Sometime

Billy had a bad habit. Whenever anyone asked him to do something, he would say he’ll do it “sometime”! It was extremely irritating.
His mother needed some bread immediately, so she asked him to run to Mr Foley’s shop and get it quickly. “I’ll get it sometime!” replied Billy out of fun.
“Will you please fetch the newspaper, Billy?” asked his father. “Sometime!” replied Billy as usual.
“Open page 23 of your book,” The teacher would say, while Billy was busy playing dots and crosses with himself! The reply would be, “Sometime!”
Now the teacher was certainly not going to put up with such nonsense.
“Billy,” she called, “Stand up! And don’t even think of saying ‘sometime’. Open your book at page 23 and start reading!”

The teacher, Miss Donelly, was very angry. She met Billy’s parents, Mr and Mrs Maxwell. She asked them why he always said ‘sometime’. They looked at each other.
“We too are facing the same problem!” they said.
The three of them sat down to work out some way to stop Billy’s habit. Finally, they hit upon a plan and decided that they would all try it out.
Things began to change at Billy’s house the next day. No one asked Billy to do anything at all. But Billy would say, “Papa, could we go to the park, please?”
Papa would reply, “Sometime,” and go back to his newspaper on pretext.
Billy was hungry. “When’s dinner, Mom?” he asked.
“Sometime,” came Mom’s reply.
His troubles were not over. The next day, he stood up to ask Miss Donelly, “Ma’am, would you please explain this calculation once again?”
“Sometime, Billy,” replied Miss Donelly.

Billy looked ready to burst into tears!
Billy’s classmates had caught on to the plan. Every time Billy asked someone to lend him a book or tried to catch up with something he had missed, they would say, “Sometime!”
That evening, Billy did not come out of his room. His mother was worried and peeped in to find him crying. She went in and sat down near him, putting her arm around his shoulder.
“What is it, Billy?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I kept thinking I was very smart, saying ‘sometime’ every time I was asked something,” wept Billy, “I didn’t realise I was being so stupid and rude.”
His mother hugged him and said, “You’ve understood. That’s what matters. I know you won’t repeat that again!”
And since that day, Billy had never said ‘sometime’ at any time!

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