A is for Allowance money well spent.
(pre-series Don was fifteen and Charlie ten years old)
Donny saving his allowance to buy a new baseball bat but instead he used his allowance for something else.
A/N: My stories are mostly alphabetically linked i.e. after A is B and sometimes linked by D. They could be read individually, no problem. In between are short stories about other characters of Numb3rs, the TV series incidentally of which I do not own and even slightly remotely have a finger or a nail in it. This is purely for fun and pleasure in writing about our favourite TV show and the actors who played the part in it. We are just using them in our stories, no harm done: all returned safe and sound.
The stories are arranged in chapters 1- 26 i.e. A-Z.
My beta is my friend Marilyn. Thanks M!
Chapter 1
A is for Allowance money well spent.
Don sat on his bed and pulled out all the notes he had saved. A tentative knock sounded, "Don.. can I come in?"
"Go away!" Don was not trying to be mean to Charlie but sometimes, he didn't really need Charlie to be following him all around.
"Go and read your book and don't disturb me." Don called out.
"Oh…o..kay."
Suddenly the door pulled open, Charlie jumped back.
"What do you want Charlie? I'm busy."
Charlie peeped round Don and he saw money on his bed.
"You are counting your money? I can help you." Charlie said eagerly.
"No, no, it's not much, I have already counted." Don replied and asked again, "What do you want Charlie?"
"I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to practice your chess with me. We are playing in the tournament in two month's time."
"No…. oh okay, I dunno why I let you put my name for the tournament. Just give me a minute. You get it ready; I'll come down in a mo."
"OK, it's set up already. I'll wait for you." Charlie said eagerly.
Don went back to collect all the notes on his bed, he was pleased. He had saved the sum required to purchase the bat to replace his current one was which was getting very worn out.
By the time he was ready to get to the store next week, he would have more than enough to get a present for his mother from him and Charlie as well.
His mother's birthday was coming up next month.
He already told Charlie that he needed to pay ten dollars for his share and now with his savings; they could get a better and more expensive scarf than that one they saw earlier in the store.
Don went down and he played chess or rather practiced his chess with Charlie. Charlie gave him some pointers and told him not to be too eager to make the move, but to try and concentrate more.
"Don, are you really going to buy the bat? It's so expensive. Why don't you ask mom or dad for the money?"
"That model is the cheapest of the lot and it's not expensive. To you anything over ten dollars is expensive, do your math Charlie.
I have saved enough and I am going to get it maybe next week. You can come along and help me choose the color."
Charlie beamed, "Yes, I like that Don. I can also look at the books."
Don rolled his eyes, "Checkmate!"
"Hey! That's cheating."
"Says who?"
After a week, Don took Charlie with their parents' permission by bus to a store to look for his bat.
They had spent some time looking at the cheapest variety and Don saw one that he like and it was within his budget. He looked around for Charlie and saw him sitting by a row of books. He was head deep into reading a book he had in his hand.
Charlie had lost interest in the bat as Don was taking a long time choosing it.
Don had indeed been taking a long time, he was taking the bat one by one and tried at his hand in swinging it. Charlie stood by and waited but soon walked away.
He saw a row of books and started browsing and he saw two that caught his eye. He took it down and started reading.
Don looked for Charlie and he saw him, his mop of hair and face almost buried in a book he was holding. He went near and tilted his head and saw that it was a Math book.
"Hey Charl, what are you reading?"
"The Magic of Numbers by Arthur Windstrone, you wanna have a look. It has all the calculations and the explanations of numbers. From here I know how to calculate when the ……"
"OK, Ok, geez… come on I've chosen my bat. Now we look for mom's present first."
Don said and turned to get his bat, he waited for Charlie who was getting up reluctantly from the floor. He held on to the book, put his hand on the cover, sighed and put it back slowly on to the shelf.
He walked up to Don and said, "Wish I had money to buy that book."
"How much was it?" asked Don and Charlie told him the price which was half the price of the bat he was buying.
Don said nothing but he pulled Charlie along to the ladies section to look at the scarf.
Don with Charlie tagging along went to the shelves that had the variety of scarves. He hesitatingly took one to examine. He didn't know what he was looking for.
A Sales lady came a long , "Hello young man, can I be of help to you?"
Don looked at her and told her that they wanted to get a nice scarf for their mother's birthday.
"Oh yes, we do have some very nice ones here, can you describe your mom and is she fair or not so fair?"
"Our mum is very fair and very pretty and she has blonde hair and she loves us very much." Charlie blurted out.
Don nudged him and continued, "She's very tall, taller than you and she's slim."
The Sales lady smiled, "Oh yes, your mom is fair, tall, slim with blonde hair and she loves you two very much. So we'll look for something that will compliment her looks. Now how about this? "
After some advice from the sales lady they finally chose a light green long scarf with some reddish small flowers at the edge.
The lady said that she will gift wrapped for them, after taking the money for the scarf.
"Charlie, you stay here and wait while I go and get my bat, alright?"
"Can I go and read the book then?"
Don looked at him, 'No, you stay here and wait while the nice lady wrapped the scarf. I'll come back for you. Stay here."
"OK" Charlie said resignedly and sat on the bench to wait.
After twenty minutes, Don came to get Charlie, 'Charlie, let's go before it gets dark."
Don took the gift wrapped box from Charlie and proceeded to open his backpack to put it in.
Charlie looked at Don and noticed something missing.
"Donny, where's your bat? Didn't you get it?"
Don said nothing and went all way to the bus stand.
Only when they were seated on the bus, Don said,
"The one I saw and wanted to buy had a dent on it and since I'm paying for it, I asked for a new one. They don't have stock at the moment and they say the stock will only come next two weeks."
"Aw, Donny, can't you get another one?"
"No, that's the one I wanted, no problem, I can still wait, so meanwhile I have the money and I thought that you will like this much better than I like the bat. Here, something for you."
Don reached out for his backpack and pulled out a paper bag and he handed it to Charlie.
Charlie stared at the book and then at Don.
"OK don't go mushy on me. You wanted the book more than I wanted the bat, so I thought I buy you the book first. The bat can wait another two weeks, no problem."
Still Charlie could'nt say anything, he turned and hugged Don by the waist. Don was feeling uncomfortable and tried to wriggle away.
"Charlie.." he whispered as he pushed himself away from him, "will you stop it, people are looking."
Charlie was all smiles and he looked at Don, "I'll pay you back when I get some money."
"That's alright Charlie, that's also my way of saying thanks for all the help you've been giving me with my math. Thank you Charlie."
"Thank you Don, thank you thank you….." Charlie wanted to hug Don again but this time Don was prepared for him, he used his hands to block him, "Charlie, enough, people are staring."
Charlie smiled and sat quietly hugging the book to his body.
Later that night after dinner, Don was washing up, Alan came up to him.
"That was a very nice thing to do Donny. Charlie was pretty pleased when he showed me the book."
Alan looked over at Don and whispered, " he was more pleased that he got it from his big brother."
"Aw dad, I saw that he was so engrossed in it and it didn't cost that much. I can save again for my bat, and he did help me a lot in my Math homework." Don added.
"That's my boy. You want any help, just let me know." Alan said rubbing his hand on his hair.
"Thanks dad. No problem." Don said continuing to dry the dishes.
That night his mother came into his room, "Don, are you asleep?"
Don turned in his bed and looked at his mom, "No, mum not yet."
Margaret came and sat by his bed, "Don, I so proud of you. You saved especially to buy your bat and now you've gone a bought Charlie a book instead. You know, he's keeping it by his bedside. He said he'll treasure it always, you know why?"
"Mom, Charlie always treasures his books, all his math and whatnots theories books, you know."
"Yes, but especially this one because his big brother bought it for him. I know that Charlie sometimes drives you up the wall but I know you will be there for him always. You must promise me that you'll look out for each other especially when we are no longer here."
"Aw.. mom, don't say that, you and dad will live forever and ever."
"Don't we hope too, Don. But you must always look out for Charlie if and when both of us are not around, you understand? You will only have each other as brothers, even though you'll two will have families of your own." Margaret said and put a hand to push back Don's curly locks."
"Yes, mom, forever and ever, I will look after you and dad and Charlie." Don said.
"Yes, that's very nice my dear, I know you will. Goodnight." She kissed him on his forehead and went out after one last look at him. She closed the door quietly behind her.
Don did get his bat but only after a month. His parents and Charlie came to help him choose and Alan paid the difference for him.
