Page 14 - English Reader - 7

The boy smiled, and his smile was painful.
“How much do a box and a footrest cost?”

“Readymade ones for thirty rupees. And, forty rupees if you order. I’d like to have mine made.”
“You can’t save that much?”

The boy did not say anything, only crinkled his smooth face into a pale shadow of smile. The man
looked away.
By now the people were moving in a thick stream towards the stairs, but none paid any attention to
the boy and the man.

After some time, the man said, “Stop charging half. Why do you charge half?”

“Because I want more customers,” the boy said quietly. “That’s also why I go from house to house.
If I sat on the footpath like the other shoeshine boys, I’d earn practically nothing.” Adding a moment
later, “Your shoes are finished.”
The man removed his foot from the boy’s knee.

“Satisfied?”

“Absolutely.”
As the man put his hand into his pocket, evidently to bring out the money, the boy hesitatingly said,
‘‘Would you…er…er…mind if I say something?’’

“Go ahead.”
“Could you,” the boy said, eyes fixed on the ground, “Lend me forty rupees? I’ll return them as soon
as I can. I’m ashamed of asking, but you seem…” He choked and could not
go on.

A smile broke on the man’s face. ‘‘Don’t worry about paying
me.’’
“No, No. Then I won’t take the money. Just pay me for
the shoeshine. Two rupees. Full charge—since you want
to pay it.”

The man took out his purse and drew out a fifty-
rupee note. “Here, take this.” Then half seriously, he
added, “Pay me whenever you like, after a year or
five years.”

“Returning forty rupees will be hard enough. Don’t
make things harder for me.”
“And if say I haven’t any change?”

“Then I won’t take anything.”

“All right.” The man said as he pushed the fifty-rupee note into the purse and pulled out a few ten-
rupee ones. He counted forty and held them out to the boy.

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