A Parable

Imagine yourself a parent of a large-ish family.

One night, at about midnight, there is a fierce hammering on the door. When you open it you find one of  the ‘grown-up’ kids on the doorstep, in a terrible state and some stranger behind him.

‘Da, Da, I’m in terrible trouble, the business is gone, I’m ruined, something happened that I never thought could happen – I owe this geezer a fortune’

‘Come in now, child and we will sort this out. There’s no one hurt, is there?’ and addressing the stranger, ‘I don’t know who you are, sir, but I will stand behind my child with everything I have, I am sure I can sort this out.’

Later, over coffee and something stronger, it emerges that to sort out the kid’s debts you are going to have to remortgage the house for everything it is worth. The kid’s business is something more complicated  than you ever understood but you are assured by the kid that it will all come good in the end.

You go to bed to catch up on some sleep and wonder was it all a nightmare. You wake up in morning and go off to the bank to arrange the mortgage. The bank manager looks at you through narrowed eyes but your credit is good and you walk out with a fat bank draft in your backpocket.

Just as you are about to hand the draft over to the kid, you ask how the money is, actually, going to be paid back.

And the kid says ‘Oh, I’m off down to the same place I lost it in the firstplace, the dog track…….’