No Charge For Love

NO CHARGE FOR LOVE

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell.
He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups.
And set about nailing it to a post on the
edge of his yard. As he was driving the
last nail into the post, he felt a tug on
his overalls. He looked down into the
eyes of a little boy. "Mister", he said,
"I want to buy one of your puppies".
"Well", said the farmer, as he rubbed the
sweat of the back of his neck,
"these puppies come from fine parents and
cost a good deal of money."
The boy dropped his head for a moment.
Then reaching deep into his pocket,
he pulled out a handful of change and held
it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine
cents. Is that enough to take a look?"
"Sure", said the farmer, and with that he
let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called.
Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran
Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the
chain link fence. His eyes danced with
delight. As the dogs made their way to the
fence, the little boy noticed something else
stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another
little ball appeared, this one noticeably
smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a
somewhat awkward manner, the little pup
began hobbling toward the others, doing its
best to catch up.... "I want that one",
the little boy said, pointing to the runt.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and
said, "Son, you don't want that puppy.
He will never be able to run and play with
you like these other dogs would."
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence,
reached down, and began rolling up one leg
of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a
steel brace running down both sides
of his leg attaching itself to a specially
made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer,
he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well
myself, and he will need someone who
understands".
With tears in his eyes,
the farmer reached down and picked
up the little pup. Holding it carefully
he handed it to the little boy.
"How much?" asked the little boy.
"No charge", answered the farmer,
"There's no charge for love."