« Jo-Jo the Monkey Faced Girl | Main | No Story Today »

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

A Little Boy's Worry

By Nancy Leitz

In 1980, the real estate market was in a bit of a slump due to high mortgage interest rates. They were all the way from 13 percent to 17 percent. It was a very difficult time to be trying to sell your home. Buyers were few and far between and we depended almost exclusively on business people who were being transferred to our area.

With this in mind I want to tell you about a house I was showing, a very anxious owner, and a little four-year-old boy who had a tremendous interest in what I was telling the prospective buyer about his house.

It was early on a bright sunny morning when I picked up the buyers at their hotel and we began our tour of the area and a viewing of several houses I had selected for them to consider.

The boy was watching for us from the living room window as we drove into his driveway. His mother must have told him that some people were coming to look at the house and he was waiting to open the door for us and there was something he was planning to tell me as soon as he got the chance.

As we entered the foyer, we were greeted by the owner who told the boy not to bother the real estate lady and the nice people who were with her. As soon as his mother turned her back, the boy tugged on my skirt and said, "I have to tell you something."

His mother flew out of the kitchen and said, "So sorry about that. Edward, please do not bother these people again."

We went upstairs to see the bedrooms and as we came down into the living room, the kid approached me again and said," I really want to tell you something."

I bent down to listen to him but before he could speak the mother stopped him again. "I'm so sorry,” she muttered.

We went into the back yard and he was waiting for us behind a big bush and again attempted to tell me something and again his mother intervened and the boy was thwarted. I could see how frustrated he was.

After we had seen the entire property and the buyers went out the door I said to them,"I will be right there. I just want to thank the owner for allowing us to see the house." I went back into the foyer and said to the woman," Your little boy is very anxious to tell me something. Will you please let him say what he has on his mind?”

She said, "You don't mind?"

I said,"Of course not." I looked down at the boy and said,"Edward, what is it that you want to tell me?"

He looked at me with his big brown eyes and said, "THE SWING SET IS NOT INCLUDED."

[EDITORIAL NOTE: All elders, 50 and older, are welcome to submit stories for this blog. They can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, etc. Instructions for submitting are here.]

Posted by Ronni Bennett at 02:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post

The comments to this entry are closed.