"You are a sharp as ever, weird boy!!" The middle-aged man laughed in a thundering voice again. He ruffled the young boy's head even rougher than before. The boy was shaken hard, he hugged the basket tighter so it wouldn't fall from his lap.
"Indeed, when did the money start being used?" The middle-aged man rubbed his rough chin with his thick fingers.
"Does it mean, before now, people didn't use money to buy things?" The young boy asked in excitement.
"Well, probably. That's what I heard from some clever guys. Long long ago, people didn't use money to pay things. They did barter instead." That middle-aged man put the young boy on another chair beside him, and he took his cup of black coffee.
"What is barter?"
"It's a way of exchanging things based on our needs boy," the young lady entered the shop with 2 plates on her hands. "Here uncle Harold, your bacon pie." She put the plate in front of the middle-aged man.
"Is a rusk toast with butter and ham OK for you, boy? We still have some leftover bread, but I don't want to throw it. And you also brought a lot of butter." The boy just nodded. She put the plate and a cup of chocolate milk in front of the young boy, "Ah, I didn't put sugar in it so it's OK."
The boy stared on the unrequested set of meal. The old lady giggled softly.
"She already memorised your taste, I see."
The young boy flustered. He took the cup and drink it with rose cheeks. "So, what me and pizza owner did of exchanging tomatoes and sugar is something could be called barter?"
"Yup! It's fun, isn't it?" The middle-aged man grinned at him like a little kid.
"So, if it is so easy to do, why did people start using money?"
No comments:
Post a Comment