Dirty Money - O Henry - fairyage

DIRTY MONEY

'Money talks,' they say. Not just big bills but even smaller ones can say a word or two sometimes.

I am a ten-dollar bill of 1901. I first came in a five -hundred-dollar packet of clean, new ten-dollar bills from Pennsylvania to a bank in New York.
Since then I have seen every kind of business.

Once I was tied up in a big, dirty roll of bills in a hawker's pocket. I was there for a long time, and I hated every minutes.
He was saving his money to buy a big store. But one day he got into trouble with the police. I think he put his cart in the wrong place.
Well, it cost him a ten-dollar bill-me!

In my early days, I did not know about 'dirty' money. Then one day I went to a man called Old Jack who was rich, but unpopular.

One night a twinty-dollar bill spoke to me. 'Well, old Ten,' He said, 'You're lucky. Old Jack is going to spend a mountain of money tonight.
Actually he wanted to give it to a local charity, but they refused to accep it, saying it was dirty. So he says he's going to send it all on some fun instead!'

That night, as the news got around, people began to follow us. Pherhaps Old Jack's money was dirty but everyone still wanted it.
He treated everyone in town.

At last we came to an expensive restaurant. Just then, a woman came quietly into the Old Jack's table. She was poor.
Her frightened eyes were big in her white face. She just stood there.

Old Jack stood up. He took me in his hand. Then he gave me to the woman with a smile.
'Madam,'he said, 'They say that my money is dirty, but if you will accept it, this bill is yours.'

She took me with a shaking hand. 'Sir,' she said, 'I counted thousands of bills like this when they were fresh and new.
You see, I was a clerk in a bank. I was fired by a dishonest manager because I would not do everything he wanted. Now I have no job and no money.
You say that this bill is dirty money. It was dirty before it reached you. Thank you with all my heart, sir'.

She took me to a baker's shop. She left me there, and went away with a bag full of bread and cakes and two one-dollar bills.

I didn't see her after that but I met one of the one-dollar bills. "Hello, E35039669,' I said. 'Didn't I see you at the baker's last Saturday?'
'Yes,' said the one-dollar bill. 'The woman spend E1705143 on milk and vegetables for her little boy-a pale, thin child.
My word! How that little boy enjoyed the food. She saved me to pay the rent for the tiny room she had. You're lucky, Ten.
I meet only the poor. Dirty bills like you meet more interesting people.'

'Be quiet,'I said. 'There is no such thing as dirty money. The important thing is not where the bill comes from. It's how you spend it.
This talk of dirty money makes me tired!?

here...feeling's...the original contents by www.sensualityface.com or www.fairyage.com / describe with help of O. Henry - Adapted