

“Tired already?” Miss Jane teased. “How about pulling 10 more weeds. I’ll time you to see how long it takes. Ready? Get set—go!”

Adiana grabbed her bucket and looked quickly around. The easiest weeds were the little ones. One, two, three, four. Over by that tree there were more. Five, six. Dig, pull, dig, dig. “I’ve got ten!” she called.

“Wow. Only 1 minute and 15 seconds,” Miss Jane said with a smile.

“Can I count them now?” Audi asked.

“Yes, let’s go to a shady spot. It’s time for a break.” Miss Jane showed Adiana how to put the weeds in piles of tens. Carefully they counted out the whole bucket.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten piles!” Audi announced.

“And 4 left over,” said Miss Jane. “That’s 104 weeds. Good job!” Then Miss Jane pulled out a note pad and helped Adiana figure out the total amount she had earned so far.

“Good job on the weeding,” Mom said when they came inside. “That flower bed is looking much better.”

“I’ve pulled 251 weeds so far,” Audi announced. “That’s 2 dollars and 51 cents!”

“You already were paid 1 dollar 8 cents yesterday, but then you had to give 50 cents to Granny for the soap bottle you broke,” Mom said. “Maybe Miss Jane can help you figure out how much I should pay you.”

Audi ran to her room and got her money bank. It jingled with coins.

Miss Jane laid her notepad on Audi’s desk. “Before you take out your money, let’s do the math!” she said with a smile. “If you already earned 1 dollar and 8 cents, and then had to pay 50 cents, how much will you have now?”

Audi wrote down the two numbers. Adding them didn’t work, so she tried subtracting. “Remember to borrow, like this,” Miss Jane said. She helped Adiana figure out the right answer.

“58 cents,” said Adiana. She looked in her money bank. There were 5 shiny quarters, several dimes and nickels, and some pennies. It was a lot more money than 58 cents. “Some of these I found lying on the floor,” she said, as she poured the coins out on the desk.

“On the floor?” Miss Jane didn’t seem to believe her.

“Yes, I found pennies lying around,” Audi said.

“What about the quarters?” asked Miss Jane.

“Those are the ones Mom paid me.” But Miss Jane didn’t believe her.

“Five quarters is more than a dollar, Audi,” she said. “You had to pay two quarters to Granny, so you should only have two quarters and 8 cents left. Where did the others come from?”

“Someone gave them to me,” Audi said, but she knew she wasn’t telling the truth. She wanted that money to buy her shoes. “Uncle Bob gave me the quarters for Christmas,” she said.

“I don’t believe you, Audi,” Miss Jane said sadly. “First you say one thing, then another. If you find money ‘lying around,’ you need to tell Mom. Keeping them is stealing.”

Audi began to sniff and rub her eyes. “But they’re mine,” she said.

“Crying won’t solve the problem,” Miss Jane said flatly. “Maybe you are too little to have any of this money.”

“Too li’l,” said a small voice.

Adiana blinked her eyes and looked up. Little sister Bess was standing in the doorway watching her with solemn eyes. Audi stopped sniffling.

“Well, now,” said Miss Jane, “there’s only two ways about it. You are either going to be honest or dishonest, Audi.”

“Honess ow dishoness,” repeated Bess.

Audi frowned, but Miss Jane stood up. “The choice is up to you. I’m going to let you think about it while I wash this dirt off my hands.” She headed for the bathroom.

Adiana called after her. “Miss Jane, I want to be honest.”

“You figure out what being honest means,” Miss Jane called back.

Audi thought about it. When Miss Jane came to look, two quarters and 8 pennies lay in the money bank. The rest of the coins she had pushed into a pile. “I’m going to give this back to Mom,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Why?” asked Miss Jane.

“Because they aren’t mine. I found them in the van and they probably dropped out of her purse.” Audi looked at the pile sadly.

“That is the honest thing to do,” Miss Jane said with a smile. She gave Audi a squeeze. “You can be happy when you’ve done the right thing.”

But Adiana didn’t feel happy. She thought of how many more weeds she would have to pull to earn those shoes. It would be very hard to give back the money. Miss Jane seemed to know how she felt.

“Your heavenly Father saw all along whether you were telling the truth, didn’t He?” she said. “If you tell Him about the money you earned, He knows if you were honest or dishonest. Just think of how happy He is with you now! Shall we pray that He can help you be happy, too?” Audi nodded.

After Miss Jane prayed, Audi got up quickly. She scooped the money into her hand and went to find Mom. Suddenly a light and happy feeling filled her heart. She had done the right thing, and it felt really great!