On the day that he was to enter the first grade, his father told
him,
"Son, I want you to do well in this life and to do this, you need
a
good education, so I will make you a promise! If you do well in
school
and make all A's, I will give you ANYTHING that you desire." The
boy
knew that his father was good to his word, as they were very
wealthy.
At the end of the first grade, the son brought home all A's.
His
father was delighted! "Ok, son, now it is time for me to fulfill
my
part of the bargain. Just tell me what you want and you may have
it!"
The son replied in a meek voice, "Father, I would really like to
have
some yellow ping pong balls."
The father thought this a little odd, but being good to his word,
gave
his son one tube of yellow ping pong balls.
The next year, the father remembered how well his son had done
in
school the previous year and attributed it to his promise of a
gift,
so he said to his son... "Bring home all A's again, my boy, and
you
shall have whatever you desire!" The young boy smiled and headed
off
to school.
This year, he also came home with all A's and his father asked,"
what
is it you wish, lad?"
"Sir, I would like to have a box of yellow ping pong balls!"
The father asked, "Are you sure, son? Maybe you would like to
have
some comic books or a wagon or maybe a puppy!"
"No thank you, sir.....just the ping pong balls, if I may."
His father, wanting to be true to his word, went out the very next
day
and bought his son a box of three dozen yellow ping pong balls.
The
boy thanked his father and put the balls in his closet for
safe
keeping.
The next year, the same thing happened.......
The father promised anything the boy desired.
Again.......all A's.
"I would like some yellow ping pong balls, dad!" was the
reply.
His father agreed and bought him two tins of yellow ping pong
balls,
which the little boy quietly put in his closet.
Sometimes late at night, the boy would take out his yellow ping
pong
balls and roll them around on the floor, as they were very quiet,
but
he always accounted for every one and put it neatly back into
the
closet.
When the fourth grade came around, the father, feeling that his
son
was beginning to mature a little, promised the same thing as
before,
"Bring me home a report card full of A's and you will have
anything
that you want, son"
At report card time, sure enough, the young lad again brought home
a
straight A report.
"EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT my boy!! What would you like?? And none of
this
nonsense about ping pong balls. Get a real present!!"
"But, FATHER, you said that you would get me anything I
wanted!
Please, please, I would like to have some yellow ping pong balls as
my
reward."
His father grudgingly agreed, because he figured, "If it gets the
boy
to give 100%, then it is worth giving in to a `phase'."
The next year, the same thing........ yellow ping pong balls.
Sixth grade.......... yellow ping pong balls.
By the seventh grade, his father was beginning to worry about the
lad,
but he once again asked the boy, "Well, you have once again
brought
home all A's! What would you like to have? A minibike?? How
about
unlimited access to the arcade with no limit on the amount of
games
that you can play??"
"Dad, what I really want is a box of yellow ping pong balls."
Once again, the father agreed and brought the boy his reward of
ping
pong balls.
Eighth grade........ All A's!
"What would you like to have son? A motorcycle? Maybe a new
computer??
How about a party with all your friends on MTV??
"That would be great dad, but more than anything else, I would like
to
have some more yellow ping pong balls!"
By the time the ninth grade rolled around, the young boy was
turning
into quite a dashing young man, but he was shy and quiet and
didn't
make friends well. His father once again promised anything that
he
wanted for bringing home all A's.
The son, by now recognized locally as a genuis beyond his years,
had
no trouble producing the needed grades.
"What is it that you want then, my boy??? How about a nice
little
sports car, you know, something to impress the ladies...."
*wink!*
"No dad, just the ping pong balls. That's all I really want!"
Tenth grade........ the same thing........ all A's and yellow
ping
pong balls.
In the eleventh grade, the father was really beginning to be proud
of
how his boy had grown. In just a couple of years, he would be out
on
his own and the father was beginning to get used to the idea of
his
son's apparent like for yellow ping pong balls. So when the time
came
for presents, the father didn't even ask, he just gave his son
another
box of yellow ping pong balls.
Now was the final year of school and once again the young man
had
brought home all great grades. He was valedictorian of his
class,
class president, man most likely to succeed and captain of the
varsity
cheerleading squad, not to mention starting quarterback for
the
football team and first string pitcher for the school baseball
league.
After delivering his graduation address to the graduating class,
his
father, beaming with pride, walked with him out to their car. As
they
got in, his father said, "Son, I have a feeling what you are going
to
say, but I must ask anyway......what can I do for you this year?? I
am
sooooooo proud of my boy!"
"Dad, what I would really like this year is a brand new, bright
yellow
Porsche convertible with mag tires, an AM/FM disc changer and a
credit
card!"
His father was overjoyed!!! The very next day, he went out
and
purchased the vehicle and had it delivered to the house, wrapped in
a
huge bow and ribbon and with a ten foot card that read, "Thanks
for
being my son!! You're the Greatest !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The boy promptly thanked his father and went upstairs and one box
at a
time, loaded all the yellow ping pong balls into the back of the
car,
carefully pouring them in until they filled the car, with the
exception of the driver's side floorboard. The boy, with a look of
mad
passion jumped into the vehicle and floored it! He drove as fast as
he
could go, while the ping pong balls `perculated' in the back. He
soon
found himself on a high mountain road careening carelessly
around
hairpin turns, when all of a sudden, one of the ping pong balls
rolled
under his feet. Distracted at the thought of losing one of his
ping
pong balls, the boy lost control of the car and went flying over a
600
foot dropoff!
The father received a call at work and was told that his son was
still
trapped in the car and had little time left to live. His father
raced
to the boy's side. It was terrible!! The boy was barely breathing
.....
the car, a mangled mess of twisted metal and there were yellow
ping
pong balls all over the hillside.
His father knelt down and
whispered in his son's ear, "Son, there is one thing
that I have to know......"
"All these years, all those ping pong balls.........what did you
want
with all of those yellow ping pong balls???????"
"Dad, I thought you would never ask! Well..."
And then he died.
