Brainy heard his father lament about the purchase he made of the token in the baker’s business as the baker was in bed with a mysterious illness,
‘Why did I not choose to partner with the carpenter?’ he sighed.
‘But dad,’ Brainy protested, ‘the carpenter is not an honest man. He cut corners, you said’
Brainy helped his father to remember.
‘Ah! A crooked fellow is better than a dead fellow’ replied he without even looking at his son.
But Brainy was not convinced.
It was only a year back that he heard the following conversation at the same kitchen table between his parents.
‘They have found a way to boost the economy of the village'
‘How are they proposing to do that?’ Mother asked with intent
‘Business owners are going to issue tokens, which anyone can buy, thereby making them part owners in that particular business’ Mother and son looked perplexed, so Father explained,
‘Bakery-token can be bought by paying money to the baker, in return, the baker will share with you and other token holders the profit he is going to earn in the future’ They digested this information, as Mother continued,
‘So, the tailor, carpenter and others can sell us tokens, and use the money to buy tools and equipment for their business and then share their profits with us.’
‘Wow,’ said Brainy, ‘for a reasonable price that we pay now we can get profits for a long time to come from a wonderful business run by an honest and competent person’
Mother and Father glanced at each other amused that their little one understood all this.
From that day on Brainy was hooked. And as he was replaying this conversation vividly in his mind, his thoughts were interrupted as he heard his father speak,
‘I am going to sell this worthless token for any price that a buyer is willing to offer’ he said walking out the door.
Brainy sat thinking about this,
‘Is this really as serious as dad makes it out to be? How many people have fallen ill with this mysterious disease? What was the result? Did they recover or die?’ he decided to find out.
He went in search of the doctor, the village physician, but he was not in his hut. They said he was at the baker’s. ‘Of course’
As he neared the bakery, he overheard the doctor say,
‘He is better now and soon he shall be fine and able to resume his duties’
Brainy was relieved to hear this. Then panic struck him as he recalled that his father was going to sell his bakery-token. So he rushed to tell him the good news.
Brainy found him in the market and narrated all that he knew, but his father was dismissive.
‘Father,’ he pleaded, ‘don’t sell these tokens of a wonderful business, though it is in a temporary trouble, which might be over soon, as the baker is getting well.’
Father looked at him skeptically and asked him to look around. Brainy saw a lot of villagers in the market and some of them were part owners in the bakery business who were trying desperately to sell their tokens before the business died with the baker. ‘Give me at least a handful of peanuts to munch on my way home’ he heard one villager say, ‘as that would be palatable than this token.’
All the other villagers laughed. Father looked down at his son with an annoyed look and said,
‘Do you think that this crowd is mad to sell at such a low price? Do you think you know more than them?’ his stare was intense as he paused for a reply.
Brainy noticed a faint streak of doubt creep into his mind and thought to himself, the doctor is a talented and a good human being and his diagnosis could not go wrong. He collected his thoughts, made his decision and told his dad not to sell. But he ignored Brainy and shooed him away.
Now, what could he do? A thought rushed through his head, ‘Why not buy the tokens at this price? It's a Fear-Sale.’
Smiling at his own witty remark, he rushed to his house, broke
open his savings box, rushed over to the farmer’s to buy a sack of peanuts, and rushed back to the market.
‘Sell your bakery-tokens here,’ he shouted, ‘Sell your bakery-token.’ The onlookers began to laugh when they saw this cute litle fellow. ‘Hey! Kid, do you know what a token is?’ someone asked.
‘Stand on a pedestal so I can see you. It looks like the sack is talking’ laughed another, as others joined in the laughter. That’s when Brainy noticed he was only as tall as the sack. He muttered something under his breath collected his nerve and climbed a small mound beside his sack and looked at them with bold determined eyes.
‘What will you pay for these tokens?’ someone asked immediately, ‘your prized marble?’ They all laughed, ‘or, your private army?’ he pointed to a bag of miniature soldier dolls Brainy was carrying.
‘Who wants to invade a country?’ he continued as the chorus of laughter increased in intensity.
Slowly but surely, Brainy cleared his throat and said,
‘You were willing to sell for a handful of peanuts, I will pay you a full measure if you are willing to trade.’
The villager who made fun of him saw the seriousness in his face and said,
‘Really, well, oh! Ok then. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you’ as he thrust his hand out and said,
‘Deal’
And so others followed and soon the sack of peanuts was empty and he was proudly clutching in his hand a bag full of tokens.
‘I am a part owner in a business’ he beamed as he thought about it.
‘Poor kid, I hate to be taking advantage of him. What does he know?’ someone lamented, ‘but at least we can munch on our way home’ he chuckled.
Brainy didn’t stay there for long and as he bolted towards his home, he was contemplating whether to tell his father about his business. He was not sure, so he waited to see what mood he was in, then he would decide. He heard his father enter
the house and talk to his mother. He chatted about other things, then she asked him whether he managed to sell the bakery-tokens.
‘No,’ he replied, ‘there were no buyers. But the price improved late afternoon.’ ‘What price?’ asked his mother
‘Well, in the morning people were willing to sell even for a handful of peanuts,’ ‘What? Peanuts?’ mother was shocked.
Father shook his head nodding a yes, as she placed a hand over her open mouth in aghast.
‘As I said the price improved in the late afternoon to a full measure of peanuts.’
After a brief pause, they burst out laughing, forgetting the pain that it was the price of the token they were holding. Brainy cleared his throat to draw their attention, as his mother looked at him and said, ‘one day you will understand this, son’, she mumbled between giggles. She did not expect that it was her son who set the price.
He walked back to his room, his head slumped and gaze fixed at his feet, as he heard another wise crack from his father,
‘Think about the fool who bought it, a nut handing out nuts’, he could hear their laughter as he slammed the door shut.
‘What did I do?’
‘Who was I to think that I'm smarter than the villagers?’ ‘What do I know?’
‘I am just a kid 10 years old.’
‘Am I really that stupid?’ he closed his eyes as a tear rolled down his face. He soon fell asleep.
The next morning he did not want to get up from his bed. He did not heed to his mother's call for breakfast. The same thoughts were running through his head, the same movie was playing over and over, ‘Who wants to invade a country?’
‘Price improved to a full measure of peanuts’ ‘A fool who bought it’ His parents' laughter...
Brainy could not take it anymore. He had spent his entire savings, all those hard labours earning it, all gone in vain, he thought. To escape from all these disturbing thoughts he sneaked out of his house and rushed into the nearby woods, crying. His run was interrupted by the river. He slumped down on the banks and cried some more. He was startled to see a stranger standing beside him with a fishing rod. ‘Can you not scare my fishes away?’ he asked.
‘I am sorry,’ wiping his tears, he got up and started to leave. But the man caught him and thrust a spare fishing rod in his hands and said, ‘Come, let's fish’.
Brainy had no energy to refuse, reluctantly he took it from him and they both cast their lines. After a few minutes, the man spoke,
‘So, do you want to tell me what's troubling you?’
Brainy was not sure but he desperately wanted to confess to someone, even to a
stranger, and narrated the whole episode without missing any detail, including his humiliation and also about his stupidity. The stranger listened without interrupting and also without looking at him.
As he finished narrating his tale, he paused, the stranger was strangely silent. So he decided to remain silent too.
‘Hmm...’ he heard the man say. Or was he imagining? Just then the line tugged, and he pulled the rod towards him. He had caught a fish. The stranger helped him to reel it in and catch it in a net. They both laughed.
‘Well kid, the fishes like you more than me’ he said, as he pointed to his empty line. Brainy smiled.
‘Ah! That's much better,’ smiled the stranger back, ‘I am BG’ he said thrusting his hand forward,
‘I am Brainy’ he replied back as he shook his hand. After a pause, Brainy remembered that his mother would be worried and waiting for him.
‘I got to go, Sir, my mother is expecting me’ ‘Ah, yes,’ replied BG.
Brainy thrust the fish into BG’s hands,
‘No, you caught it’ he replied pushing the fish back into Brainy’s hands,
‘With your fishing rod’ Brainy said as a matter of fact and pushed it back.
‘Hmmm...’ replied he, and continued, ‘so we equally own this fish then.’
Not sure what to say, Brainy nodded. ‘Why don’t we cook and eat it now.’
It sounded fun so Brainy nodded and accepted. They were listening to the crackling of the fire, as the fish was roasting BG said,
‘Look, kid, about your problem,’ Brainy had forgotten about it in this brief joyous moment and remorse overtook him,
‘Oh, yes,’ he slumped his head down.
‘Don’t be disheartened’ replied BG, ‘you are neither right nor wrong because people
agree or disagree with you. You are right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right.’
He paused for Brainy to think about this, and with this remark, BG left wishing him good luck.
Brainy started towards his home thinking about what the man has just said,
‘Was he right in buying the tokens of the bakery business?’
‘Can the doctor be trusted with his diagnosis? Is he a capable person?’ ‘Is this really only a temporary hitch?’
‘Will the baker soon resume his duties?’
“Am I right, only because others agree with me?’
He was pondering all these questions and a veil lifted from his clouded thinking and a ray of clarity shone as the bright mid-day Sun. ‘Yes, I know that the doctor is capable. Yes, I trust his judgment.’ ‘Yes, the baker will get well soon.’
As these lifting thoughts made him feel relieved, it also gave him wings. He was dashing through the woods as he thought about buying more bakery-tokens from the villagers.
But first, how to get more peanuts?
[Attribution: Cliparts sourced from https://openclipart.org. Contribution of various individuals acknowledged]