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All went well for some weeks. Then one Saturday morning my attention was drawn to the odd goings-on of our two youngest sons. They kept carrying carton after carton from various corners of the house out the front door to curbside. I assumed their mother had enlisted them to remove junk for a trash pickup. Then I overheard them discussing finances.
幾個星期過去了，一切都很好。后來，一個星期六的上午，我們兩個小兒子的奇怪舉動引起了我的注意。他們不停地將一個又一個的紙箱從房屋四處的角落里搬出，經過前門，送到人行道邊。我以為他們的媽媽在指揮他們清除破爛，好讓垃圾車運走呢。正在這時，我聽到他們在議論經濟問題。
"Geez, we're going to make a lot of money!"
"喲，我們會賺許多錢呢！"
"We're going to be rich!"
"我們要發財啦！"
Investigation revealed that they were offering " for sale or rent" our entire library.
經查問發現，他們正在把我們的全部圖書"出售或出租"。
"No! No!" I cried. "You can't sell our books!"
"不成！不成！"我叫道。"不能把我們的書賣了！"
"Geez, Dad, we thought you were done with them!"
"哎唷，爸，我們以為你用不著它們了呢！"
"You're never 'done' with books," I tried to explain.
"書永遠不會'用'不著的，"我盡力解釋道。
"Sure you are. You read them, and you're done with them. That's it. Then you might as well make a little money from them. We wanted to avoid the indignity of having to ask you for…"
"你肯定用不著了。你都看過了，再也不用了。沒有錯。既然不用，還不如賣點錢。我們想避免那種有失尊嚴的事，不再伸手向你要……"
