andi oakes

The other day, as I was in the queue of my local filling station, I experienced the most wonderful example of child-like faith I have ever seen.

So, there I was...in a queue waiting my turn to be served, when a little boy of no more that 6 years old, came through the automatic doors.  He immediately looked straight up into my face and said hello.  I smiled and returned the greeting, chuckling to myself.  Disappearing behind some shelving my little friend reemerged with a little bag of chocolate shapes, which he promptly displayed for me to see, mumbled something to himself and then disappeared around the other side of the confectionary display for a second time.  Turning to the person behind me I smiled and informed them that I had no idea who this little visitor was.  Moments later, however he reappeared, holding a second acquisition; this time a little chocolate bar, explaining to me in very serious tones that it was for someone called “Luka”, or something like that.

The customer directly ahead of me had finished at the checkout and so I said to my short friend that  he could go ahead of me and pay the man at the checkout.  So, without any fuss, he walked straight up to the checkout operator and handed his two items over, and upon hearing the how much they would cost (the princely sum of £1.39), promptly handed over what looked like 10p.  The guy behind the checkout bent down to the little boy and told him that it wasn't enough, but he still persisted in trying to go ahead with his transaction with great determination.  He just simply wasn't going to be put off.  The guy behind the till tried in vain again to explain the situation to the little boy.   By this time I was totally enraptured with this little drama and couldn't wait to get involved; so, delving into my pocket and reaching over the head of this brave little conquistador, I handed the money over to the bemused checkout guy and told him that I would get it for him.  The little boy, upon getting the nod from the guy behind the desk, promptly vanished as quickly as he had appeared...and I laughed to myself as I wondered how many times that had worked for him in the past.

But I loved his faith.  His simple child-like faith told him that all you had to do if you wanted something was go into the shop, pick what you want and give the man whatever you had to get it.  There was obviously no doubt in his mind that this would not be successful...and he was right.

If this is how child-like faith works, then I want it.  So I'm off now to try it for myself and I'm going to buy a 50'' Flat-Screen Plasma TV and Sky 3-D entertainment package with £3.50.  I think my chances are good.