Story of the Month
Marco the Marble Lender
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Marco the Marble Lender lived in a land where marbles were used as money. On any given day you could hear someone say, “Have you got change for an aggie?” Or, “Can you lend me a few steelies until payday?” Kids would get a marble for every “A” they brought home on their report cards.
Marco the Marble Lender would lend marbles to people who wanted to do something big - like start a business or build a home. He always drove a hard bargain and knew how to squeeze the last marble out of any deal. And if people had trouble paying their loans on time, Marco would have them thrown in jail and take what they had to pay the debt. He was ruthless!
With all the marbles he’d made, he’d been able to build himself a big house with a marble staircase and everything. He had lots of room to entertain, but no one who wanted to come over. But as you might imagine, Marco didn’t have many friends. That put Marco in a bad mood most of the time.
Now there was a fellow named Jake the Marbled Cake Baker who lived with his daughter Mabel. Mabel worked as a baker in the Marbled Cake Bake Shop. Her specialty was a Mocha and Mellon Marbled Melt in your Mouth Muffin that was very popular! Business was good and Jake the Marbled Cake Baker decided to expand. He build a bigger shop, redesigned the kitchen, bought bigger ovens and even thought about opening a second shop across town. Well for all that, he was going to need a loan and guess who he got it from? That’s right, Marco the Marble Lender!
Everything went well for awhile. In fact, you could say that things were really cooking! Jake was able to make his payments to Marco every month without fail. But then one day there came an earthquake the brought Jake’s Marbled Cake Shops tumbling to the ground! Without those shops, Jake had no customers. No customers meant no money for Jake to pay Marco. And when the loan came due the next month, Jake had no marbles to pay Marco.
Marco said, “It’s jail for Jake!”
“Oh for goodness sake,” said Mabel. “Can’t we come to the table and cook up a compromise?”
Marco smiled an oily kind of smile and replied, “All right, Mabel, how about a little game? He held out eight marbles in his hand. Four were green and four were blue.
“I’ll put two different colored marbles - one green and one blue - in my pouch. You just have to pick one out. If you pick out the blue marble, I’ll forgive Jake’s debt and leave you alone. But if you pick out the green one, you and Jake will go to work for me and bake marbled cakes in my house forever! So, are you game?”
If Mabel said no, her father would go to jail for sure. At least with this game she had a fifty-fifty chance. She didn’t know what else to do, so Mabel said, “I’m game.”
Marco the Marble Lender held the marbles tightly in his hand and dropped two marbles in the pouch. He put the remaining six on the table behind him. Mabel saw them for just a second. There were two greens and four blues. Marco had cheated! Mabel was about to expose his lie when a better idea came to her.
Marco said to her, “Go ahead Mabel, pick out a blue marble if you’re able.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a marble. But before she showed it to anyone, she put that hand to her mouth and sneezed, blowing the marble onto the lawn where it immediately got lost in the tall green grass.
Well, a large crowd had gathered to see what the outcome would be.
“How will we know what color she picked?” one person asked.
“They’ll have to do it again.” suggested a second.
“No we won’t,” said Mabel. All we have to do is see what color marble is left in Marco the Marble Lender’s bag. If it is blue, then I took the green one and my father and I are going to work for Marco. But if it is green, then I chose the blue one and my father’s debt is forgiven.”
“An excellent idea!” They all agreed. That is, everyone except Marco. Of course, he knew she had chosen green, but couldn’t say so without revealing that he had cheated. And so Marco the Marble Lender pulled out the green marble from his bag. “You win.” he said.
Marco turned to the table to pick up his other marbles, but Mabel already had them in her hand. “Are these yours?“ she asked innocently. Marco knew that Mabel knew! He grabbed his marbles quickly and hurried home.
That night Marco tossed and turned. He couldn’t sleep a wink. Why hadn’t she exposed his cheating? She could have sent him to jail! What was Mabel up to?
The next day, Marco went to visit Mabel.
“About our little contest…you knew what I did, didn’t you?” he asked Mabel.
“Yes, I saw what you were up to.”
“But why didn’t you turn me in?”
Mabel smiled at him. She really wanted him to understand. “Because I just wanted my father to have a second chance. I believe in a God of second chances. I believe everyone deserves a second chance, even you Marco.”
And Marco walked home amazed.
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