The Cab Fare

Yesterday I took Ricki to a check-up at one of the local hospitals. I checked online the evening before to ascertain where and when I could catch the bus, but in the end we missed it due to extreme dawdling on Ricki’s part. She was “cold” (yes, it WAS a bit windy), and kept ducking into the entrance of buildings on our way to the bus stop. So in the end, in order not to forfeit the appointment, we took a cab. The fare cost 45 shekels. (Three and a half Israeli shekels equals about a dollar.) Later while sitting in the clinic, waiting our turn, Ricki started grilling me about how we would return. When I said “by bus”, she tried to convince me to take a cab. So I told her quite firmly that I had no intention of splurging more money on cab fare, and if she wants to go by cab, she would need to give me fifty shekels. So Ricki started rummaging in her school bag for her change purse, as I wondered why she didn’t realize that she had at the MOST three of four small coins in there. However, as she opened the wallet, I stared in absolute shock at the three bills: a 200 shekel bill, a fifty, and a twenty. LORD! Where in the world did she get 270 shekels?!??!!!?? She must have stolen it from my purse, but I didn’t notice? Then as she pulled the 50 shekel bill out, I realized that it was a bit small… it was PLAY money! I sighed in my relief that Ricki hadn’t become a thief, and prepared to inform my dear daughter that this “50 shekels” just wasn’t going to cut the grade with a taxi driver…..