I'll not tell THIS if you don't tell THAT

Do you remember barter system? We studied it in school. This was the way in which the business was conducted in the olden days. We still have this system in place when it comes to embarrassing facts about ourselves. Haven't we stuck a deal with our friends for not disclosing an embarrassing fact about us if we reciprocate the same. In other words, if we do not disclose an embarrassing fact about the friend. Recently, I came across this negotiation happening in real life which reinforced two facts about life. Kids are smart and boys will be boys.

The negotiation happened between two men; in fact a boy and a man separated in age by almost 2 decades. The boy is a friend's son while the man is my young friend. In a weak moment, my young friend handed over his mobile to the boy. The boy, who is 3 years away from being a teenager, quickly played around with my young friend's mobile and asked a simple question pointing to a phone entry with a sly smile. "Who is this girl?". This surprised my young friend. As far he is concerned, he is in a relationship with that girl. The relation is in stealth mode. Don't get me wrong here. The couple are not sure if this is going to work out eventually. So they decided to adopt the start-up philosophy. Operate in stealth mode! My young friend being a relationship in stealth mode actually brings a smile on my lips. All his friends, including me, knows about this relationship. Obviously, he has his own definition of stealth mode!

It didn't take long for the intelligent boy to figure there was something fishy going on. This could be attributed to whatever reaction my young friend had on his face on hearing this question. Now, my young friend want to prevent the boy from going public with this information. So what does he do? He cons the boy into an innocent conversation. One thing leads to the other and the conversation moves to school, classes, teachers, friends and then lands on the topic of girls. By steering the conversation in a calculated way, my young friend uncovers an important information about the boy; the name of the boy's girlfriend. 

Now you have figured out what happened after this startling discovery. My young friend threatened to go public with this information. In normal scenarios, the boy would not have cared. But the public also included his dad. So at the end, both of them was able to figure out a mutually convenient solution; the oath of silence. I will not tell your girlfriend's name if you do not tell my girlfriend's name. What did I tell you about kids and boys?

Tags: Musings,Boys,Young Friend,Relationship

-->