The local teenagers thought they had found the easiest target in the neighborhood—an eight-year-old so seemingly dim-witted that he couldn’t even grasp the absolute basics of pocket change.
Their favorite daily ritual was cornering Little Johnny outside the corner store and holding out two coins: a wide, shiny five-cent nickel in one palm, and a tiny, thin ten-cent dime in the other. Every single time, Johnny would flash an innocent grin, eagerly snatch the nickel, and skip away. The older boys would practically choke on their own laughter, high-fiving each other over how incredibly stupid the kid was.
One afternoon, a kindly neighbor who had watched this routine unfold from his front porch finally couldn’t take it anymore. Feeling sorry for the boy, he walked over, pulled Johnny aside, and knelt down.
“Johnny, buddy, listen to me,” the neighbor said gently. “Those older boys are making a fool out of you. Don’t you know that a dime is worth twice as much as a nickel, even though the nickel is physically bigger?”
Johnny’s naive expression instantly vanished, replaced by a brilliant, wicked smirk. He patted his heavily jingling pockets, looked at the man, and whispered, “Oh, I know that, sir. But if I take the dime just once, the game is over. And so far, those idiots have paid me twenty dollars!”
