A Bedtime Story

Once upon a time there were two towns.  They were located side by side, underneath a big, beautiful blue sky.  In the middle of the two towns was a gigantic chain link fence.  It was 205 feet high.

No one would ever dare climb it, but you could see right through it.

One of the towns was "just fine".  It was full of  hard working people who did what they had to do to make ends meet.  The townspeople never really got ahead - but they never really fell behind either. 

On the other side of the fence lay the other town.  An amazing, exciting town.  It had a great big flashing sign showing off its name and its townspeople had just about everything you could imagine.  Motorcycles, speedboats, snowmobiles and swimming pools.  They worked very hard too, but they had all of the toys anyone could want.

One day a boy was standing at the 205 foot tall chain link fence looking from his town, which was "just fine", into the other town with its flashing sign and all of its amazing, exciting things.  The boy couldn't help wondering how it was that his town was so different.  He stared at each of the people.  They all looked exactly the same as the people in his town.  They all worked just as hard as the people in his town.  Try as he might the boy could not figure it out.

Just then a man came walking quite close to the fence and the boy just had to ask.

"Excuse me sir, but could you please tell me how it is that your town has so many amazing, exciting things and mine does not ?"

"Oh, that's easy," replied the man, "we just keep asking for more."

The boy went home and told his father what the man had said and his father seemed to get very excited. 

The next day the boy and his father went to the ruler of their town and the boy's father told the ruler, that he wanted more.

A very sad look came over the face of the ruler of their town.  He took a deep breath and he looked at the boy's father and said, "I would really like to, but at this time I simply can't."

The boy's father nodded, his eyes looked down at the ground and he and the boy slowly walked back to their "just fine" home in their "just fine" town.  They could hear the hoots and hollers coming through the fence as the other town's townspeople had fun with their motorcycles, speedboats, snowmobiles and swimming pools.

Life went on for the boy and his family and everyone in his "just fine" town.

Then one day they woke up and looked through the fence at the amazing, exciting town on the other side.  Only everyone in it was walking out of their homes, and walking away from their things.

The boy quickly ran to the fence and yelled, "Hey, where are all of you going."

The same man that the boy had spoken with just a short time ago turned and looked at the boy and very quietly, very softly he said four words.

"There is no more".

And with that the people from the amazing, exciting town left behind their motorcycles, speedboats, snowmobiles and swimming pools and they walked away.  And they never came back.

And the people in the town that was "just fine" watched them go.  Then they went back to their lives.

And THEY all lived happily ever after.