Spoiled Teen Refuses to Help His Single Grandma & Gets What He Deserves Hours Later — Story of the Day

A lazy teen refuses to help his grandmother with her garden, but she outsmarts him and teaches him a valuable lesson.

Simon wasn't exactly over the moon to be spending his summer with his grandmother in her home in South Carolina, but his parents insisted.

His mother had been asked to do a series of lectures in Europe and his father was going too. They felt that Simon was too young to be home alone. Simon, who considered himself very grown-up at 14, disagreed...

The minute Simon arrived he knew the summer was going to be a disaster. His grandmother Millie picked him up at the bus station in an old beat-up truck that must have been at least 60 years old.

The truck huffed and puffed steam and smoke, and had nothing resembling a suspension. Gran Millie thought it was all quite normal. She was obviously delighted to see Simon.

By the time they arrived at her house -- an hour's drive from the bus station -- Simon was exhausted by her constant chatter. She talked about her garden and her dog, the weather, his parents...

A kinder boy would have realized that Gran Millie had been alone for a long time and was desperate for human contact, but Simon was too spoiled and too focused on his own misery to be kind.

Gran Millie showed Simon his room, which had once been his dad's room, and told him to freshen up and come down for milk and cookies. "Milk and cookies!" muttered Simon, "Does she think I'm five years old?"

Simon walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Gran Millie placed a dewy glass of milk in front of him and a plate of delicious-looking cookies. "I made your favorites, she smiled, "You used to love my country milk and cookies when you were little!"

"Well I'm not little anymore!" snapped Simon, "And being here is not my idea!"

"I see," said Gran Millie, sitting down opposite Simon. "But here you are, so why not make the best of it?"

Never underestimate someone because they are older, they sometimes know more than we will ever learn.

Simon scoffed: "RIGHT! So what's your Wi-Fi password?"

"I don't have one," said Gran Millie calmly, "I don't have internet service."

"WHAT?" screamed Simon, "No internet? What am I supposed to do for two months?"

"Well, " said Gran Millie still smiling, "You could help me with the garden! I want to replant the old herb garden..."

"AS IF!" cried Simon angrily.

Gran Millie frowned. "As if? What do you mean?"

"I mean," said Simon angrily, "NOT ON YOUR LIFE! I'm not going to dig in that garden, I'm not your SLAVE!"

And with that Simon stomped off upstairs to call his parents and whine about not having Wi-Fi and HATING Gran Millie who was a bore and a tyrant. Gran Millie sat at her kitchen table for a long time thinking. Then she smiled...

A little later, Gran Millie knocked on the door of Simon's room. "Simon dear, dinner is ready!"

Simon, who was actually quite hungry walked down with his best pout. Granny Millie had made a delicious-looking pork and apple stew, cornbread, and what looked like a peach cobbler.

Simon's stomach rumbled. He served himself with a frown and ate in silence. That didn't seem to bother Gran Millie. "You know? You look just like my great-grandfather, Wilton Chambers."

"Really! Wow!" sneered Simon with his mouth full of stew.

Gran Millie continued serenely. "Yes indeed. He was the one who built this house. He struck it rich in the 1848 California Gold Rush, you know. So he came home, got married..."

"So how come you're poor?" asked Simon.

"Well, a few years later the Civil War started, and Granpa Wilton buried his gold in the herb garden. Unfortunately, he choked on some sausage some months later and no one ever found the gold."

Simon was now very interested. "Gold, like gold coins?"

"Oh no!" said Gran Millie, "Nuggets, California gold nuggets."

The next morning, Simon was out in the garden shovel in hand. He was going to find that gold, and then...Finders-keepers!

"You said you needed help with the herb garden, Gran Millie?" he smiled sweetly, and Millie smiled right back.

"Yes, dear, just start on this end and work your way across..."

Through ou that summer, Simon dug every inch of that herb garden, the flower beds, and even the old lawn, and helped Millie lay out a new one -- but he didn't find that gold.

So the next year he came back, and the next. After a while he didn't look for the gold anymore, he came for Millie and her sweet smile, and -- truth be told -- he rather liked the milk and cookies...

Sadly, when Simon was 19 and in his first year in college he received a phone call from his parents: Gran Millie had passed away. Simon was devastated and he immediately flew down to South Caroline for the funeral.

After the memorial service, an old gentleman approached the family. "Excuse me," he said, addressing Simon, "Are you Simon?"

Simon nodded. "Yes, I am."

"I'm so sorry for your loss young man. I'm your grandmother's bank manager. She told me that when she passed away I was to give you the contents of her safety deposit box."

Simon was stunned. What could Gran Millie had left for him? At the bank, the man took out the tray from the box and set it in front of Simon. Inside were four incredibly rusty tins. Simon gasped. Could it be?

With great difficulty, he opened one of the tins and was saw the buttery, mellow gleam of gold. Simon started laughing. "Oh, Gran Millie!" he said, "You made me look for the gold, but you were my real treasure!"

What can we learn from this story?

1. Never underestimate someone because they are older, they sometimes know more than we will ever learn. Millie worked on Simon's greed and into working in her garden.

2. A treasure isn't always what we think it is. The real treasure Simon found digging in the herb garden was a wonderful relationship with his grandmother.

Share this story with your friends. It might inspire people to share their own stories or to help someone else.

Any resemblance in this story to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a wealthy man who discovers the true meaning of the quality of life from a poor fisherman.