Neatly Folded

When Henry was four
His dad knelt in front of him
And put a twenty dollar bill in his pocket
“Keep this safe,” he said
It was for a fee at preschool
But it wasn’t needed
The fee got paid between adults
Henry’s dad was new at being a dad
And he got it wrong
But Henry kept the bill safe
He kept it safe anyway

It stayed in his pocket, neatly folded

And no one remembered it

Except maybe Henry

And it was washed and folded

Washed and folded

Once, twice, a hundred times

Until Henry was too big for the pants

And they were folded once more, and put away

Then Sam got bigger

The little brother

And the pants came to him

And he never noticed the money

Or if he did, he put it back

Put it back in that pocket

Carefully. It was neatly folded

He had not been given the trust

But he kept it anyway

And the pants were washed and folded

Washed and folded

Once, twice, a hundred times

Until one day the dad - Morgan, me

Was folding the pants

And I was looking for something

Something small that had been lost

And I checked the pocket

And there was the money

Twenty dollars, neatly folded

Twenty dollars, and it had been a hard week

Six years ago I didn't know
That I would be freshly divorced
And that I would have a hard week
Henry didn’t know that either
And neither did Sam
They didn’t know it would help
That it would keep my head above water
Because it was small, but kind
They didn’t know
But they kept it safe

I was grateful that day

For good sons.