Wednesday 7 October 2015

They say, "we can only have the welfare we can afford": a story

Mr Bill owned a shop and Mina worked in the shop. In winter it got cold and Mr Bill said that he could heat some of the shop but not all of it. Mina felt very cold.
We can't afford to heat the whole shop, said Mr Bill.
Mina didn't know anything about Mr. Bill but one day she was going for a walk in the country with her friends and one of them said, 'We're near where Mr Bill lives.'
So, they went and had a look.

It was a big house, with a beautiful garden. Looking over the wall, Mina and her friends could see a big de luxe car in the drive.

On the way home, Mina thought more and more about what Mr Bill had said about 'we can't afford to heat the whole shop.' Certainly, she couldn't afford to heat the shop. Mr Bill only paid her enough to feed herself and pay her rent. It was true, the shop didn't seem to make huge amounts of money, but it was doing well, well enough for Mr Bill to buy a lovely house and car.

So how did it all work? And why was she cold?