10 Charity or subtle calculation

Shir Ali But in the second northern empire, so many postage stamps were issued that their value was minimal. Even though they are old. There were some unique stamps, with the wrong date or upside down. They were worth something. But it was necessary to look for collectors.

And they are usually associated with the black market, which means they are a potential problem. And it was forbidden to export stamps or some items abroad to Small-An. But here Shir Ali caught the attention of the old game of "Backgammon".

The game consisted of two planks shared by a cherry tree, which were badly worn over the years of use. The beautiful, transparent varnish has rubbed off in places. Bone chips were replaced in places with plastic corks from mineral water and Coca-Cola.

Nevertheless, it was this board that attracted the attention of Shir Ali. It beckoned with some special hidden energy. So he went to see this game board. The board was sold by a woman of 40-44 years old. She had gray hair, an oval face, and dark circles under her eyes.

She was dressed in clothes that had gone out of fashion for a long time, jeans with holes, but they were well washed, she smelled of laundry soap. "How many"? asked Shir-Ali without bargaining. "Son, I will sell for $ 50," the seller immediately said. "You know a lot about this," the old woman said with hope in her eyes. "I would not sell ..." she moved her lips, and her hands were convulsively squeezing the edge of the jacket. "But I need money ... drugs are expensive, my pension is small." "You don't think it's not stolen!" "This is a gift for our wedding from friends, it was 60 years ago!" "Well, what can you buy for this price, son?"

"Grandma, how much do you need for the medicine," Shir-Ali suddenly asked. "Yes, a lot of my son ... I need a fortune of 300 dollars, and I also need to pay taxes for an apartment, gas, electricity, water, garbage." Shir-Ali rummaged in his pocket, took out all the money from his wallet, counted it, it was $ 465. "Take it, grandma!"

"No, no, sonny, this is a lot, I do not need alms, I am not a beggar ... although" she did not notice how tears quietly flowed from her eyes. "Although, okay, come on ... I'll be a beggar ... my husband needs medicine ... not me." "Eh, and I worked for 50 years for the country ... and we have such beggarly pensions. We lost our data in the archive, could not find data for 40 years. Therefore, they gave only the minimum pension itself."

Shir Ali felt ashamed of the old people, they worked all their lives so that now in old age they could live out their days in poverty.

"Grandma, this is not alms!" "You noticed everything right, I am a specialist, that's why I gave everything that I had, this bosque, it is more expensive"!

"I would be glad to buy it from you on the cheap, but we have our own collector's ethics, I am not a trader, but a specialist"!

"We preserve cultural heritage"! "Therefore, if you give me your phone number, I will send you the remaining amount of $ 535 later!"

"Your game costs more, but I just can't pay more!" Convinced old woman Shir-Ali.

"Well, if so, son, then, of course, take it, I will only be glad if you keep this game for the people!" Granny said a little sobbing. She could not believe her happiness that the issue of medicines and food for three months had been resolved.

There are still good people in the world! Shir-Ali, fearing that his grandmother would be beaten and the money is taken away, accompanied her home and took her by taxi.

Then he and his grandmother confused the tracks, just in case. The grandfather, who was lying on the sofa, was at first strict, but then moved away when Shir-Ali told him that he would restore this board and donate it to the city museum on behalf of the old people. They shed tears. Old communists who believed in equality and brotherhood. And they were deceived by the young communists from the elite simply by selling the country.

Well, this is another sad story, the details of which Shir-Ali did not want to go into. It was not interesting to him! Saying goodbye to the old people, he went with the board to his home. He eagerly began to remove the board from the game ... and there he found a real treasure ...