On one sunny morning far away from the city, Sam, an eight-year-old boy, was getting ready for school. “Mom! Where is my lunch pack?”

“It is on the dining table, Honey,” his mother answered calmly.

“Mom, where are my boots? I remember I put them here yesterday” He was running around getting school stuff together with the help of his mother before the school bus arrived.

“Sam, You should start eating your breakfast otherwise you will miss the bus.” Sam’s dad shouting from the couch in front the television while taking a quick glance from his favorite show at the chaos in the kitchen.

“Beep Beep!” a yellow school bus driver blew a horn loudly to speed up students in the urgent school day morning. “Bye, Mom! Bye Dad!” he shouted while in a hurry to get on onto the bus. The bus was full of students. He sat in the first row seat near the window and started talking with his friends.

His school was a fifteen-minute drive from his house. The school building was a two-floor building which was painted in colorful colors; yellow, green and red; as if it was a square giant Christmas tree. In front, there was a big black gate ready to welcome students back from the weekend. Sam walked into the school with a lifeless face ‘School is as boring as usual,” he thought. For Sam, Time seemed to be moving so slowly in school. In the most of the classes he let his mind flew out the window. His algebra teacher had to call him twice to get his attention. The only thing that he found interesting that day was a conversation with William, a British boy with an arrogant look who had just moved to the US. Two months before. William did not have many friends because of his haughty look and the face without smile. In fact, other students were afraid to get around him. Of course, Sam was not one of them, in the opposite, he made friends with the British boy and found him sincere and fun to be around, and so they became best friends.

“Hey, Sam! Guess what? My dad is going to buy me a horse for my birthday,” William said happily with a biggest smile Sam has ever seen on his face.

“Really?” Sam replied surprisingly.

“Yeah, unbelievable isn’t it? My dad had never bought me any awesome present before. He said that he talked to one of our neighbors who agreed to sell to us. This will be my best birthday I‘ve ever had,” William grinded.

“Cool! How about you bring your horse and I bring mine. Then we can ride them together in my backyard?” Sam said. He was so excited for William because William’s dad was a very busy guy who never had time for his son. William told Sam that all he used to get for his birthday from his dad was money to buy what he wanted himself. His dad didn’t even have time to buy his son a present or knew what William would like.

After school that day, Sam walked home with William talking about the horse the whole way to William’s house. After a ten-minute walk, they stopped in front of William’s house. His house was a big, white, two-floor house with a brand new sports car parked in the garage. “Bye, Sam. I can’t wait for the weekend,” William said

“Me either. See you tomorrow,” Sam laughed and started walking again.

He was turning around the last corner when he heard the barking from his dog; Buster. “Hey, Buster, I know I know. I miss you too,” Sam said while his dog was jumping up and down trying to lick his face.

Sam walked toward the door, but as he was going to open it, he heard the conversation of his parents. “We might need to sell our apartment room in the city too” the voice of his dad was full of anxious.
“But, Honey, can we do something else instead of selling things?” his mom disagree.
“I would love to but I don’t think we can. We have no choice,” his
dad replied sadly “I’m sorry,” he mumbles.
Sam knew exactly what his parents were talking about. His family
suffered from the poor economy, and his dad had lost his job. They needed money for expenses including paying the loan for the house they were living in.

Sam tiptoed upstairs to his bedroom. He didn’t want to interrupt the conversation. He kept his bag and went down to the back door.

“Henry! Henry! I have a good news for you,” he shouted calling his light-brown horse that was eating the grass in his herd. Henry turned around and walked slowly to him. “You are going to have a friend. Can you remember William, my friend that I talked about? He’s going to have a horse, and four of us will play together. Isn’t that great?” Sam said with excitement.

“Sam! Dinner is ready,” his mom called from the kitchen.

“Yes, Mom, I’m coming” Sam replied. Sam reached out to touch Henry’s soft fur and walked back to the house.

At the dinning table were his mom and dad sitting beside each other waiting to start eating altogether with their son. Sam sat in opposite side of his dad. He looked on the table, which was full of appetizing foods. There were a plate of chicken wings, mash potato with gravy, macaroni and cheese and a bow of pineapple. All of them were his favorites, so he ate them deliciously and joyfully. “Thanks, Mom. The foods were very good.” Sam said and stood up after he has done with his plate.

“Sam, sit down first. We have something to talk to you about,” his dad said with a more serious voice. Sam sat down, cautious about what his parents were going to talk about. “As you know, I have lost my job, and we do not have much income right now,” his dad started, “so your mom and I decided to sell our apartment room in the city.”

“That’s good, Dad,” Sam interrupted. “We have not gone there for two months, and I don’t want to live in the city anyway,” Sam agreed.

“Sam, your dad has not finished his talking,” his mom said.

Then his dad continued, “There was a business man. I think he lives three blocks away from here. He offered us a lot of money for Henry, so we decided to sell him. The man will come and take Henry tomorrow.”

“No, Dad! No! You can’t sell him!” Sam shouted and turned to his mother expecting for a supporter.

“Honey, you know we have a hard time right now. Your dad has tried his best to find a new job, but until he does this seems to be the only way to make things better,” his mom explained.

“I cannot give Henry away, Mom. He is my friend,” Sam cried and ran upstairs into his bed room. He locked the door and complained angrily until finally he fell asleep.

The next morning, Sam was calmer, but still didn’t satisfy with his parents’ decision. He told William what had happened at school and he was so sorry for Sam. After school that day, Sam spent his last time with Henry all evening. Even Buster and Lilly, his cat, were there as if they were saying good bye to Henry either.

Ten minutes later there was a brand new sports car with a black truck following and parking in front of his house. The car was familiar to him but he did not notice until the man stepped out of the car. Sam looked through the window from inside the house. ‘What? Is that William’s dad? What is he doing here?’ Sam thought surprisingly while his parents were walking from the backyard taking Henry out with them. Sam watched them have some conversation, and then there were a few men from the truck led Henry onto the back of their truck. About ten minutes afterward, the men and William’s dad left with Henry. At that time Sam was very sure that the business man whom his dad had talked about the day before was William’s dad, and the horse that William would get for his birthday was actually his horse. Sam had a mixed felling when he knew the truth. He did not want to lose Henry, but also did not want to make his best friend regret.

The next day at school, Sam talked much less to William than he used to. It was not that he was angry with William; he just did not know what to say if William started talking about his new horse and if he asked about Henry. “What’s the matter, Sam?” William noticed the difference.

“Nothing. I am just so tired today,” Sam replied

“Come on Sam. I know you’re upset about something. You know we are best friends and you can talk about anything with me.” William said knowing Sam was hiding something from him.

“You are really my best friend,” Sam smiled and told what had happened the day before and what made him upset.

“Oh! I am so sorry, Sam. I did not know he was your horse. I will tell my dad to return him to you,” William said with a sad feeling. “No, it’s okay. You can have him. He is your birthday present. Don’t worry about me. I can just go to your house and play with him, right?” Sam replied with relieve because at least he was sure that he did the right thing.

Weekdays passed and the weekends came. Sam woke on a lovely Saturday morning. He was walking down the stairs when the door bell rang followed by the sound of his dad calling from outside. He opened the door and surprisingly, he saw William standing with his dad and behind them was Henry. “Hi Sam!” William said with a cheerful voice and a big smile on his face.

“William told his dad that he didn’t want Henry anymore because he’s yours and he also told his dad to find a job for me in his company,” Sam’s dad answered the questions knowing what Sam was going to ask.

“But why?” Sam asked doubtfully.

“Because you are my best friend, and the best present I’ve ever had is to have a good friend like you. Instead of your coming to my house to play with Henry, why don’t I just come to your house?” William smiled.

“Thanks. I am grad to have a friend like you too, Will”

“No problem, It’s a job of a good friend.”