Vaporback Writer

Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Herbie Does Good


Herbie called up the stairs yesterday, trying to find me. “I’m here, Herbie. In the computer room. Come on up.”

“No, Mom, you come down here. I want to talk to you.”

Okay, that’s fine. He knows that the computer room is the place where we keep his dad’s potted ass (right where dad’s fronds can reach the keyboard), and, whatever was on his mind, he evidently wanted to keep it from his dad.

“Mom,” Herb confessed in my ear, “I want to do some chores to make some money. Do you have any chores I could do?”

Do I? HA! I have enough chores to keep a platoon of second-graders busy for a week. No problem. I figured he could start with cleaning the cat box, and we’d see where we would go from there.

Herbie got right to work, but I was puzzled about why he would want to keep his desire to earn some money secret from Howser. I had to know what he was saving for. I was hoping it wasn’t something that I would have to veto (like the latest weapon he’d seen on COPS).

Herbie looked from side to side, making sure no spies were in the room before he’d tell me his goal. He finally whispered, “I want to make some money to send to those people. You know, those people that got hurt in the hurricane.”

“Herbie, that’s wonderful. I think that’s a great idea. But why wouldn’t you want to tell your dad?”

“I just thought he wouldn’t let me. That he’d think it was stupid.”

My heart just cracked and bled all over my shoes when he said that. What kind of conversations have those two been having that would cause Herbie to think that his own dad would mock him for acting on such an unselfish urge? I guess that just the sort of thing you have to expect when your son’s most significant role model is a ficus tree.

“Oh, no, Herb! Your dad wouldn’t think it’s stupid. He’d be as proud of you as I am. He’d want to know what you’re doing. Can I go tell him?”

Herb reluctantly agreed to let me tell his dad. Howser even climbed out of his pot long enough to wash his car with Herbie, enabling him to earn a few more dollars.

Today, Herbie had earned eight dollars. I told him I would match every dollar he earned, so he donated $16.00 to Northwest Medical Teams this afternoon.

I’ve never been prouder of Herbie.