Doilies

Doilies

One day a young cowboy married his sweetheart. On their wedding night the new bride put a shoe box on the top shelf of their closet and asked her husband to never look in it. Of course he wanted to please his wife so he agreed, and soon he forgot all about the box.

Years passed. Eventually they grew old and the wife was sick and dying. One day the old cowboy was  looking for something in the closet and he stumbled across the shoe box. He decided the time had come to talk to his wife about it, so he brought the box to her bed.

“Ethel, sweetheart,” he began, “this box has been on the top shelf of our closet since the day we married. I’ve never looked in it, but now I think you should tell me about it.”

Ethel smiled tiredly, patted the bed, and motioned for her husband to sit next to her. When he was settled she carefully removed the top of the box. Inside was a little yarn, a crochet hook, 3 doilies, and $5000. The old cowboy looked for a second, then turned to his wife with questioning eyes.

“Honey,” Ethel explained, “on the day we married my mother gave me this box and  suggested that every time I got mad at you I should release my anger by crocheting.”

The old cowboy looked at the three doilies, then back at his wife with moist eyes. “You mean you have only been mad at me three times in all these years? But, where did the $5000 come from?”

“Oh, that’s how much money I made selling the doilies,” his wife answered.